Kreston Reeves
Who are Kreston Reeves?
The firm was founded by James Worsfold in 1821, in 1840 it was re-named Worsfold & Sons when his son joined and they moved to Canterbury.In 1861 the group amalgamated with Henry Hayward and became Worsfold & Hayward operating as auctioneers, accountants and architects. In 1877 the firm listed in the accountants directory.
In 1936, the firm merged to become Neylan & Co and in 1967 merged with Reeves to become Reeves & Neylan. In 1999, the group merged with Brian Elvy & Co. The following year, it amalgamated with Coach House Insurance Consultants, who became Coach House Financial Services Ltd and ultimately Kreston Reeves Financial Planning Limited.
In 2010 the company became Reeves having merged with FW Stephens – bringing accountancy, business advice and financial services together under one umbrella. Finally in 2015, the firm took the name Kreston Reeves to better reflect its membership of the Kreston network. The next year it merged with Spofforths, creating one of the largest accountancy and financial advisory firms in the South East of England.
The group is run by Tim Levey, chairman and head of business advisory, Nigel Fright, managing partner and Darren Hurdle, corporate finance director and Michael Cook, head of audit and financial reporting.
The firm operates out of eight offices across the South East of England and employs over 500 people.
What do they do?
The group offer a variety of services such as:
Audit and assurance – The specialist team provides an independent Accountant’s Report on the service charge expenditure, auditing service charge accounts if the lease stipulates that they must be audited. They also prepare summaries of relevant costs in accordance with section 21 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Prepares the company’s corporation tax return and provides personal tax advice, completes trust tax returns on any taxable income arising from the service charge trust, prepares and files the company’s statutory accounts with Companies House.
In addition, within this service, the group issues shareholder/membership certificates and maintains statutory records and prepares leasehold accounts – including income and expenditure accounts, balance sheets, setting out the key accounting policies and summarising annual expenditures. Finally bookkeeping services for self-managed blocks and limited companies
Legal – The firm offers help with wills and probate, trusts, powers of attorney, estate planning, investments, as well as pensions and tax.
Financial – The group’s financial expertise includes, fund managers, insurance brokers, insurance intermediaries, financial advisors, stockbrokers, lessors and lenders, payment services,corporate finance houses, private equity houses, property funds.
The compliance team also provides specialism in compliance monitoring, drafting compliance documentation, including manuals, GABRIEL reporting, business continuity plans, ICAAP reports, money laundering training, assistance with authorisation systems and controls reviews.
Recent financials
For the year ended 31 May 2020, profit before tax was £10.3m, £1.1m higher than last year and was partially offset by higher staff costs. Group turnover also grew 4% to £39.2m despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.
In the news
Kreston Reeves recently revealed that it has raised £5,500 for charity by completing a challenge to hike 50km (31 miles) in just one day in the South East.
The team of nine started their walk at 6am on Saturday 22 May 2021 and finished at 9:30pm after 15 hours. The hike included attempting the highest peak in the Lake District (Scafell Pike), they were also met on route by one of their colleagues who cycled over 120km from his home in Preston to Keswick to meet them.
Taking part in the challenge were Sarah Ediss, Candice Hanson, Christopher Gregory, Jack and Paula Clipsham, Colin Laidlaw, Jack Fosberry, Matthew Oxenham and Laurence Parry from Kreston Reeves’ offices in London, Kent and Sussex.
The charities supported by this challenge were The Samaritans (Horsham), Turning Tides (Worthing), The Honeypot Children’s Charity (London), Choices (Chatham) and The Clock Tower Sanctuary (Brighton).
Ediss said: “I’m really proud of everyone who took part, it was particularly exhausting towards the end but we made it and the rain clouds even cleared to give us some amazing views. “