When It Matters

In this episode, Keeley Walker from Brisan joins Mark Costello to discuss how accounting is evolving beyond compliance — and why clients now expect far more. They cover culture, pricing, advisory services, and the growing gap between traditional firms and modern practices. A must-listen for accountants and business owners looking to understand where the industry is heading.

In this episode of When It Matters, Grace Hardy and Yvette Fitzhenry sit down with Mark Costello and Derek Granger to talk about what really happens when you go out on your own. No clients. No audience. No roadmap. Just a decision to start 🚀 They break down:  What it feels like on day one of self-employment How to get your first clients from zero Why social media is changing the game for accountants The reality of pressure when you lose your salary Building a business that actually supports your life — not the other way around This is a raw, honest look at modern firm building — and why the next generation of accountants are doing things very differently 🙌

What if everything you think is a “big problem”… isn’t? In this episode, Emma Crawford shares the brutal leadership lessons she learned serving in Afghanistan — and how they shaped her journey to becoming Chief Revenue Officer at one of the UK’s most successful female-founded accountancy firms, Mazuma 💜 From leading under fire to making tough decisions in the boardroom, this is a masterclass in resilience, accountability, and what it really takes to scale a business. 🚀 You’ll learn: 🧠 Why leadership is NOT about control or authority 🔥 The mindset shift that changes how you handle pressure ⚖️ How to make hard decisions (especially with people) 📈 What scaling actually feels like behind the scenes ⚡ Why “perfect” doesn’t exist in tech or business This episode is raw, honest, and packed with insights most leaders never talk about. If you’re building, leading, or scaling — this will change how you think.

In this special International Women’s Day episode, we’re joined by Ami Copeland, CEO of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB). 🎙️ Ami shares her journey from growing up inside a family-founded organisation to leading a global professional body supporting over 150,000 members worldwide — many of them women building flexible, powerful businesses of their own. We talk about: – Why bookkeepers are more than intermediaries — they’re integrators – The power of community in an industry that can feel isolating 🤝 – Tech, AI and why the future of bookkeeping has never looked brighter – Psychological safety, leadership and returning to work with confidence This is an honest, optimistic and forward-looking conversation about respect, credibility and the evolution of the profession. If you’ve ever wondered whether now is the time to step into bookkeeping — this episode might just answer that. 🚀

In this episode, Beth (Two Sisters Accounting) and Fi (Fineo) join us to talk about what building a business really looks like 🔎 From burnout and perfectionism to experimentation, failure, and opting out of hustle culture — this is an honest conversation about redefining success in accounting ✨ Is scaling always the goal? Or can a “lifestyle business” be just as powerful? A thoughtful, refreshing take on building on your own terms 🚀

Three brilliant women. Three very different paths into accounting 💡 For episode two of our series celebrating incredible women in the accounting and bookkeeping space in collaboration with the Digital Accountants Club, Natasha Everard, Suzannah Whelan and Amy Hancock share what it really looks like to build a practice, pivot careers, find your confidence and create community in the industry 🚀

We're delighted to release Episode 1 of our very special series collaborating with the Digital Accountancy Club to celebrate International Women's Day throughout March 🙌 We had the wonderful Vanessa Fuller and Arlyne Chinyanganya share how they built their businesses, the resilience it takes, and how financial confidence changes everything—for founders and the people they serve 🌟

Meshed's Head of Partnerships Derek Granger sits down with Neil Criddle (founder of NDC Accountancy) and Phil Hobden (Head of New Customer Advocacy at Sage) for a no-fluff conversation on scaling a modern firm 💡   From redundancy to 620+ clients and a team of 16, Neil shares the realities of building and scaling a modern firm, while Phil breaks down how Sage is leading the charge in rapid AI adoption across the accounting tech space 🚀   We also dive into what’s next with MTD — and how an unexpected career pivot ended up changing everything 🌟  

We had the fabulous Emily Vass on the pod to share her journey to launching her own practice — from spending not a single pound on business development in her first six months, to unpacking the nebulous creator economy and its very real tax implications. We LOVED this one!!

We are so excited to release this one - we had award-winning practice owner, community-builder, podcaster, best-selling author AND long-time friend of Meshed on the pod - the one and only Stephanie Marshall 👑 We cover Stephanie's incredible journey to becoming a practice owner, how she learned to set boundaries, how she went from having anxiety to speaking in front of hundreds of people to authoring a best-selling book on financial education. This episode is a powerful reminder that a career in bookkeeping can open more doors than you ever thought possible!! 💡

In his debut as host of When It Matters, our COO Jake is joined by the legendary Aarish Shah—fractional CFO, podcaster, and startup finance maestro. They dive deep into the weight of venture funding, why the wrong CFO is a "hidden" multi-million dollar mistake, and the unconventional secrets Aarish uses to scale startups. If you’re a founder, you can’t afford to miss this one 🚀

We are super excited to drop this one!! We welcomed the fabulous Fi Titus, aka the Financial Fairy Godmother, on When It Matters to talk her extraordinary journey from Deloitte accountant to street food vendor to practice owner and now to fintech founder! Proof that a career in accountancy can take you places you’d never expect 🚀

We are SO excited to finally release this one - we had the pleasure of having the incomparable Aaron Patrick on the pod. Founder of Boffix, co-founder of Ask the Accountant and the face of one of accounting’s most recognisable brands, we sat down with Aaron to talk building a modern practice, using tech and AI responsibly, and why empathy is the real competitive edge in advisory 🌟  

For a very special episode of When It Matters, we are joined by James Howard from RPGCC, alongside his customer Ben Stocken, founder of the first AI leadership operating system, Atherio — bringing the accountant and the client into the same room. Together, we unpack what great leadership really looks like when you’re: ✨ Implementing new technology ✨ Leading teams through change ✨ Preventing disengagement and “quiet coasting” ✨ Building systems that help people perform at their best From flipping the leadership pyramid to creating environments where teams truly understand why their work matters, this episode is packed with practical insights for firm owners and leaders looking to level up in 2026 🚀 You can learn more about Atherio and sign up for the waitlist here: https://www.atheriohq.com/

In this quick-fire episode of When It Matters, we sit down with two accountants to break down the most common financial traps SMEs fall into — and how to avoid them 🚨 From quick-cash loans and personal guarantees, to poor tax planning, cash-flow blind spots, and messy business finances, this is a back-to-basics guide for early-stage and growing businesses 💼 Short, practical, and jargon-free — perfect for founders who want to get their finances in order and for accountants to share with their SME clients 📊✨

In this episode of When It Matters, we’re joined by Della Hudson FCA for a masterclass on working smarter in accountancy 💡 Della shares how she built an accountancy practice from her kitchen table, scaled it sustainably, and ultimately exited the business — all while working just 25 hours a week ⏰ We explore why undercharging leads to underserving clients, how better pricing creates space for clearer communication and stronger relationships, and why systems, delegation, and “compliance plus” are key to building a practice that doesn’t rely entirely on you 📊✨ Now coaching and advising other accountancy practices, Della helps firm owners grow profitable, sustainable businesses — without burnout. If you’re an accountant thinking about pricing, capacity, growth, or exit, this one’s not to be missed 🎧

Too often, accountancy is framed as just numbers, compliance, and reporting. But in this episode of When It Matters, we sit down with Stephanie Marshall (A B C S UK and The 3BZ Podcast) and Aaron Patrick (Boffix, Ask the Accountant podcast) to show what’s possible when you treat your expertise as a platform, not a box.  They’ve built successful practices — and then gone further: Writing books Building personal brands Showing up in the media Creating communities that matter  Launching their own successful podcasts (which you can check out here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3GcG9pELwWBtNfoZF5WXgL  https://open.spotify.com/show/7xYcsIRTdJ00yByn1DAALm) This is what it looks like to take an accountancy career to stratospheric heights🚀

Multiple business owner, entrepreneur, and board member Jeannette Linfoot joins us for a very special episode of When It Matters to talk all things scaling. From evolving into a new kind of leader as your accountancy practice grows, to distinguishing between people who interview well and those who are truly transformative leaders, Jeanette shares powerful insights on how to be braver, bolder, and more brilliant in 2026 💫 You can learn more about Jeannette via her Brave, Bold, Brilliant website and podcast - https://brave-bold-brilliant.com/

In this special episode of When It Matters, Founder's Associate Elle Noble sits down with the incomparable Zubair Mohammad to get an exclusive masterclass on how accountants can level up their marketing, attract more leads, and significantly better engage with their customers and audience. The biggest takeaway? There are no rules...

Meshed's Founders Associate Elle Noble sits down with the incredible Amanda C. Watts and Sunil Purohit to talk all things business advisory and how to make a seamless transition from compliance only to a multi-faceted advisory practice. From how to talk to your customers about price increases to the mindset shift required, this is the ultimate guide for any accountants wanting to make the move to advisory 📈

If you're an accountant looking to level up on LinkedIn - whether that be gaining more opportunities, obtaining more leads, or just connecting with like-minded people in the industry - then this special episode of When It Matters is a must-watch. LinkedIn connoisseur Ashley Leeds sits down with Meshed's Founder's Associate Elle Noble to (politely and helpfully!) roast her LI profile and ultimately give us simple, high-impact tips to radically level up on LinkedIn in just 15 minutes 🔥

Meshed partnerships consultant Derek Granger sits down with two very special guests and former colleagues James Howell and Dan Cockerton, founders of the renowned Digital Accountancy Show (DAS) to get the story behind the incomparable industry event. From how it all began with a Nando's to how Covid nearly ensured it's extinction to now taking it international, we go behind the scenes behind one of the biggest events in the accountancy calendar 🚀 You can learn more about DAS here: https://www.digitalaccountancy.com/ 

In this episode of When It Matters, Founder's Associate Elle sits down with the incredible Stella Ezeogu of AccountStar to talk what the learned about people and money inside HMRC, why she started her own practice, her passion for earlier financial education and how she's bringing financial and career empowerment to her community ⚡️

In this episode of When It Matters, Meshed's Partnerships Consultant Derek Granger sits down with Leanda Daddow, founder of Celtic Bookkeeping & Accountancy Services, to talk about resilience, rebuilding, and running a business that means something. From heartbreak to freedom, Leanda shares how she built an accountancy practice that helps people find their why- not just their profit 🙌

In this episode of When It Matters, Meshed’s Partnership Consultant Derek Granger sits down with Jacquelyn Simpson of Jaxx Accountancy and Donald Gilmour of Clarity Accounting to talk about what it really means to be the person businesses turn to when things get tough — the sounding board, the steady hand, and the human side of accounting in an AI world.

Will an AI take your job? And is there anything a human can do on the internet right now that an agent won’t be able to do in 6 months? 💡 Meshed's Founding Engineer Mike Powroznik sat down with Edward Upton and Tom Diacono of Asteroid (YC 25) to talk the tech behind building one of YC's most prominent agentic AI companies, self-healing AI, browser agents, the future of human + machine collaboration - and why we’ll never be alone on the internet again 🤖

In this episode, Meshed CEO Mark Costello and Partnerships Consultant Derek Granger sit down with globally renowned entrepreneur, keynote speaker and published author of 'The Ask' Russell Dalgleish to explore the power of asking for help, building trust in sales, and why curiosity is the real growth engine 👏 You can learn more about Russell's book 'The Ask' here 👉 https://theask.scot/

In this episode, Founder's Associate Elle Noble sat down with Preeti Koli of Ozark & Co. to discuss how she's changing the definition of outsourcing in the industry, how accountants are no longer the "bean counters" but instead strategic partners and her journey from self-doubt to becoming one of the Global Top 50 Women In Accounting 🙌 Link here to the LI post we talked about, regarding her top 50 lessons: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/preeti-koli-ms-ozark-286a99171_entrepreneurship-leadership-businesslessons-activity-7364639694246068224-6sKf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACjq30YBTaomWCjximuLlDd9vy8G3kooYBU 

For Episode 4 of When It Matters, we sat down with digital transformation and emerging tech accounting pioneers Ryan Pearcy, Founder of Digital Disruptors and Digital Transformers UK, and Eriona Bajrakurtaj, MD of Majors Accounts & Co. and Founder of Volt Digital Transformation ⚡️ We talk through their journeys in becoming owners of digital-first accounting businesses, how they've found inspiration in tech and AI, their predictions for the future of the big accounting firms, why now is the best time to start your own accountancy practice and how the minimum standard of what customers expect from their accountants has changed for good 🎧

In the third episode of When It Matters, Meshed's Founders' Associate Elle Noble sits down with Lara Manton, the multi-award-winning founder of LJM Bookkeeping, ACE-XL and all-round accountancy tech extraordinaire 🙌 Lara was the winner of Xero’s Innovative Partner of the Year 2023 and Small Firm of the Year 2024 and was one of the Top 50 Women in Accounting 2023 and 2024 🏆 We were lucky enough to pick her brains on everything from accountancy & bookkeeping’s digital transformation, her current personal and professional tech stack, the power of community in becoming more digitally literate, her “zone of genius” framework and even how she became the bookkeeper on a world-famous TV show… 🎬 Enjoy! If you're interested in coming on our pod as a guest, please reach out to [email protected] 💕

In the second episode of When It Matters, our CEO Mark Costello sits down with Dave Sellick of Sidgrove and David Adderson of Youtopia to talk all things accounting and emerging tech. From the evolving role of the accountant from strategic CFO to confidante 🕶️ to whether AI really will replace accountants as everyone likes to say 📲 to why half of the conversations they have with their clients often have nothing to do with accounting 🤫 We hope you enjoy - and stay tuned for Ep 3 coming very soon 🔥 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/meshed-cover

The inaugural podcast from Meshed. In this first episode, our CEO Mark Costello sits down with our first investors, Aviva. Hear from the innovation team at Aviva, Arslan Hannani and Jason Chambers, as they go over why Aviva invested, what tech means to SMEs, why tech is important for the future of insurance, and how tech can add value to customers.