USP UK

Practice Development for Accounting Professionals 
in the UK


The Upward Spiral Professionals UK (USP UK) is a community of progressively minded accounting firms who wish to benefit from best practice in developing a 21st-century practice from both each other and the members of USP’s Expert Partners who are based in the UK.

Membership in USP UK offers a series of value propositions that makes investing in membership a cost-neutral position for the firm in real terms with the combined expertise of Martin Bissett and Will Farnell at the helm.

The USP UK Membership was established, after the successful launch of the Upward Spiral Professionals in the UK, to deliver what Martin Bissett in his 20+ years of working with the accounting profession, is often told that members of other 'clubs' are looking for, with the added bonus of being able to upgrade to certain special interest communities such as People, Fee Growth, Marketing, Technology etc as they desired.

USP UK is a collaboration with Martin Bissett and Will Farnell bringing both their experience and expertise into the membership with Will delivering regionally to accounting firms in the UK. The USP UK Vault has been specifically established to support accounting firms who are specifically based in the UK with over 500+ resources jointly from Martin and Will accessible to members.

Access to the Vault is available to firms who are not able to take advantage of in-person events and consultations through either The 'Vault Only' Package or The 'Remote Access' Package.

Membership to the USP UK at whichever level of membership, is aimed at the hungry, proactive and caring accounting firm based in the UK, irrespective of their size and irrespective of their UK location.


For Firms Who Aspire Maximum Growth


For accounting firms who aspire to achieve maximum practice growth, beyond the online packages, there is an upward level within the USP UK Membership available to firms and organisations as they expand into six or seven-figure practices.

Aimed at accounting firms based in the UK, the Full membership option includes in-person consulting with Will Farnell, access to Expert Partners, Area Exclusivity and inclusion at in-person events. 

Two levels of membership are available via the website here. However, Full membership level is exclusively available with more emphasis on a one to one consultation lead basis and can be discussed with Martin Bissett directly via the email address below.

For more details and to start a conversation about your firm's needs and membership options, please contact Martin Bissett directly at martin@upwardspiralpartnership.co.uk 


Levels of USP UK Membership

Choose the Right Level for Your Firm

  • Vault Only Access
    £79.99 monthly

    The USP UK Vault Package gives your organisation access to over 500+ practice growth resources ideal for partners, principals and rising stars.

  • Remote Package Access
    £249.99 monthly

    The Remote Access package includes everything in the Vault plus access to a motivated peer group community and virtual consultancy on tap.

  • Full USP UK Membership
    £499.99 monthly

    Full USP UK Memberships includes everything in the Remote Access Package plus dedicated in-person consultancy each year.

Is USP Right for Your Firm?

Aspire and achieve practice growth

  • Does your firm want to be affiliated with a young, hungry, yet well-established network?

  • Do you want unlimited access to over 500+ resources collated over 20 + years of Martin and Will's professional expertise in the accounting profession?

  • Do you want exponential growth in your firm to achieve six-seven figures?

  • Do you want to be the best proactive and caring accounting firm and be a true advisor who cares about their clients?

  • Do you want on-demand advice from Martin Bissett and Will Farnell, advisor to accounting firms and practices jointly spanning over 32+ years so your firm doesn't make the same mistakes of other firms gone before?

  • If you answered yes to those questions, then the USP UK Membership is right for your firm.

Meet Martin Bissett

Founder of USP

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. 

Meet Will Farnell

USP Regional Partner in the UK

Record shop owner and band manager through B2B sales is not the usual route to qualified accountant and business consultant but then Will is not your typical accountant. 

Will is the founder of Farnell Clarke, an innovative and pioneering accounting firm based in East Anglia and London, UK. He set up Farnell Clarke in 2007 having previously worked within a Big Four firm advising predominantly public sector bodies on efficiency and process improvement. From day one he had a desire for Farnell Clarke to be a different kind of accounting firm. 

Farnell Clarke has seen consistent growth averaging 36% year on year for over 10 years. The firm has been named Best Independent Firm (East of England) three times at the British Accountancy Awards, including in 2019, UK’s Most Innovate firm in 2016 and was awarded Medium Firm of the Year award at the Accounting Excellence awards in 2019. 

Back in 2008, Will saw an opportunity to utilise technology to drive efficiency and change the way accounting services could be delivered to clients. Farnell Clarke was one of the first 100%-cloud practices globally and the way Will deployed technology in the firm was a significant catalyst in the firm’s growth.

Will now uses the experiences acquired over the last 10 years as a tech-driven firm to support other firms in moving to a digital-based strategy. He’s regarded as one of the UK’s foremost thought leaders and speakers on accounting tech and the changing landscape and environment currently driving the accounting profession. 

Will is author of ‘The Digital Firm’, a blueprint for digital transformation within an accounting firm and is a regular engaging speaker and advocate for some of the leading UK and global accounting tech brands.


What Firms Say

Practice Growth in Action

  • Phil Lewis
    PML Accountants

    In the first 12 months working with Martin, we have added a 6-figure number to our annual turnover, which over an expected client lifetime of 10 years is 7-figures of value created. We doubled our previous fee on 5 occasions and developed a number of new services. In addition, this increased the confidence of our team members in identifying and winning work. We also now know that reliance on GRF is not the way forward.

  • Roland Moss, Managing Director
    Butt Miller

    USP is currently mentoring me to help me build my sales pipeline. We recently worked together on a client proposal which was very well received by my prospect and they signed up there and then for our top package which was fantastic news. Martin's knowledge and supporting helping you sell and get the investment your services deserve is first class and I wholly recommend his services. He is also great fun to work with.

  • Dale Pollitt, Director
    Ryans Chartered Accountants

    I attended a 2-day USP workshop. I found the experience extremely positive and we have since made changes in our business and, as a result, are more successful in converting prospects into clients. In particular, we found the pipeline structure for a potential client meeting and example proposal documents very powerful. Martin is a true expert in his field and WILL improve your sales function.

FAQ

  • Is there a limit on the size of firm who can join the USP UK membership?

    USP UK has no preference on the size of firm, service line offering and length of time in practice. It cares about having a membership that understands that you do well in practice and business by doing right by the client. It wants a group of professionals who reduce the stress caused to SMEs by their own lack of financial education.

  • How can I find out more about the Full membership?

    To find out more about the full membership level, please contact Martin Bissett at martin@upwardspiralpartnership.co.uk and start a conversation.

  • Can I buy the courses individually?

    Yes! You can buy the courses individually.

Join USP UK Today

Access USP UK's Digital Packages and start your firm's exponential growth

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