Member Article

Inventors get accounting savvy thanks to Harlands

TWO award-winning graduates are a step closer taking their energy saving invention to market.

Roland Glancy and Simon Barker have secured in excess of £170,000 to develop a fan which helps make houses warmer for less than a pound a year.

The investment has taken their start-up business, Radfan, to the next level and brought with it requirements to provide up-to-date financial records for funders.

They have been helped in that process by North East accountancy firm Harlands, who introduced online accounting software Xero to the business.

Roland said: “The Radfan is an exciting product with a lot of potential and that is something that has been recognised by our investors. But that means we need to produce accurate financial information at the touch of a button.

“At this stage of our business, we really need to be concentrating our time developing the product so having access to the Xero software makes life a lot easier.

“It speeds things up, especially the monthly reporting requirements so we know exactly where we are in the business and can provide balance sheets and forecasts for our funders.”

Newcastle University graduates Roland and Simon created the Radfan, which attaches to radiators and stops hot air rising to the ceiling by re-directing it back into the room making homes up to 1.5C warmer at a cost of just 70p a year in electricity.

The pair received £20,000 in prize money after their invention triumphed at the prestigious Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Challenge last year. That has been boosted by an additional £150,000 investment from the North East Angel Fund to further develop the Radfan and take it to market.

Roland and Simon were assisted in their application to the North East Angel Fund by Harlands Accountants, which encourages its clients to use technology to ease the accounting and book-keeping process.

Harlands has already signed up 30 of its clients to the Xero accounts system and is targeting 100 users by the end of the year. The majority of these are micro businesses at the very start of their entrepreneurial journey.

Philip Murray, Customer Services Director at Harlands, said: “Radfan are exactly the kind of business that will reap the benefits of using the Xero system because of its ease of use and the lack of jargon.

“Technology has brought an immediacy and ability to provide access to up to date, flexible information at the click of a button. People expect that now from financial services and it is something that the industry has to adapt to.”

Pictured left to right are Philip Murray, Customer Services Director at Harlands Accountants, with Simon Barker and Roland Glancy, inventors of the Radfan.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Phil Murray .