The IPA has tied up with Moore Kingston Smith to sponsor its Accelerator initiative, which is aimed at supporting start-up agencies and boosting collective learning.
The scheme will help fledgling shops with insufficient levels of revenue to qualify for full IPA membership, allowing them access to the industry body's legal and professional development advice, resources and publications.
Accelerator has grown from three to 66 start-ups in just over a year. With consultancy and accountants Moore Kingston Smith on board, it will now give start-ups access to a calendar of events advising agencies on how to maximise growth.
The first event, dubbed "Understanding the numbers", takes place on 14 July and will focus on how agencies can review their performance, which key ratios they should be tracking and how they can benchmark results against their rivals and industry averages. Moore Kingston Smith will present its annual survey data at the session, which analyses the performance of more than 250 marketing services companies.
Start-ups will also be invited to participate in a content series for Accelerator, enabling them to share their insights, experiences and predictions, information designed to be useful both for entrepreneurs and established agencies.
Once start-ups reach a financial performance threshold, they will be invited to take up full IPA agency membership.
Julian Douglas, the IPA's president, said: "Existing IPA agencies can learn a lot from start-ups' mentality and approach, and start-ups can equally gain great insight from the experience and effectiveness of existing IPA agencies. We see the Accelerator scheme very much as an opportunity to '10x' our IPA community and '10x' our collective learning."
Francesca Robe, director at Moore Kingston Smith, added: "As leading accountants and advisers to the advertising sector, we understand the challenges that start-up agencies face from day one.
"We know that every agency is different, so we are able to customise our support to suit, however, our overall aim remains the same and that is to ensure we help each business to maximise growth and profit potential."
Any start-up interested in Accelerator can join free for the first three months.
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