West accountancy firm Bishop Fleming has been named as the UK’s fastest-growing firm in Accountancy Age magazine’s annual Top 50 league table.
The firm, which has an office in Bristol and recently expanded into Bath, achieved an annual growth rate of 28%, according to Accountancy Age.
The analysis also showed the firm’s fee income for accountancy services grew by 26%, while its fee-income for tax services by 65% while its fee income for consultancy doubled in the past year.
Bishop Fleming bought part of failed Bath-based accountants Target last December and has since relocated to a new office in the city as it continues to grow its services. It now has 25 partners and 150 fee-earning staff across its offices which also include Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay, Truro, and Worcester.
Bristol-based managing partner Matthew Lee, pictured on the left below, said: “These findings reflect the changes and developments we have introduced during the past year.
“Part of this growth is provided by our recent acquisition of operations in Worcester and Bath. The bigger growth in our tax services reflects our investment in some of the best tax specialists for every office, spanning personal tax, corporate tax, international tax, and VAT.”
He said the figures showed Bishop Fleming could now match any of the so-called Big Four global firms in the region for the quality of its tax advice.
It is a similar message from consultancy services. “We already have this region’s largest team of business recovery and insolvency specialists and we have strengthened our team of corporate finance experts,” added Mr Lee. “We also have one of the region’s leading grant experts.”
He points out that the Accountancy Age figures only reflect part of Bishop Fleming’s latest financial year. “While we aim to sustain our league-leading growth, we are not changing our focus of championing owner-managed businesses,” he added.
