About us

Small enough that you know who does your books.

Three accountants, two rooms on Cheap Street, and a client list made almost entirely of people who walked past the door.

Here since 2014

Three of us, and only three

Frome, Somerset

How we got here

Why there are only three of us

Hannah started the practice in 2014, in two rooms over a shop on Cheap Street, with eleven clients and a secondhand filing cabinet that is still in the corner.

Dan joined in 2017 and Marie in 2019, and we have deliberately stopped there. A fourth and a fifth would mean account managers, and account managers mean explaining your business twice a year to somebody new. At this size, the person who files your return is the person who answered the phone in August when you rang about the van.

Our clients are sole traders, small limited companies and the self-employed: builders, hairdressers, two bakeries, a surprising number of market traders, and more small shops than we expected. Most of them are within twenty minutes of the office, and most of them came to us because somebody they trust told them to.

If you are a subsidiary of something listed, we are the wrong firm, and we will tell you that inside the first ten minutes rather than take the work and learn on your time.

The three of us

Who would be looking after you

One of us takes your work and keeps it. You will know which, and you will have met them before you sign anything.

HP Director · since 2014

Hannah Pike

Limited company accounts & corporation tax

Eleven years in a Bath practice she describes as “perfectly nice, and far too big”, then Cheap Street. Hannah takes every first meeting, writes every quote, and signs off every set of statutory accounts that leaves the office.

Year-end accounts and corporation tax

Companies House and confirmation statements

First meetings and fee quotes

Anything with an HMRC letterhead on it

DR Bookkeeping · since 2017

Dan Rowsell

Bookkeeping & VAT

Dan lives in Xero and knows what every trade in this town actually spends its money on. He is the reason a wrong figure gets noticed in March instead of next January, and he has never once made a client feel stupid about a carrier bag of receipts.

Monthly bookkeeping and bank reconciliation

Quarterly VAT under Making Tax Digital

Xero setup, and teaching you as much as you want

Chasing paperwork, patiently

MT Payroll · since 2019

Marie Toogood

Payroll & self-assessment

Marie runs payroll for a good share of the independent shops in town and files more self-assessment returns before Christmas than most firms manage in the whole of January. She is the one who rings you in November, and you will be glad she did.

Payroll for up to twenty staff

RTI submissions and PAYE figures

Pension auto-enrolment and re-enrolment

Self-assessment, start to filing

An unexpected bill is a failure, not a line item.

We have never sent an invoice a client had not already agreed. When something genuinely sits outside the fee — a tax enquiry, selling the company, a second payroll — you get the number first, in writing, and you decide whether we do it.

See what a fee includes

How we work

Four habits, held to since 2014

Fixed fees, in writing

You see the monthly figure before any work begins, and it does not move without a conversation first. Reviewed once a year, never mid-job.

Early, not late

Returns go in months ahead. Filing in January buys you nothing except January, and it takes away every chance to do something about the figure.

Plain English, out loud

Every set of accounts is explained in a conversation, not emailed as a PDF. If you cannot tell somebody else what your business earned, we have not finished.

One number, three people

No switchboard, no ticket, no “your accountant will call you back within five working days”. Asking us something is inside the fee, on purpose.

Come and meet whichever of us you would be working with.

The first meeting is free and takes about half an hour. Bring last year’s accounts if you have them, and a list of the things you have been meaning to ask somebody.

Book a free first meeting

3 Cheap Street, Frome BA11 1BN

+447700900212