Paul O’Byrne RIP

O’Byrne & Kennedy

Goffs Oak, UK

This page remains in memory of our beloved and respected colleague and friend.

Paul lost his battle with cancer in November, 2008.

But his work lives on…

Paul Kennedy and Paul O’Byrne have experienced just about every practice management course put on in the UK and are graduates of the Accountants Boot Camp, and many Ron Baker seminars.In their two-partner, ten-person practice in just outside London, England, they have implemented many of the lessons Ron Baker teaches and can explain what they have adapted, abandoned and benefited from. They are candid about the traumas faced in abandoning timesheets and introducing fixed price agreements for all clients – and why they are so glad they did!

Since meeting Ron Baker in March 2000, Paul and Paul have challenged and argued with Ron’s views until they found it easier to go along with (most of) it. Since then they have preached – and practiced what they preached – the lessons in The Professional’s Guide to Value Pricing and The Firm of the Future. They come with first-hand experience and examples of how the message can be explained in a practice setting and the effects it has within the firm, to clients and prospects, and to fellow professionals.

They have a core competency in sacking clients, having disposed of 80% of their clients between 1997 and 1999. Their story of this and trashing timesheets are included in two of Ron’s books for the ACCA (stories found in the Trailblazers section.

Their firm now has one-third of its growing income from compliance work, and negative lock-up (work in progress and debtors). Both partners’ worked in the firm almost entirely consulting, advising, coaching, training and speaking. They authored eight courses on subjects ranging from practical personal finance to mind mapping.

Taking the lesson of intellectual capital, in 2003 they created the “GOBS MBA” course. This is a year-long ten three-hour session course of modules that O’Byrne and Kennedy clients (owner-managers of businesses) should have been taught if only they’d been taught it.

Paul O’Byrne, FCA was a British Chartered Accountant and speaker. He liked nothing better than to preach the VeraSage gospel, ideally in somewhere warm and/or exciting (ie, outside England).

Paul O was a keen swimmer, a poor triathlete (Completed the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in 2003) has also climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a father of four, married to an English teacher (u in harbour, please)! He has taught two one-day classes for the California Society of CPAs, Mind Mapping, an accountant’s mind unleashed. Paul spoke in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand as well as Europe to lawyers and accountants on all matters VeraSage as well as the O’Byrne and Kennedy application of the Boot Camp principles. His main hobby was teasing Ron Baker and thinking about updating his website ronbakersucks.com (no longer active).