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A NORTH-EAST accountancy firm which spawned a chain of practices the length of the country is celebrating 100 years in business.

Chipchase Manners, is the biggest independent accountancy practice in Middlesbrough and was established in Albert Road, Middlesbrough, in 1908 by Charles Chipchase, after he qualified as a chartered accountant in the town.

Chipchase went on to establish other practices, as far apart as County Durham and London.

A century later, Chipchase Manners is one of several accountancy practices across the country still bearing the Chipchase name - but can truly claim to be the first and original.

Now a general accountancy practise based in Middlesbrough’s Linthorpe Road, the firm employs 30 people and provides accounts preparation, audit, taxation and business advisory and support services to more than a thousand businesses.

Its clients range from small trading businesses to £30m-turnover companies and while most are based in Middlesbrough and the wider Tees Valley area, the practice has clients with operations as far away as Dubai and The Cayman Islands.

Steve Cossins, one of three present-day partners, says: “We have grown organically, not through acquisition or merger like many other firms. Our growth has come from training our staff well and helping them to develop specialist skills, and by constantly evolving the services we provide and the technology we use.”

Chipchase Manners is one of 35 firms that make up the Tees Valley Training Group, buying in specialist training from the Leicester-based nationwide training organisation, Mercia.

But as well as staff training, Chipchase Manners says it is thriving alongside bigger “groups” by embracing, and investing in, the latest computer-based accountancy, tax and practice management systems.

Tax partner Graeme Boagey says: “We filed 90% of 2007 client tax returns online, and recently calculated that more than 50% of all communication with clients is sent and received electronically. It’s the modern way of accountancy, but we have probably invested more heavily in IT than most.”

Chipchase Manners’ website (www.chipchasemanners.co.uk) generates significant levels of activity, due mainly to the services the practice offers online, but also thanks to “bonus features” for online clients, such as links to Reuters and other international business news services.

CM Payrolls Limited, a company owned by the Chipchase Manners partners provides payroll bureau services for clients who want to avoid the administrative burden of payroll management. CM Payrolls Limited acts for over 100 clients.

Chipchase Manners provides statutory audit services to clients ranging from large multi-disciplinary engineering companies with overseas operations to one of the Tees Valley’s largest charities.

Audit Partner, Christopher Gorman said: “With the audit environment constantly evolving, it is becoming an increasingly specialised area of expertise. Chipchase Manners’ supportive attitude toward staff training and development means that we are able to provide the most up to date audit-related services to our expanding client base.”

Adds Mr Boagey: “We still work to the traditional principles that Charles Chipchase founded the business on a century ago, of service, value for money, and building relationships on trust and reliability

“We like to think that the Chipchase Manners seal on a company’s accounts stands for a professional job. We have retained clients, some for half a century or more because we provide them with a first-class service, whatever their size or industry sector.”

Chipchase Manners will mark its centenary with a staff celebration and by raising funds for a number of local charities with which the firm has had a longstanding involvement.

For further information contact Graeme Boagey on 01642 813771

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