Steve Greensill, Director at Pursglove & Brown, said: “Joining Haines Watts allows us to offer a wider range of services specifically aimed at business owners, giving clients access to a new pool of skilled specialists. Our existing team will remain in Chester to ensure that we can continue to offer our fantastic level of service to current clients.” Vikki Wynne, Director at Haines Watts, said: “Our aim is to become the prominent name across the region for expert accountancy, tax and business advice to North West business owners. We’re delighted to be joining forces with such a strong practice and the merger will bring development opportunities for our combined team, as well as giving clients access to a wider range of specialist services and expertise.” Steve adds: “The merger provides a strong platform for growing an even more exciting and dynamic business to support North West companies. It combines two firms with similar approaches to client service and shared values.” The team in Chester will continue to offer the same high-quality level of support and advice in accounting, audit, corporate tax, personal tax, R&D tax credits and business valuation.
The Haines Watts Worcestershire office has completed its £100,000 relocation – announcing plans to expand and create 25 new jobs in the West Midlands. The expansion includes plans to increase fees to £15m by 2026 through a combination of organic growth and a series of acquisitions across the region. There will also be a stronger focus on greater collaboration across its offices in Birmingham, Hereford, Tamworth, Wolverhampton and Worcester and the creation of regional centres of excellence to support clients in the arts, engineering, healthcare, leisure, professional services and technology sectors. “The last twelve months have been extremely challenging, but ultimately rewarding in the way our team has come together to deliver critical advice to our clients when they needed it most,” said Tim Pearce, Managing Partner at Haines Watts in Worcester.
“Thanks to the success of the vaccine roll-out, we are now seeing renewed optimism in the business community, and we want to ensure that we have the capacity and the knowledge to support owner-managed firms as they look to bounce back and grow.”
The result saw Team Bath finish in third place in the league – level on points with overall winners Loughborough Lightning and second-placed Manchester Thunder but missing out on goal difference. Team Bath had set the pace for much of the 2021 league season, including two separate winning streaks of eight and nine games respectively. The third-place finish meant Team Bath also qualified for the end-of-season playoffs. Team Bath defeated Manchester Thunder in the semi-final but lost out to Loughborough Lightning in the final. Geoffrey Fairclough from Haines Watts said: “We have seen the high standards that Team Bath set for themselves so they will doubtless be disappointed to miss out on the Superleague title – especially by such a narrow margin. However, we are all so proud of their efforts this season, in which for many weeks they set the standard for everyone else to follow.
“We are delighted for the Haines Watts brand to be associated with such a high-performing team. The profile of Netball is growing all the time and we were happy to be able to support the team this year.” Haines Watts is a Superleague Principal Sponsor of the team and plays an active part in supporting not just the elite side, but also the pathway of young and talented netballers across the region through Team Bath’s academy sites in Truro, Bristol, Bath, Exeter, Hartpury, Glastonbury, Salisbury and Blandford Forum.
Bradley Barraclough, tax incentives and reliefs specialist in the Newcastle office, was awarded the Johnson Award by the Association of Tax Technicians (ATT). The Johnson Medal is awarded to the candidate with the best overall performance when passing the Computer Based Examinations (CBE) in Professional Responsibilities & Ethics, Law and Principles of Accounting within a six-month period. Rob Pooley was nominated for the Best Digital Rising Star at the Digital Accountancy Awards. “Regardless of who wins, it’s great to read about other accountants and professionals within the industry who are using technology to help improve their practice as well as their clients’ businesses, and then being rewarded for their efforts with these prestigious awards,” said Rob. Haines Watts won Best Employer of the Year at the Yorkshire Accountancy Awards. The judges said: “Haines Watts received excellent feedback from staff, who have always felt supported, particularly during the pandemic. Haines Watts is also a big believer in developing staff through training and received great reviews for its work, including the Leadership Development Programme.” Sophie Draper, meanwhile, was nominated for the Trainee of the Year prize.
After starting his career as an apprentice, Jonathan quickly progressed through his exams and the Learning Development Programme, to be named Haines Watts’ youngest partner at the age of 26 for his drive, forward-thinking and ambition both personally and for the practice. Jonathan said: "I was delighted to be featured on Accountancy Age’s 35 under 35 list, it’s a wonderful achievement for myself but it’s also an opportunity to showcase our culture at Haines Watts. We don’t have a time served ethos - if you are doing the job and walking the walk, then you’ll thrive and my journey has proven that." Jonathan has made his mark on the firm nationwide. He plays a pivotal role in Haines Watts’ consistent, organic growth, launching new group service lines and leading on two practice acquisitions. Collaboration is at the heart of his success story. He said: “At 24 I started focusing on how Haines Watts could collaborate more effectively and how I could offer my niche specialism across the group. I started getting on trains, cars and flights to every region in the Haines Watts network to demonstrate what the North East office could offer in terms of this tax specialism I had started. This came with its challenges; the North East isn’t particularly central or viewed as the Northern powerhouse, so I had to build relationships by proving our value and gaining trust. Working collaboratively was a real catalyst for change and now we’ve built the department which started as me alone, to a growing team of over 20 people.” Whilst building a first-class reputation for specialist tax services, he takes a leading role in the North East and Yorkshire region. In 2020/21, turnover surpassed £8.3m – an organic increase of 12 percent on the previous year – and headcount exceeded 100, with a talent pipeline queuing to join the team.
