Words and actions
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s BBC programme ‘Hugh’s War on Waste’ broadcast in July this year, focused on the immense amount of waste generated by our love for the takeaway coffee. These innocuous (and seemingly recyclable) paper cups by which our caffeine fix is mostly delivered are, by and large, not recyclable. The result is that we use around seven million paper cups a day, the vast majority of which cannot be recycled. For anyone who is a fan of big numbers, that adds up to a staggering non-recyclable 2.5 billion paper cups a year most of which go into landfill!
Cue Pokito
The Pokito cup, designed by Andrew Brooks and manufactured in England, is a new ultraportable, durable and environmentally friendly cup designed for hot drinks on the go. When Andrew, a Carpenter Box client, came up with the idea of this cute reusable cup we were really excited and Kevin Blake, who leads our Business Services Group, did everything he could to keep the momentum going.
The challenges in developing an easily carriable cup that people would want to use over and over again were considerable. It had to be washable, it had to be scrunchable to fit in a pocket or handbag and most importantly, it had to be made of something that didn’t ruin the flavour of your Peruvian medium roast! Fortunately, the design of Pokito ticked all of the boxes.
Turning a great idea into a tangible product is difficult enough, but then taking it all the way to market can be an even larger challenge. Pokito’s journey is well underway now with a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to support their international debut. We certainly hope to see this revolutionary new cup appearing in ever larger numbers to help to reduce the massive environmental challenge that the paper cup poses.
From our point of view, Pokito serves as a great example of where we can add so much value to our clients. Not only are we able to deal with the stuff you’d expect - accounting, tax, payroll etc, but more importantly, our approach means that we can play a part in making sure that the whole growth journey is as smooth and cost efficient as possible. Our service includes taking care of such things as research and development, tax credits, capital allowances, grants, and the Enterprise Investment Scheme to name but a few. All are areas that we routinely get involved with along with corporate structure planning and wealth management for directors and executives.
Our signposting and knowledge of the Alternative Funding options (such as Kickstarter) as well as the contacts we have with all the major banks, means that we can save our clients time and stress when it comes to finding the funding to take an idea to the next level.
We’re really excited that Andrew’s idea has hit the headlines and that he has crashed through his fundraising target. In many ways our involvement with Andrew and his business explains the rational behind another important development here at Carpenter Box.
Refreshing times
We’re very excited to announce that as of January 2017 Carpenter Box will start to trade as MHA Carpenter Box. We helped to found MHA back in 2010 and since then it has gone from strength to strength. Although it’s a small change on one level, it does allow us to demonstrate that whilst we are an independent fi rm, we have a massive national resource at our fingertips. Our new brand identity also reflects the way in which our business has developed over the past few years.
As you can see from the new logo, for the first time we will include the words ‘Business Advisers’ as a descriptor. Whilst we remain Chartered Tax Advisers (which will disappear from our logo to make room for the change) we think it’s more important to say loud and clear that our mission is to help our clients increase their profitability by giving good tax and business advice. After all, this is what we have been doing for many years and is the reason that the fi rm has grown to a headcount of over 140, between the Worthing and Gatwick offices.
The refresh of our branding is then more of a catch up than a departure. The new logo just means that what you see is what you get!
So what is MHA?
MHA is an association of some of the best independent regional UK accountancy fi rms. Founded in 2010 on an invitation only basis, the concept works on the principle that the member firms’ knowledge and resource share at every level.
MHA has established national sector teams whose remit is to deliver advice tailored specifically to the needs of a business operating in a specific area. This approach is much more granular and is aimed at giving industry specific advice rather than a general accountancy and tax service. Being a part of MHA therefore gives our clients a totally scalable solution, from 50 locations across England, Scotland and Wales; MHA Carpenter Box is capable of delivering advice and support whatever the size of the client.
Local relationships, national expertise and global coverage
MHA also brings with it UK membership of one of the premier global accountancy networks – Baker Tilly International. That means that where a client has global aspirations, we are able to seamlessly connect them with advisers in any of over 140 countries which is a great asset in itself.
As ever you’ll find plenty of information about Carpenter Box and the way in which we do business at our website www.carpenterbox.com
