Our Story

The journey of a small business accounting firm

All three directors have experienced the conveyor belt, rat race style of contractor, and small business accounting firsthand, seeing the issues that failing client service has on longevity and engagement.

Seeing an unsustainable model that was more geared toward revenue than client satisfaction was something all directors collectively felt uncomfortable with. Ricky Whitfield founded Contrast Accounting (the parent name of Accrue) in 2022, to be exactly as the name suggests: different. Ricky and Chris Deakin worked together for many years for one of the large contractor accountants, offering their expert tax-saving advice to thousands of clients. Chris always had the ambition of setting up his own firm, and in early 2023, he joined Ricky as a director, bringing in the name Accrue.

Chris and Tom Edwards formed a working relationship in early 2022, when Tom was working for one of the UK’s leading finance brokerages. Their immediate rapport and drive for results meant they stayed in contact, with Tom completing the leadership team by joining as the sales director in August 2023.

Since then, the team has continued to expand, with Charlotte Daniels, Greg Timson, and Charlie Partridge, bringing their wealth of experience and joining as senior personal accountants. Their recruitment was based on trust, with Chris and Ricky being their colleagues from previous roles, similarly in the owner-managed business space.