Duns Limited Merger

Two like-minded accountancy and business consultancy firms, who focus as much on people and relationships as they do on numbers, are forming a new relationship.

McKenzie Revis and Associates (MRA) and Duns Limited officially merged on September 1 and are moving forward under the Duns’ banner.

“As with Duns, we always put our clients first,” says Warren McKenzie, a former director of MRA and now a director of Duns.

“We get to know every client, listening carefully to what they want from us and looking at ways of meeting their needs. What we identified as part of our strategic plan was the need to grow if we want to continue meeting these needs.”

While MRA had a great client base of local businesses, a high quality of work and great staff, McKenzie acknowledges that their infrastructure needed to grow.

“Our clients were growing their own businesses and we needed to find a way of covering the full array of services that they were starting to need. We looked at various alternatives and decided the best way forward was for us to merge with another firm that had similar values to ourselves.” Coincidentally, Duns was looking for exactly what MRA offered.

“We had the capacity to take on growth, in terms of both physical resources and personnel,” managing director of Duns, Glen Stapley, says.

“At the same time that MRA was seeking to expand its resources, we were looking to grow ours, so the timing was very good.”

For both firms, the key to their successful merger is based on similar company cultures.

“Culture is very important,” Stapley says.

“There are synergies with us, such as having similar types of clients, using the same software and, from the directors’ points of view, we’d worked together in the past and knew we have personalities that complement each other.

“We also believe in pulling up our sleeves and working alongside clients. It’s having a personal relationship with each client that really stands out.”McKenzie agrees.

“Strong relationships with clients are built on integrity and knowledge. We’ve always worked on the basis that clients must be able to trust us and, as chartered accountants, we need to provide a high level of academic ability, backed by planning and up-to-date technology.

As part of their increased job satisfaction, both McKenzie and fellow former MRA director Mark Revis are gaining more time to spend with their clients, while much of their previous administration work is absorbed into Duns.

This allows them to focus more on the fundamentals of meeting clients’ needs in an efficient and cost-effective way.

“We’re all here to continue building long-term relationships,” Stapley says. “Some organisations get bigger and lose their personality but we are maintaining our personal service and our one-on-one relationships with clients.”

With the addition of four accountants from MRA, Duns is now a team of 45 people. This includes seven directors, five of whom were existing directors and two from MRA.