1963
Leeds
Where Ruth and Clement started, in two rooms on Park Square East. Family companies, farms and estates, private clients, charities, and our outsourced finance team.
Family businessesReconciled to the penny.
Accountants and tax advisers to owner-managed businesses, tech companies, farms, charities and the families behind them. Born in Leeds in 1963, now in Sheffield and Manchester too.
Standing termsEvery client
- 01A named partner and manager who both know who you are
- 02A person on the phone, 8.30am to 5.30pm on weekdays
- 03Fixed fees, agreed in writing before we start
- 04A one-page letter with every set of accounts
- 05Bad news early, while there is time to act
Brought forward from1963
Five kinds of work. One fixed fee, agreed before we start.
Done by the same people for the same clients, year after year. Most clients use two or three of them.
- AAccounts and complianceYear-end and management accounts, filings, and the one-page letter.
- BTaxCorporation, personal and VAT, R&D relief, and HMRC enquiries.
- CPrivate clientSuccession, trusts and inheritance tax, alongside your solicitor.
- DBusiness advisoryForecasts, funding, valuations, sales and employee ownership.
- EOutsourced financeBookkeeping, payroll and a part-time finance director.
Statutory accounts are written for HMRC. Ours come with a letter for you.
Since 1963, every set of accounts we prepare has gone out with one page in plain English: what happened this year, why, and what to watch next year.
Ruth Shaw, one of our founders, started the habit. Clients keep the letters for decades, and some have shown us ones written to their grandparents.
Park Square East, Leeds
Dear both,
Your accounts for the year are enclosed. The short version: sales held steady, but the price of flour and energy took most of the margin. You still made a profit, and the bank balance is healthy.
Next year, watch the second van. It costs more to run than the round it serves. We should talk about it in the spring, before the lease renews.
Yours sincerely,
Fenella Garside
Each office grew out of the businesses around it.
2003
Sheffield
Built on Gordon Hepworth’s client list of toolmakers, cutlers and engineers. Now in a former file works on Kelham Island.
Manufacturing and engineering2009
Manchester
Joined through the Ashworth Pike merger. Studios, software and small UK tech companies, with partners who are careful about R&D relief.
Creative, digital and techIf a client can’t explain their accounts to their own family, we haven’t finished the job.