The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 23
Certax partners Matthew McConnell and Jonathan Tait with their team at Parson ’ s Court .
By Martin Walker
Accountants create 12 new jobs in 6 months after continued expansion
A fast-growing team of accountants has taken on more new members of staff after creating its own traineeship programme which has produced four new apprentices .
The Durham franchise of national network Certax has been based at Parson ’ s Court on Aycliffe Business Park since August 2013 .
After impressive growth , partners Matthew McConnell and Jonathan Tait decided to buy their own premises at the end of 2015 after renting part of a nearby office block for two years .
They paid a six-figure sum to purchase a two-storey building , previously leased by construction firm Southdale which had gone into liquidation , from Cheshire-based owners Gladman Developments .
In September 2016 , Certax Durham added eight new employees to its growing team and has since added another four .
They include new payroll director Craig Holmes and apprentices Nathan Ebblewhite ( accounts ), Ellis Tait ( accounts ), Shelby Raine ( admin ) and Aran Wilkinson ( tax ), who have completed a new training programme with the firm .
Certax teamed up with a local recruitment consultant to advertise the traineeship scheme , which received 60 applicants who were initially whittled down to 10 .
Seven of those then took part in the six-week training programme leading up to Christmas 2016 . The four successful applicants started their apprenticeships in January , with three of them studying at New College Durham and one at Bishop Auckland College .
Partner McConnell said : “ We wanted to come up with a training programme to give young local people the opportunity to get a foot in the door of accounting and finance .
“ During the six-week training programme the applicants got a general feel for how the business works . They ’ d spend the morning with us doing some basic work experience – answering the phones and general admin – and in the afternoon they spent time with a tutor , learning some basic accounting and VAT return analysis .
“ We ’ ve invested a lot of time and money into the programme but it has already paid dividends . When the successful applicants started with us in January , it was like taking on four new members of staff who have really hit the ground running and have been a breath of fresh air .”
Along with the appointment of Craig Holmes as payroll director , Certax has also promoted three junior staff to account managers .
The move will enable McConnell and Tait to spend more time on business development while also completing their studies to become fully-accredited chartered accountants .
McConnell : “ We have ambitious plans to grow the business so we ’ ve appointed three accounts managers to manage our bank of clients , while Craig will also be solely responsible for existing payroll clients as well as winning new work .
“ It will enable us to spend more time with our clients and develop the business , as well as complete our studies to become fully chartered accountants .
“ We started studying two years ago – to become ACA-accredited chartered accountants and CTA-accredited chartered tax advisors – but we had to put more time into growing and developing the business .
“ Becoming fully chartered will enable us to win more new clients and grow the business again .”
Certax ’ s team at Aycliffe is now up to 20 , while the firm has grown its client list from 700 to more than 1,000 customers .
It ’ s now one of the best performing franchises in the UK , of around 200 , and is dealing with a range of clients , from sole traders up to £ 5m-a-year companies including multi-national sports clothing brands among others .
It ’ s an impressive success story for entrepreneurs McConnell and Tait , who were aged just 23 and 22 respectively when they launched the business with one administrator .
They currently have a total of eight apprentices , while three other apprentices have completed their training and left for other work .
Certax Durham is based at Units 8 / 9 Parsons Court , Welbury Way , Aycliffe Business Park . You can contact them on 01325 315666 , email info @ certaxdurham . co . uk or go to www . certaxdurham . co . uk