The National B2B Centre, the e-business centre for excellence for the West Midlands, believes that accountancy firms hold the key to getting more firms to adopt e-business practices that could earn more than £2 billion for the regional economy.
The centre is hosting a seminar in Birmingham on July 15 with online accountant groups AccountingWEB and PracticeWeb to help accountants to assist small companies on how to do business in the internet age.
The training seminar will equip accountants with new skills such as how to build effective websites and will explain the mysteries of search engine optimisation to help accountants build sites that attract traffic and new business.
The web experts will also explain how accountants can protect themselves from online intruders and to ensure they comply with all the red tape associated with e-business.
The web skills workshop for accountants is the first step in the National B2B Centre’s strategy to convene a special interest group for accountants in the region that will help them to pass their e-business expertise on to their clients.
Martin King-Turner, managing director of the National B2B Centre, said: “Accountants probably hold more sway with their clients than any other sector.
“So if we can develop their skills in this field and ensure they know all of the benefits involved with using e-business – whether it’s using an online system to share data or driving more traffic to the website using search engine optimisation – they can then provide leadership to their clients.
“If small businesses could optimise their use of e-business technology, they could increase their productivity by around three to four per cent and could earn an extra couple of billion pounds for the West Midlands.
“So it’s our aim to get more accountants advising their clients how to use these tools to improve their businesses.”
The event is taking place at the Burlington hotel in central Birmingham on July 15 for more information contact Rachel Sparks at AccountingWEB on 0117 915 3344.
Media enquiries:
Lee Corden
Advent Communications
2 Edison Building
Electric Wharf
Sandy Lane
Coventry CV1 4JA
Tel: 024 7663 3636
http://www.advent-
