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Kellie Gray

Name of Business

Barrington Hulse Tax & Advisory Ltd

Who are you?

Kellie Gray – Practice Manager

What sets you apart from the competition?

Our approach to clients, contacts and colleagues is all about people:

For clients, our multi-stage process is expressly designed to give them time to become thoroughly comfortable with us and with our proposition, before they need to commit to a project;

For contacts (in particular our "Accountancy Partners"), our support for their practices involves an entirely obligation-free relationship, an open door to free technical assistance and CPD, and a fully transparent and valuable means by which we build them financially into the assignments they bring to us;

For colleagues, we openly engage our whole team in our practice discussions, we flex consistently to help everyone to manage their wider life commitments, and we enthusiastically share profits with them, through our quarterly bonus system which is driven by both individual and practice-wide performance.  

How did the business come about?

Chris Barrington and Rebecca Hulse, the 50:50 owners had previously worked (exceptionally well) together at a firm of Chartered Accountants in the North West of UK, when they began to talk about the possibility of Rebecca joining Chris at another practice to which he had moved in 2019. That wide-ranging discussion inevitably raised thoughts about the future and it was not many minutes before they said to each other;

"Why don't we do this the way we want to do it, and do it for ourselves and for those who will join us?" 

Chris and Rebecca planned the business, getting together every Saturday for the entire 6 months of Chris' notice period, and commenced operations on 21 September 2021.

What are your main target markets?

Our "end clients" are predominantly owners of privately-owned businesses, in all their many different shapes, sizes and sectors, and throughout their entire lifecycles.

Having said that, our principal route to market is by active association with, and support for, firms of accountants (our "Accountancy Partners") - those who do not have the personnel / skillset to provide the planning and consultancy solutions which we provide. There are thousands of firms of accountants in the UK who have portfolios of business (and other) clients needing quality planning and advisory projects, so our principal "target market" is this significant population of accountants in practice.      

How long has your business been in existence?

 As noted above, we commenced operations on 21 September 2021 with two founders, Chris and Rebecca. 18 months on and we are now four-strong, with myself and Amy having joined the business. We are now seeking our next recruit and aiming to be five-strong this year.

How many staff do you employ?

We are currently a team of four but aim to be five within the next six months or so.

What job or achievement makes you most proud?

Becoming AAT qualified whilst working full time and being a mum of two.  (Followed closely by winning the mum’s sprint race at sports day last year!)

Where do you see the business being in five years?

The business is highly scalable because there are literally thousands of potential Accountancy Partners in UK, all of whom have client portfolios needing planning support in the whole-of-lifecycle ways which BHTA provides.

We anticipate steady and consistent growth, one recruit at a time, attracting the right people who understand and are attuned to our people-oriented approach, while still being very suitably skilled and experienced in what we do.

We hope to be a practice of up to ten qualified individuals in five years, with our own premises by that time (we use serviced accommodation at the moment) and with a very strong and well-established brand which is recognised throughout the North West and, indeed, in other regions of UK.        

Tell us one interesting thing about the business that might surprise us?

Everyone at Barrington Hulse was born in August (and all of us look like lions)

Tell us one interesting thing about you that people might not know? (ie, hobbies, amusing fact, etc)

I have met the Queen.

Fantasy dinner party – which six people alive or dead would you invite?

Freddie Mercury, George Lucas, Usain Bolt, Carrie Fisher, Victoria Wood, and Tracey Neville.