When a company served by Windcrest Management Ltd. comes of age, it usually stops using the accounting ookkeeping company's services.

That's because Mr. William Carr's business provides services to companies which are too small to have their own accounting staff. As they grow larger, they add staff and no longer need Windcrest.

It's the best way to lose a long-time client, said Mr. Carr, 36.

Windcrest's niche is the small to mid-size company market where, in many cases, it is less expensive to out-source accounting functions than to employ a full-time bookkeeper.

"When companies become big, they often can afford to take on their own staff to work in-house. That's just the nature of this type of service. But we find that when we lose a company we've provided services to for several years, often we find ourselves gaining a new one,'' he said.

"We also appeal to the fledgling business. We can give personal attention from the outset. We work with the company and often with their bank. Sometimes it helps to have someone who `thinks of the glass as half empty' who can provide a new business owner with the worst-case scenario.'' The services Windcrest provides are in demand because the company offers lower rates compared to the "big six'' Island accounting firms, he said.

"Offering competitive rates helps our service appeal to small to mid-sized companies.

"We have a client which we provide a payroll service for their 100 employees, others require a receivables service at the end of each month, while others require service every day. We renegotiate leases, in some cases act as officers and directors of companies. It's far more involved than just bookkeeping.'' Today, Windcrest, located on Reid Street at Chancery Lane, has a staff of five and services various accounting and bookkeeping needs for about 30 companies.

Since 1990, Windcrest's yearly sales have doubled while the client base has grown fourfold as at the end of 1994. A private company, Mr. Carr preferred not reveal annual profits of Windcrest.

But he did say it generates a "comfortable'' income.

"When you are selling a service, staff is the key. When you own your own business you have to go the extra step. It is in my immediate benefit to do extra.'' In 1980 Mr. Carr began his career in auditing but soon found it not to his liking and then worked for an insurance management company, a captive insurance manager as well as a general management firm which provided accounting and management services to local and international companies.

In the first half of the 1980s, he had acquired half a dozen clients requiring accounting services, among them, one of the Island's trucking companies.

It soon became clear it was time to concentrate on his own clients and in 1986 he departed the general management company.

His clients, as well as two restaurant operations his brother Mr. Tom Carr was associated with, would become the clients of Windcrest Management Ltd.

But in 1990, Mr. Carr, and his brother chose to divide the company.

Mr. Carr would retain six local companies and one international firm as clients while the restaurants would become part of a separate entity.

He said they decided the two components would work best apart. But the split was a friendly one.

Recently, Mr. Carr, with his brother and their father as an another associate, opened Onion Jack's Trading Post on Front Street.

Mr. Carr, reflecting on the companies he has been associated with, said Bermuda's business environment has definitely toughened in the past 15 years.

Up until about 1990, the right idea, sufficiently capitalised and properly managed, had an excellent chance of success in Bermuda but not today, he said.

Retail business has become extremely tough because of higher operating costs, duty, overseas shopping, and the shift to a global marketplace, he said.

"Bermuda's retail sector could drop to one which only provides basic items.'' The services sector, though, he believes is in better shape because of international companies' growth.

Mr. William Carr