Our directors Melanie Wear and James Marshall understand that to be leaders in the industry we must be active in our community and active in providing paid time for our staff to contribute to the community.
You might say that’s not very accountant-like behaviour. But business is about more than numbers – it’s about providing a positive work environment for staff, building strong, real relationships and providing a net positive to the community.
And let’s be honest, there are material returns for our work. We promote our community activities in all forms of media, and when seeking external recognition of our firm through independent awards, social responsibility is, more often than not, a key category.
So, we encourage other businesses to do the same. Here are some more ways that we believe MWM benefits from community engagement.
At MWM Advisory our core value #4 is Community Leadership.
It brings our team together
One community activity that has provided a real source of pride for our team is participating in Share the Dignity’s ‘It’s in the Bag’ campaign.
The team at MWM rallied to promote It’s in the Bag campaign to encourage friends, family and clients to put together their own hand bag of luxuries for women in need at Christmas time.
In the two years MWM Advisory has participated in the campaign, we have donated 74 bags. In 2017, we beat our target by 21 bags to donate 51 items to the cause.
There is a tangible feeling of pride among our team as we see our friends and clients put together their bags in response to our own efforts to help Share the Dignity’s campaign.
It builds leadership and organisational skills amongst our staff and that is a benefit to our business.
It fosters relationships
Being part of Gold Coast community events and institutions allows our directors and staff to build strong relationships with other community leaders.
It’s not just about generating business for our firm; it’s about building goodwill and relationships within the community.
Our firm was founded with a focus on building ‘real’ relationships with our clients and also the general community, and this ties in with that founding principle.
Strong relationships allow us to do our jobs effectively. We aim to be a trusted business partner and advisor to our clients, and that means we need to foster strong, long-lasting relationships.
It allows your organisation and its people to live their values
MWM makes it easy for the team to ‘give back’ giving everyone up to 2 paid days per year to use for study or voluntary work
We have had a team member involved in the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, working with the media transport team.
As a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here on the coast, they wanted to be a part of the event. The voluntary role introduced them to people from all over the world and allowed them to share their local knowledge with the many visitors who came to see the Games.
It generates new clients
Of course, being involved in community groups and projects can generate new long-term clients. The networks that our Directors and staff are able to build through their engagement with various groups also become professional networks.
James Marshall’s longstanding work with several community groups, including the Surfers Paradise Australian Rules Football Club has generated new clients for MWM Advisory.
It provides marketing content for your business
At MWM Advisory, we leverage our social media channels to drive support for the causes we think are important, and we also promote our achievements.
We put significant resources into telling the story of our business, and our engagement with campaigns such as It’s in the Bag is part of the story of the life of our firm.
A compelling story is a great marketing tool, and we believe the story of MWM Advisory is a compelling one.
So, get involved in your community. It’s impossible to quantify the returns on a cash flow statement, but trust us, as accountants we see the value every day.
