A team of North-East accountants has grown its team and expanded with a second office in the region after seeing continued growth.
Newton Aycliffe-based Think Kudos – formerly known as Certax Durham – has grown its team to 44 from 30 in the last two years.
The firm has also opened a second 2,200 sq ft office in Sherburn Hill, Durham, which houses 17 of its employees.
And Kudos’ client base has further increased, with 1,600 customers from up and down the UK now on the company’s books.
Kudos decided to rebrand from Certax Durham, which was a local franchise of a national chain, to give them more freedom to expand into other areas of finance as an independent business.
The Think Kudos group is now made up of nine brands which covers accounting, commercial finance, wealth management and insurance, as well as an asset and fleet division.
It’s the vision of partners Matthew McConnell and Jonathan Tait, who are working towards becoming a chartered accountancy.
“We’ve seen a 25% year-on-year growth since we started out in 2013,” said Jonathan.
“The Certax franchise worked for us in establishing ourselves and growing our client base, but running our own firm gives us more freedom.
“We set out plans to take the business to another level before Covid, and the pandemic slowed that process down, but we eventually launched the new brand in May 2021.”
Kudos has recruited a number of apprentices over the years but has more recently taken on experienced professionals in finance which has enabled further growth.
Matthew said: “We recruited a large number of young people a few years ago and that worked for us, many of them are still with us.
“But by bringing in specific areas of financial expertise into the business, that has really helped us push on.
“We’re also looking to invest in new technology to improve our efficiencies, which will improve our service to customers and make sure we make the most of the tech that’s out there.
“We’re confident about the future and we’re aiming for more growth in the coming years.”
During Covid, Kudos paid for two of their employees to look after furlough claims for 650 of their clients over an 18-month period.
“We did that to help our clients get through it,” added Jonathan.
“It was a difficult time for many of our clients and we saw it as a time to step up and help them.
“It was the right thing to do and we’re sure that was appreciated by our clients.”
The Kudos Accountants arm of the group helps businesses with all elements of finance, from audits, self assessment tax, payroll and VAT returns, accounts for sole traders, partnerships and limited companies, personal and business taxation planning, company formation and corporation tax compliance and planning.
Kudos also uses and offers free training in the Xero online accounting system and Receipt Bank, which saves businesses precious time by providing a quick and easy-to-use online accounting system.
• Think Kudos is based at Units 8/9 Parsons Court, Welbury Way, Aycliffe Business Park. You can contact them on 01325 315666, email [email protected] or go to www.think-kudos.com.
Pictured above: Think Kudos directors Jonathan Tait (left) and Matthew McConnell and have grown their Newton Aycliffe-based team to 44. Picture by Chris Booth.
