The team here can’t quite believe it, as this month we celebrate 20 years in business. We want to thank you for your continued support. We also thought it would be fun to look back at some milestones in our journey – and remember what was happening in the wider world. Enjoy this trip down memory lane, especially if you’re one of our ‘older’ clients.
Giles started Merlin on 31st October 2005, initially part-time. Some of you may have been ‘trick or treating’ for Halloween. But if you’d switched on the TV that week you’d have discovered the comedy show Little Britain. It was at its peak around then. Catchphrases like “Computer says no” and “Yeah but no but yeah” were everywhere. The characters exaggerated British quirks with absurd, over-the-top humour. Luckily for us, no accountants were featured.
An invoice, a gaming revolution…
It was a quiet first January, and there have been many busier ones. But we raised our first ever invoice. Just weeks earlier the Xbox 360 had started to take over bedrooms across the UK. Teens (and grown-ups) were losing sleep on games like Call of Duty 2 and Perfect Dark Zero. Gamers camped outside stores for days to buy the consoles, only to find limited stock and stressed-out shop workers. Some retailers ran out of stock within hours, leaving queues of frustrated fans.
…and a mobile phone one
Next year, Giles was able to go full time. There was another seismic change, too. In January, Apple had revealed something called an iPhone. Its UK release was still months away, but the press and gadget fans went bonkers. A phone without buttons? This was special. It transformed how we communicated, browsed the web, and listened to music. Almost overnight, it changed the way that Brits connected to the digital world, forever.
Duck houses – and fictional ones
Let’s fast forward two years to a busy May 2009. Merlin was growing and Giles needed another pair of hands. So Karen joined the business, part-time at first. This was the month when the public got some unwelcome news about their MPs’ expenses. One politician had claimed for the cost of removing a duck house from his moat. Several had expensed mortgage interest on homes they no longer owned, or had already paid off. It was the biggest political scandal in years. If only they’d had a reputable accountant to advise them.
Four years later and we had a busy 2013. In May we began offering advisory services and switched to fixed pricing for most of our work. In September we moved to our offices in central Exeter and have been here ever since. But what was going on in the outside world?
Something confusing, well for parents anyway. Snapchat appeared, baffling and surprising people with its disappearing messages. Teens of course were less confused. ‘Obsessed’ is a better word. Twelve years on and Snapchat has nearly 24 million users in the UK, including at least one who works in the Merlin offices.
Another milestone was in 2021. We built a new website, and started supporting several charities. We wanted to give something back from our business, and you can read more about that in this blog. This was a year when COVID still dominated. It started with Britain still in lockdown, slowly emerging thanks to the vaccine rollout. Pubs, restaurants, gyms, and theatres all cautiously re-opened. The NHS delivered millions of jabs, turning the UK into one of the fastest-vaccinated countries in Europe.
New business – and late trains
We bought another accountancy practice at the end of 2022, taking time to make sure our way of working was a good fit for our new clients. Do you remember what was happening in the wider world? December and January were hit by industrial action. Railway staff, NHS nurses, bus drivers, Royal Mail workers, you name it. Around 100,000 nurses staged what became the biggest strike in their history, just before Christmas.
In Exeter, 2023 started positively. To help with all the new work, we welcomed Niki, our first apprentice. She was still just a baby when Merlin was born! Further north, Thor the walrus ruined New Year. He visited Scarborough harbour, resulting in the town’s fireworks celebrations being cancelled. The authorities very kindly agreed that he needed some rest for his journey to the Arctic.
Our most recent milestone was passed this April. We welcomed another team member, our first outsourced worker, to help with our increased workload. That appointment seems like yesterday, so we won’t ask you what else was happening in the UK. You guessed, it was a surge in competitive jigsaw puzzling! Participants raced against the clock to complete 1,000-piece puzzles in the first UK Nationals in Bradford. Is it cheating to do the edges first?
Thank you to all our clients, suppliers and partners for being part of our journey. We are grateful for your custom and support. I wonder what the next twenty years will bring?
How Merlin can help
To find out more about how we can help your business, please contact us. Our clients say that it’s useful to have a numerate friend prodding their thinking, especially one who understands the issues. If you’re not already a client, please get in touch here. You’ll find us a good fit if you’re looking for an accountant as an investment – rather than just a cost.
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