Hello, my name is Simon Bowes and together with my wife Maureen, we run a Fareham based micro-business called People Intelligence. We are a coaching company specialising in the application of Emotional Intelligence to leaders and teams, particularly in the world of education.

Colin Bielckus has been our accountant since 2005, producing our annual accounts, our quarterly VAT returns and our annual tax returns. We do our own bookkeeping using a spreadsheet that Colin has created specifically for our business, and he has continually adapted our systems over the years to meet the inevitable changes that have occurred as our business has evolved.

For example:

We added a package of online learning materials to supplement our coaching. These courses are sold and delivered online. The payment gateway we use to process these online transactions charges a processing fee, which is deducted from the customer payment before we receive the balance. As a result, we needed to cope with the extra complexity of reverse VAT. After a short discussion with Colin, he was able to amend our spreadsheet to allow us to account for this transaction fee, ensuring that we did not overpay VAT to HMRC.

Why have we stuck with Colin for so long?

Well, I guess there are three main reasons. Firstly, we know Colin, and he knows us. We have built up a long-standing bond of trust which gives us peace of mind and

means that we can ask him anything, secure in the knowledge that he will tailor his advice to suit our business. Secondly, Colin understands that we know our business, but we are not financial experts. By nature, we are quite risk averse, so it’s important to us that we comply with the ever-changing regulatory landscape. Colin’s advice has always been spot-on, straightforward and pragmatic. Lastly, Avenue Business Services, like People Intelligence, is a micro business and understands first-hand the needs of, and pressures on, our type of company. We also love the fact that they are not a large accountancy practice which means that their fees are reasonable and we deal directly with Colin.

Would we recommend Colin?

Given what we have said previously, the answer is an unequivocal yes. Simon and Maureen Bowes
People Intelligence