Founded in 1980. Still answering our own phone.

What we actually do all day

Dale-Harris & Co was founded in 1980. In that time we have prepared accounts through three recessions, the introduction of self assessment, the arrival of online filing, the buy-to-let boom, auto-enrolment, and now Making Tax Digital. Very little in small business accountancy surprises us any more.

What has not changed is the shape of the work. A local business owner is good at the thing they do — building, cutting hair, fitting kitchens, writing code, letting property — and has neither the time nor the appetite to become good at tax law as well. Our job is to take that entire category of problem away, keep them compliant, keep the tax bill legitimately low, and be reachable when something unexpected lands.

How we are different from a large firm

A large practice will put a partner in the room to win the work and a junior on the file to do it. We do not have that structure. The person you meet is the person who does your accounts, and they are still there next year. That continuity is why we can spot when something looks wrong — because we remember what last year looked like.

It also means we are honest about the limits. If a piece of work genuinely needs a specialist — complex international tax, a large audit, a contentious HMRC investigation — we will say so and point you at the right person rather than learn on your money.

Our qualifications

We are Chartered Certified Accountants and Registered Auditors, regulated by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). That means continuing professional development every year, professional indemnity insurance, a formal complaints procedure, and client money rules — the protections that separate a regulated firm from someone doing books at a kitchen table.

Plain English, as a policy

We made a decision a long time ago that we would explain things in the words a normal person uses. If a letter from us needs a glossary, we have written it badly. Ask us the question you think is stupid — it is almost always the one everybody asks.