Five minutes with Michael Heinicke, Partner at INSPIRED
In celebration of INSPIRED’s three-year milestone, we sat down with Michael Heinicke, Partner at INSPIRED, to delve deeper into his personal background and the company’s exciting future plans.
Why do you enjoy working at INSPIRED?
Well I wouldn’t call it working for a start. It’s more a way of life! In my previous role, I was getting to the stage where my motivation was dropping off – I could feel it every day. Everything was too hard to do – too much red tape, too many stakeholders, too many competing demands – and I couldn’t see any upside. I feel like I’m back to being a tax practitioner rather than an administrator. I love our simple business model – we’re good at what we do so we try to do it with the best businesses that we can. Not being an audit firm is also hugely liberating – it means we have a freedom to work with whoever we want, doing whatever services we want and on whatever terms we want – without all that bureaucracy. Plus we’re not restricted to a particular geography, there’s nobody telling you to get off their patch.
What motivated you to move to INSPIRED?
Eugene O’Neill
How do you approach client relationships and what is your views on maintaining strong, long-term partnerships with clients?
I think the key thing is that it’s a personal relationship above anything else, as it’s not really possible to have a relationship with a body corporate. Ultimately, it’s not a company that chooses a tax advisor but it’s the person employed by the company or the person that owns it who makes those sort of decisions. I think it’s important to offer opinions and have a view, and be available as a sounding board. I’m not meaning just tax even now. I see it as an endorsement when an owner or FD will pick up phone just to have a rant about something. I think a lot of senior people in business can feel isolated or just need an outside voice every now and then.
What was your first job, and what did you learn from it that has helped you in your current position?
I did work experience at school in a firm of Chartered Accountants. It was only two weeks but after that I decided that the last thing I wanted to be was an accountant – it seemed very dull. First paid work would have been summer jobs in various factories in Burnley – I got four quid an hour but those jobs were always great craic. My initial reaction would be that I didn’t learn anything from any of these roles, but looking back now, I probably developed a strong preference for the banter in the factories. As I’ve got older I’ve tried to bring that into my leadership style (as far as is reasonably allowed) and generally just be approachable and easy going.
Where do you see INSPIRED grow?
We’ve expanded our offering considerably in the last year – still predominantly tax incentives but we’re picking up a lot more tax compliance and advisory projects. So it would be wider services and wider geographical reach into Ireland. There is also loads of opportunity for us in GB and specifically London – we’ve a lot of clients based there but we can see there is big demand for our services and approach.
To arrange a free consultation with INSPIRED, contact us today!