JACOBS ALLEN - Key Persons
Brian is a Bury St Edmunds man through and through, having been born and educated here and having worked here all his life. His working experience has always been in accountancy, from the accounting function through internal audit in the West Suffolk Hospital group in the 1960s then moving to join a local firm of Chartered Accountants in the early 1970s.
There he dealt predominantly with accounts, VAT and payroll for sole traders, partnerships and family companies and has continued his interest in this type of work for clients of all sizes. In 1993, he went into partnership with Bob Jacobs and Robert Allen and formed one of the foundations of the current business. His experience in accounting technical matters and superb organisational skills make him very efficient at putting together accounts and dealing with tax returns, ensuring that compliance issues are kept well under control. Most particularly, he has built up specialist expertise in accounting for property management companies and attendant property investor issues.
He qualified as a member of the Association of Accounting Technicians in 1987 and became a Fellow in 1994, concentrating his efforts on essential accounting matters.
Outside of work, one could say that he's a bit of a dark horse - sorry, that should be he owns a bit of a dark horse, and some others besides. He is seriously into horse racing and his co-ownership of horses has obviously been astutely managed, as his syndicate has had a number of racing successes. Whether you can get the inside knowledge to give you a better chance at the bookmakers is of course debatable.
Carl's great talents at work stem from both his technical expertise in financial reporting, company law and the vagaries of accountancy software and his thoroughness in ensuring that every job is properly structured and completed to a high standard.
He joined a top 10 firm of chartered accountants as a ‘junior' in 1988 and ‘rose through the ranks' to take on a managerial role. During that time he gained a considerable amount of accountancy and tax experience, working with a wide range of clients, from sole traders and personal tax cases to more sizeable limited companies with international operations. He also developed a specialist role regarding compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for corporate accounts. With Jacobs Allen, he continues to enjoy dealing with similar types of work and clients. He acts as our internal source of help on a number of operational matters and is always ready to assist wherever his talents make the work for a client more efficient and robust. He manages the preparation of regular management accounts for those clients who wish to have this valuable source of up to date management information in order to better develop their businesses.
Of his professional studies he comments "I started with the Association of Accounting Technicians, passed those exams in 1990 and then quickly progressed to qualify as a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in 1994. Since then I have taken a keen interest in staying abreast of technical developments across the broad spectrum of legislation and recommended practice that has an impact on family businesses."
Outside work, Carl's focus is across a range of sport and be very afraid if he challenges you to a game of snooker! He is a central member of our successful quiz team (previous winners of the Bury Abbey Rotary Club Quiz, competing against much larger firms of accountants, solicitors, banks and other businesses) with a huge general knowledge base, so even if your query hasn't got anything to do with accountancy, rest assured we know where to go to get you the answer!
Celia qualified as a Chartered Accountant, training in practice before gaining experience in industry. But everything changed when she had children and decided that she'd better be a teacher so that she could enjoy school holidays with them. Despite a demanding job role as AAT course co-ordinator, Celia felt that she was missing out by only teaching accounting instead of doing it and so she's returned, full of enthusiasm, to work at the coalface again.
Outside of work, Celia is enthusiastic about fitness, whether it's walking the dog, being left behind by the kids on a bike ride or going to fitness classes at the gym - where she's one of those people who're disappointed when the class gets to the lie back and meditate phase.
Chris is a Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) and a Fellow of the Association of Taxation Technicians (AAT Fellow) with over 40 years of experience in the field of UK taxation. During his career, he has advised a broad spectrum of clients from basic rate taxpayers through to high-net-worth individuals, sole traders, directors, partners and those with many sources of income, as well as limited companies on indirect and direct UK taxes.
Chris was a founding member of a group of professionals covering Suffolk and North Essex (SANE) (!) who had meetings with and made representations on tax compliance issues to senior members of HMRC. Chris was for a while Chair of this ‘Working Together' Group.
Prior to joining our team Chris was the Tax Partner of a regional practice until he retired to put his feet up. However, that didn't quite work out as the desire to return to working with clients and to advise them on tax matters was still there. After meeting with Keith and Sheila, he just knew he needed to get back to using his skills in practice. Chris may have reduced his hours of work but never his commitment to clients.
Chris grew up in Wickford, left school after ‘A' levels and married his childhood sweetheart. They have three children and eight grandchildren. "Most months have a family birthday" says Chris. He started work in a London Stockbrokers, was promoted and took a pay cut, as his earnings would then be commission based, coinciding with the Stock Market crash! Chris then worked for HMRC and after a few years he joined a firm of Chartered Accountants in London. He then changed jobs to a national firm who had an office in Colchester where he worked for a few years. He left them to join what was then a small upcoming young Practice where he set up and managed their tax team during which time he rose to the position of being their Tax Partner.
Chris is a Chartered Accountant and Statutory Auditor with many years' experience of providing business advice, audit, accounting, tax and business succession planning, corporate restructuring and growth support. He joined us in April 2021 from a regional firm in East Anglia where he was a partner and head of their corporate finance department.
His experience spans a wide range of sectors including professional services, retail, hospitality, manufacturing and agriculture, and he applies his skills to deliver forward thinking, agile and innovative outcomes and benefits to clients, so they can look beyond the numbers, develop their plans for the future and add direct commercial value.
But why jump ship to join us? Chris says ‘I was attracted by Jacobs Allen's reputation for providing first class tax and business advice, excellent client service and value for money to clients in the region and beyond. The Jacobs Allen ethos of building trusted, long lasting relationships with clients fits perfectly with my own approach.' So, we are excited to have him on board to help strengthen our commitment to client relationships, service and satisfaction.
But what really ignites his passion is demystifying the process of selling or acquiring businesses and making advice on this accessible to all clients irrespective of the size of transaction involved. He believes that an understanding of corporate finance is essential in order to be able to provide holistic business advice, and rest assured he'll be wasting no time in delivering that specialism along with the rest of the team to benefit clients. Please call him if you are thinking about a sale or acquisition and want to find out more.
Chris currently lives in Cambridge with his wife and daughter and is looking forward to returning to work in Suffolk where he spent the earlier part of his career. He enjoys spending his weekends with his family, and has a wide variety of interests from science to music, art and literature - sounds ideal for a quiz team we think! Chris is a keen cyclist and also says, as the old song puts it, "if you take my advice, there's nothing so nice as messin' about on the river", be it in a punt, canoe, kayak or paddle board. Well, we'd suggest his advice is well worth taking, and not only about the river!
Chancellor George Osborne delivered his Budget 2016 on 16 March 2016 and outlined several changes national insurance, corporation tax and stamp duty.
Jaclyn beat 72 other applicants to the job of PA & Administrator and joined us in July 2014 having moved to Bury from Mildenhall.
She has worked in the administration side of businesses for many years initially at a large Pharmaceutical Company, then in Schools and also a stint at a Farm Shop.
Jaclyn is probably the first contact you will have with Jacobs Allen as she is our meet and greet. Her role has expanded and she now assists in setting up new client records. She is also our go to for all things Windows based, although these days she is experimenting with Mac too! She's a dab hand at Social Media and is now responsible for most of our Tweets and Facebook items so give her a retweet or like sometime. She knows a fun Social Media post when she sees one and frequently creates some of our best.
Outside of work, Jaclyn enjoys travelling and photography, especially good with military aircraft and attending RAF dinners. When not planning the next adventure holiday she is probably still processing the photographs from the last one!
Jane has had a varied career, from dental nurse to bookkeeper via being an estate agent. All of which have added to her ability to manage situations without fuss! She has been bookkeeping now for 10 years and is looking forward to building on her experiences to grow those skills to become an integral member of our professional bookkeeping team. Her love of learning has not faded so she is enjoying working with our diverse clients and colleagues. Jane qualified as AAT L2 in 2019.
She has grown up in Norfolk where she still lives with her two young adult children. As a close-knit family, they share their love of music, food, nature and enjoy looking after two very spoilt felines. The three F's in her life are family, friends and faith. Outside work, these are the most important things in Jane's life.
Her interests include cooking, especially trying new cuisine, eating out, gardening, and walking in and around Norfolk which is rich in wildlife and brings her much pleasure. She loves going to theatre shows and is planning to make it to a ballet and opera in the not-too-distant future.
Jo really enjoyed studying design and fashion after leaving school, and then secured a ‘proper' job at the Post Office as she needed to earn money! This is where her love of numbers first started, and she has never looked back.
After leaving the Post Office to have her first child, she and her family moved from Cambridgeshire to Essex. When the time was right for her to embark on the world of paid work again, she joined a Chartered Accountancy firm in Saffron Walden where she learnt her Bookkeeping trade. Jo remained at that firm for over 10 years and worked her way up to Financial Controller.
At that time, she and her husband decided to take a sabbatical to enjoy the "good life" so they moved to a small Greek island and built a new life living on a mountainside, mixing with the locals and enjoying growing their own vegetables. This also gave her the opportunity to rekindle her love of painting. And the sun was lovely too!
Then, her first grandchild was born back in the UK and the pull was just too strong, so she returned to the UK where she enjoys Bookkeeping. In her spare time she is usually found looking after her grandchildren, walking with her dogs or dabbling in the garden. Jo has been married for over 30 years and her husband, children and now two grandchildren keep her and her husband very busy!
Kevin is involved in a payroll function with Jacobs Allen. His early payroll experience having been gained working for Jobs for Coventry Limited (JFC), a training company , as a book-keeper and in a payroll support role. He was also based in the City of London, with stints with both Midland Bank International Division and with merchant bank, Morgan Grenfell & Co Ltd.
Job Titles:
- Client Manager
- Fellow of the Association of Accounting Technicians
Michael is a Fellow of the Association of Accounting Technicians and has been an accountant for nearly 20 years - although his youthful looks make this fact hard to believe! He Joined us in October 1996 and has been with us ever since.
Michael is married to Lucinda and they have a young daughter, Lily. In his spare time, Michael enjoys playing football and cricket, as well as other team sports. He is a full time roadie, following Lily's various activities and clubs, and enjoys going to the gym. We think he's trying to avoid the middle aged spread! Michael also has an unexplained affection for buying Superdry clothes!
Nick is very personable with an easy manner, hence he gets on very well with clients and team members alike and he's always eager to please. He is AAT qualified and a great accounting technician with years of experience in general accountancy practice on everything from basic bookkeeping, through to financial reporting, to some specialist VAT work. He understands clients' businesses very well.
He qualified as a Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians and worked for another local firm for many years, then developed his own practice when he left them in 2017, which grew so rapidly that he was becoming overwhelmed by his own success! To develop that business further, in 2022 Nick merged with Jacobs Allen so that all of those clients now have the benefit of a broader spectrum of assistance, covering more specialist areas such as tax advice, corporate finance and audit. He is also enjoying our team approach to getting work done and the support that provides for both personal technical development and practical day to day efficiencies.
Outside of work, Nick is a devoted family man who enjoys spending time with his wife and children. He is also a keen Festival goer and supporter of his son's band. He is a committed Christian and his faith means a great deal to him; he has for many years provided voluntary support to St Edmunds Catholic Church.
Ollie has completed his AAT qualification and has embarked on his more comprehensive training leading to becoming a fully qualified ACA Chartered Accountant. He will now be looking after a portfolio of clients under guidance from our experienced client managers. Here, he will learn all aspects of our work, right through to more advanced advisory experience further along that journey.
Along with choral singing, he enjoys bread making and cooking (yes, another foodie joins the team - it's not a prerequisite - really!) and continues to nurture the interest in history and literature he developed at university. So, narrowly interpreted, that's baking loaves of bread using ancient grain varieties from recipes written in Middle English?
Sheila manages the practice. Her skills in recruitment, systems and keeping people on their toes, as well as her having a sixth sense mean that she is at the forefront of ensuring we deliver a high quality of service to you.
Whether she is in the office or not, we all strive to please her and she is really working on your behalf, so we have to be better than good; in fact she wants us to be better than you expect us to be and that's tough, but we constantly try!
She has a very varied and successful background; from managing a pub when she was just eighteen years old; being the most successful Director of Studies at a top 10 firm of Chartered Accountants (not us, yet!) with students achieving a 100% pass rate (yes, they were shown how to be better than they expected too, and they thanked her for it!); as Director of Recruitment at another top 10 firm, analysing which graduates were most likely to succeed and persuading them to join the firm; running her own business for 15 years advising charity clients on tax effective giving and fundraising systems; named in the 1st Edition of Debrett's Distinguished People of Today.
We're lucky to have her on our side to keep us in shape; let's face it we wouldn't want her to be on anyone else's side, would we? Her caring attitude and desire for us all to be happy is what makes our business the great place to work that it is, so when you hear us having fun, be sure that it's Sheila's hand at work! And if for some reason we don't live up to your expectations, we are truly sorry and we do really want you to tell her Email her at sheila@jacobsallen.co.uk, though it would be great if you can also tell her when we have delivered value to you.
Tim is a very committed individual, sharing that principal commitment between the work he does for us and his faith. He therefore ensures that the work he does for you is delivered on time and with a high degree of accuracy and technical quality. His background experience is varied, as he qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant and has since worked in both practice and commerce in various places in England and Northern Ireland before returning to his home in Bury St Edmunds.
Always working with a calm demeanour, he deals with problems that occur without any fuss and has quickly become part of the foundation of our team. Equally at home with accounting or tax work and also with an eye to clients' commercial issues, he takes a pragmatic view of what is required to achieve the result needed. He is very organised and is able to quickly assimilate new concepts and so manages to deal with work efficiently and research technical matters thoroughly. If you're in a panic, just speak to Tim and he'll take you through the problem so that you then feel you've got someone who will relieve the burden for you.
Outside of work, Tim is always happy to have a philosophical discussion. He enjoys his holidays, friends and family and seems to have life well in balance, giving each part the attention it truly deserves.