Martin Bissett 

Martin Bissett is the founder of the Upward Spiral Partnership (USP), the international consulting firm that specialises in enabling the accounting profession to win higher-end clients, create leaders from their ranks and save lives.

His professional purpose is to alert the accounting profession to the profound outcomes that their advisory expertise can create in the lives of their clients.

At the same time, he also alerts the accounting profession to the profound difficulties that can arise in the lives of their clients when they choose not to educate their clients about the impact that their advisory expertise can have.

The Upward Spiral Partnership is the 4th business Martin has played a key role in building and the first of his own. 

In the first 5 years of USP, Martin has: 

• Been engaged/retained by 4 of the World's Top 10 Accounting associations and 6 of the Top 10 in the UK. 
• Authored 9 books including Passport to Partnership, content from which has been adopted into the curriculum of AAT Level 3 courses, and taught in selected UK colleges and US CPA Societies.  
• Been retained by Accountingweb as a judge of their prestigious practice excellence awards for three years in a row. 
• Been highlighted as ‘one to watch’ in AccountingToday’s Top 100 Most Influential countdown for 2 years running. 
• Spoken on 4 continents. 
• Created several trademarked items of intellectual property including the ACCOUNTS™ system and ‘Martin’s Relationship Pricing™’ Model. 
• Written for several professional publications including AccountingToday, AccountingWeb, CPA Practice Advisor and Chartered One. 
• Sat on many international expert panels and guested on professional podcasts in the US, UK, and Australia. 
• Sits on a parliamentary steering committee tasked with bringing advisory services to the fore in the accounting profession. 

The outcome of Martin’s work is profitable new business for the practices he is engaged by, alongside the fine-tuning of teams of partners and emerging leaders who can develop new business by increasing their commercial awareness for themselves, without significant ongoing third party assistance. 

Previously, Martin served 10 years as a director (appointed at age 26) on the board of a marketing consultancy firm serving the accounting profession. There, he held the responsibility for the growth of the client base including six of the U.K.’s top 30 accountancy firms. 

He now coaches, mentors, speaks, trains and consults with accounting firms worldwide.

In total, he has worked with over 1800 firms of accountants and found it unnecessary to keep track of his contributions to the new business growth of those firms once it surpassed £500m collectively. 

James Molfetas

James Molfetas is the founder of Regular Clients, a South African based internet marketing firm that specialises in helping the financial sector get ideal clients by leveraging the power of the internet.

His tale is an interesting one. He was forced to leave the accounting profession in 2011, essentially because he did not know how to replace the key accounts his practice lost during the recession.

He moved away from a financial career that spanned 30 years. He was a financial director in both private and listed companies as well as a partner in a 4-partner audit practice.

Fortunately, he immediately found his passion. Internet marketing, the process of selling goods and services online.

He realised, even then, the Internet was changing the way people would buy accounting services. The Covid-19 outbreak emphatically confirms the old ways of doing business have changed forever. He made it his mission to help progressive accountants adapt to the new online way of acquiring clients, stabilising their cash flow and expanding their businesses.

James has written 4 books on the subject. "Accounting Clients on Tap" and "Regular Clients from LinkedIn - the accountants edition" have reached international number one best seller status.

He does regular webinars teaching his methods in South Africa, the UK, Canada and the United States.