§ 03The practice
Eighty years of saying no.
A practice is defined less by the work it takes than by the work it declines. Ours has been declining the wrong work since 1946.
A practice is the sum of the files it refused.
We have turned down more work in the last decade than we took on. Schemes that relied on nobody looking. Clients whose numbers we were not prepared to put a name to. Sectors where another firm was plainly better placed, and we said so.
What is left is a practice that does a narrow set of things properly for a client list we understand. Our partners average nineteen years here. Our staff turnover is a third of the sector average. Neither of those is an accident, and both are the reason the person who audited you in 2019 can still tell you why a balance moved.
Eighty years
- 1946
Founded above a corn merchant's office in Nottingham.
- 1971
First audit registration. Two partners, nine staff.
- 1994
London office opens. Corporate finance formed.
- 2008
Restructuring practice built through the crisis.
- 2019
Bristol office. Outsourced finance passes 100 clients.
- 2026
Eleven partners, three offices, 412 clients.
The partners
Eleven names.
One of them is yours.
Six lead the disciplines below. Every engagement is held by one of them for its whole life, not handed to a manager after the pitch.
M. Ellery
Senior Partner
Partner since 1998
Corporate finance
R. Aldington
Partner, Audit
Partner since 2004
Charities, academies
J. Okonkwo
Partner, Tax
Partner since 2009
Private client, IHT
S. Bramall
Partner, Advisory
Partner since 2011
Forecasting, turnaround
D. Rachman
Partner, Outsourcing
Partner since 2015
Systems, payroll
H. Vaux
Partner, Corporate Tax
Partner since 2018
R&D, reorganisation