Timeline

Unusual Beginnings

I started my journey to becoming an Accountant in an unusual way. I was working as a labourer on an RAF base when I went into my manager’s office for my next task. My manager sat with the head of recruitment, who sarcastically said, ‘I don’t suppose you’re any good at maths, are you?’ as a bit of a joke. I replied, ‘Well, yeah, I have an A-level in advanced maths; why?’ She went on to tell me how they needed a Junior Accountant upstairs as no one they interviewed ‘had any pep about them.’ Always one to love a challenge, I decided to apply and sailed through the interviews, being offered the job within 24 hours of leaving the room. I started two weeks later. I also started my studies towards the AAT accreditation.

Stepping Up to the Challenge

My main role was to process invoices and reconcile purchase and sales ledger accounts, the stuff dreams are made of. Just under a year after starting in this role, I found out my Boss, the Officer Commanding (OC) Accounts (They have amazing titles on military bases), had been granted voluntary early redundancy, and they wouldn’t replace him. I, therefore, had to step up; being just a kid at the time, I stepped up and assumed all of the responsibilities of the OC Accounts with no change in title, no extra pay, no extra anything. A lesson learned that served me well in years to come.

Further Education

In this role, I looked after the entire finance function, from start to finish, for four separate companies located on the RAF base. The companies looked after the accommodation and meals for the staff on base.

I held this role for just over two years, believing my managers who assured me that I was compensated fairly for the market. When I completed my three-year AAT course and started my professional qualification with CIMA, I decided to look at the market for new challenges and couldn’t believe the remuneration available for someone at my education level, let alone experience level.

Andrew Page

I quickly secured a job as an Assistant Management Accountant for Andrew Page (Car part seller) with a 65% pay increase. In my interview, I was amazed at how simple the questions I was being asked were and shocked to hear some of the other applicants couldn’t even answer.

This role initially involved the day-to-day finance function for 40 branches, which rose to 60 by the time I left. I would prepare everything, including management accounts for each branch, every month. Then, I would provide a commentary on each variance to my manager, who would review it further and present it to the board. It became very obvious, very quickly, that this role was actually a side step to where I was rather than the progression I had hoped for, so after nine months, I left.

The Finance Director at the time met with me and asked if there was anything they could do to make me stay. However, when I explained what I was being offered and the company I was joining, he openly admitted that it was the best move for me.

Bettys & Taylors

I was offered the Management Accountant role at Bettys and Taylors for the Taylors department. Bettys, the famous cafes around Yorkshire and Taylors, the makers of Yorkshire Tea.

I wasn’t going to turn this down. In this role, I was responsible for preparing and analysing full management accounts. I didn’t have any direct reports, but I had plenty of staff who filtered into the management accounts, and I needed to coordinate many moving parts to get things done on time. I truly learnt at Taylor that quality is always paramount. The second best is just not good enough; we strive to produce perfection every time.

This is an ethos that has stuck with me ever since. Whilst at Bettys and Taylors, I finished my CIMA qualification and became a fully qualified Accountant.

Paynes Dairies

I then joined Payne’s Dairies as Financial Controller (Group). This group consisted of 8 companies, for which I was responsible for the entire finance function of 4, while also assisting with the remaining 4. This was a very high-level role that taught me a great deal about working with larger companies and making a real difference to the bottom line. I spent two and a half years in this role.

Pecan Deluxe

I then joined Pecan Deluxe as the Finance Director Designate at the ripe old age of 29. This was the full responsibility of the finance function, including building it into a world-class function whilst also assisting many of the other departments, such as commercial.

The previous person in the role was not a qualified accountant. Although they had done their best, some gaps emerged due to the lack of qualification and the experience gained from working their way up through other companies and observing finance functions from the ground up. During my two years in the role, I completely transformed the finance function, transitioning it from a traditional, manual, paper-based system into a streamlined digital process with a significantly faster turnaround of information.

I rebuilt the accounting software (Sage 200) from the ground up, as it wasn’t even set up to produce a profit & loss or balance sheet. This allowed the Directors the ability to see the figures almost in real-time, with just a few clicks. This information availability level changed how the business worked and allowed for much faster decision-making. I removed a lot of unnecessary costs in this role and claimed relevant grants.

I also produced a lot of financial modelling spreadsheets to assist various departments, such as quoting templates for the commercial team and wastage trackers for the operations team.

Starting Nunns Accounting

I started Nunns Accounting as a side business in 2017 whilst at Payne’s Dairies, starting by working here and there for friends and family. My core offering was customer service, where I explained things properly to clients to ensure they understood exactly what was happening and what the terms meant. This business grew rapidly through word of mouth until I was earning more from my side hustle in an hour a night and a couple of hours on the weekend than I was in my full-time role.

I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and have always wanted to do something on my own. I absolutely love business, and I know how geeky that sounds. I love helping small business owners and seeing them succeed and make amazing businesses. Most people say I have a very unique way of thinking about things and often come up with solutions that aren’t what they are expecting, but that work. I help my clients with advice on a wide range of topics, from marketing to staff issues, because I have been around long enough and have seen many problems that can be addressed.

I specialise in growing businesses and have managed to grow Nunns Accounting by 350% in 2021, whilst achieving a few awards, and I have big plans to expand further.

What the Future Holds

I am very entrepreneurial and currently have six businesses and shares in two others. I build on a passive income model in my other companies, which works very well. I invest and set the framework for someone else to operate, and I ultimately take the profits. Very nice passive income. I also invest in properties, which will be my main ‘hobby’ going forward, and I am building a portfolio. The one thing I will never give up control of is Nunns Accounting. This is my baby, and what I love to do, so, unfortunately, you will be stuck with me for a long time.

Successful Acquisition Drives Nunns’ Growth

In 2023, we were approached by a broker who stated that they had a firm quite local to us, where the owner was struggling to retire because he couldn’t find the right place for his clients. We decided as a business that this could potentially be a great opportunity for us to extend our reach and help more people even further afield by acquiring other accounting firms and integrating them into our proven formula. We met the owner, and he loved our approach, and the rest fell into place.

This was a very exciting and interesting time for us at Nunns, as it was completely new to us and was something we were very keen to make sure was the best solution for everyone, especially the clients.

Through meticulous planning and communication, this acquisition and integration was a raging success, and the clients were so happy that the broker came back to us not long after with another opportunity, and then we really began to grow.

Six Acquisitions, Thriving Clients and Growth

As of April 2025, we have successfully completed six acquisitions and integrated the staff and clients into our methodology. All with exceptional success. Clients are over the moon because they are receiving the best in class service, such as regular updates on their tax affairs, reminders of when payments are to be made to HMRC and information on any changes in legislation that may impact them that a smaller practice doesn’t have the time, resources, bandwidth or technical solutions to be able to provide.

The previous owners all have the comfort of knowing that the clients they have spent a lifetime building relationships with and caring for are with the right people, and their customer care will never slip. How is this possible in a larger firm? Keep reading.

Our Plan for the Future

Our plan is actually straightforward: keep growing organically and through acquisition until we become THE national family-run firm with family values and care at its core. We want to establish a presence across the country where we are recognised as the firm that genuinely cares and understands our clients intimately.

How do we do this? Again, it is pretty simple; we separate our teams into ‘Sites’, and these Sites work independently of each other, purely to serve their clients. There is no crossover and no dilution. Our Midlands team do not speak with or perform any work on behalf of any site other than Midland, which allows them to build very personal relationships and not lose touch with that small family firm.

These sites are also capped on turnover to ensure they don’t become too big/busy and cause the service levels to drop. They are small teams modelled on the numbers of our original site, which was welcomed so overwhelmingly in the market as filling a gap. Same number of clients cap, same team members in the same position cap. This is how we offer our world-class service and care whilst still growing.