Our Team of Professionally Qualified Specialists is at Your Disposal
The Jacobs Allen team of qualified Chartered Accountants, Chartered Certified Accountants, Certified Bookkeepers & Chartered Tax Advisers is committed to serving your needs, drawing on knowledge and expertise refined over several years.
Jacobs Allen can also advise on business plans, business and share valuations, tax effcient profit extraction, estate planning and trusts, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, investment opportunities, optimising provision for retirement, loans and finance, and non-domiciliary tax issues. You can also call on us to help mediate in disputes with the HM Revenue & Customs or other authorities, in order to ensure you get a fair deal.
Keith Senior
"I believe that your experience as our client should be a truly memorable one. We are here to make your business and financial life more focussed and to help you build your wealth. As the head of the firm, I want to make sure that you do get a truly world class personal service from us and that you feel that we are really committed to your success. Call me if you don´t think we measure up to this – or if we do and someone deserves congratulations."
Keith´s own personal specialisations are in strategic business advice, coupled with innovative tax planning, so that you are able to keep more of your hard earned money to use as you see fit, and to achieve your long term goals. He gets real satisfaction from seeing clients´ businesses grow and prosper, especially through a difficult economic climate, where our advice has been instrumental in their success and wealth generation.
His background educationally at Oxford University was as a scientist, developing incisive analytical skills, then commercially with 3M in sales and marketing before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser with one of the top 4 firms in the UK. This gives him a multi-faceted approach to solving commercial problems, be they transactional or structural, and ensures that we never compromise the commerciality of a deal for the sake of compliance issues.
And what of personal interests to completely fill his time? He is passionate about cooking; no, not the books!, but rather lavish savoury and sweet concoctions that taste divine, or so he tells us anyway, as well as more hearty fare depending on the mood. Of his other pursuits, he says "Photography has always been something that gives me great satisfaction, especially when you capture the essence of a person or scene. So much for the creative side, and I have to admit to probably too little physical activity except for some forays into racquet sports when I get the chance — anyone for badminton?"
Mark Baker
Mark joined us in August 2009 from Baker Tilly, where he had spent 26 years (including its predecessor firms of Binder Hamlyn and BDO Stoy Hayward) specialising in tax. He has always been used to giving clients a very personal service, managing internal communications effectively to work closely with colleagues on accounts and audit work. The quality of work that we do, the breadth and depth of that work and the opportunity of having much more involvement direct with you, our clients, are the things that tempted him to come to us.
He is enjoying being more actively involved in managing our complete service to you and brings a wealth of experience of corporate finance and restructuring, employment taxes and international tax matters, in addition to a range of tax mitigation planning techniques. Interacting with everyone else here, he is proving to be an invaluable source of knowledge and advice to other members of the team to make the work we all do for you more efficient.
He grew up in Bury St Edmunds, graduated from Bristol University with a Maths degree then came back to Bury and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1981; the lure of Suffolk proved too great to allow him to escape for long. A social being, he is already organising us to have more firm´s activities, and in addition to the fun this develops our efforts to provide you with a team approach to ensure you always have somebody that can deal with your queries if your main contact is out of the office.
Serious gardening is his passion, so much so that he has studied for and gained the RHS Advanced Certificate in Horticulture. Growth is therefore very much in his daily life, either at work or home and he enjoys nurturing businesses or plants in equal measure. Other pursuits help him to keep fit and healthy and his teenage children ensure he keeps in touch with contemporary trends – just ask him about his liking for Florence & The Machine!
Carl Simpkin
Carl´s great talents at work stem from both his technical expertise in financial reporting, company law and the vagaries of accountancy software and his thoroughness in ensuring that every job is properly structured and completed to a high standard.
He joined a firm of chartered accountants as a ´junior´ in 1988 and ´rose through the ranks´ to take on a managerial role. During that time he gained a considerable amount of accountancy and tax experience, working with a wide range of clients, from sole traders and personal tax cases to more sizeable limited companies with international operations. He also developed a specialist role regarding compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for corporate accounts. With Jacobs Allen, he continues to enjoy dealing with similar types of work and clients. He acts as our internal source of help on a number of operational matters and is always ready to assist wherever his talents make the work for a client more efficient and robust. He manages the preparation of regular management accounts for those clients who wish to have this valuable source of up to date management information in order to better develop their businesses.
Of his professional studies he comments "I started with the Association of Accounting Technicians, passed those exams in 1990 and then quickly progressed to qualify as a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in 1994. Since then I have taken a keen interest in staying abreast of technical developments across the broad spectrum of legislation and recommended practice that has an impact on family businesses."
Outside work, Carl´s focus is across a range of sport and be very afraid if he challenges you to a game of snooker! He is a central member of our successful quiz team (2009 winners of the Bury Abbey Rotary Club Quiz, competing against much larger firms of accountants, solicitors, banks and other businesses) with a huge general knowledge base, so even if your query hasn´t got anything to do with accountancy, rest assured we know where to go to get you the answer!
Gennie Swane
Gennie joined Jacobs Allen in April 2007 following a period of self—employment. She originally trained as a Chartered Accountant with Touche Ross in Birmingham and qualified in 1991. She then went on to work for the ICAEW for several years, monitoring the work of accountancy firms like us, before leaving to again work in practice. A case of Gamekeeper turned Poacher.
Previously she has been responsible for audits, preparation of accounts and tax returns for some of our corporate clients, but the focus of Gennie's responsibilities now is on the management of our statutory audits and compliance matters. She has twice been a valuable member of our Test the Town quiz team and was part of our winning team in 2009, much to her humble amazement. Her specialist subjects appear to be children's television programmes of the 1970's and 80's and the music round (signs of a misspent youth), but she does also know quite a bit about accountancy, audit regulation and business risk assessment.
Outside work Gennie spends most of her time running a taxi service to facilitate the social lives of her daughter and twin sons. If there is any spare time left after catering to the needs of the husband, children, dog and guinea pigs with whom she shares her life she is usually to be found with her nose buried in a good book, glass of wine in hand, breathing a sigh of relief.
Robert Allen
Robert deals with all manner of accounts and business issues, but he especially enjoys dealing with taxation matters including planning to minimise your exposure to income tax, capital gains tax, corporation tax, inheritance tax, stamp duty and value added tax.
He assists clients who want to use either recognised tax saving methods with minimum risk or more innovative and complex arrangements where we seek to minimise the challenge by HM Revenue and Customs. Robert also has many years experience in dealing with Revenue and Customs tax investigations and control or compliance visits.
Accountancy has been in Robert´s blood virtually from the cradle, though maybe not in the current sense. After his education at St Josephs College in Ipswich, he joined the family firm of Bookmakers and Turf Accountants (the alternative accountants!) for ten years; that gave him a real insight into business, as well as a head for figures and the odds of winning!
He then joined an Ipswich firm of Chartered Accountants (the real thing!) in 1968, where he qualified as an associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, then helped form their new taxation department. From 1978 to 1983 Robert worked in general accounting at Binder Hamlyn in Bury St Edmunds before joining a firm of Chartered Accountants with offices spread across Suffolk and Norfolk. Then in 1993 he, with Bob Jacobs and Brian Bell formed their own partnership that was one of the foundations of the current firm.
For fifteen years Robert was a committee member of the East Anglian branch of the Chartered Institute of Taxation serving as Programme Secretary, coordinating and arranging lectures until his retirement from that post and the committee in 2004.
He has a family background in horseracing and once harboured a desire to be a jockey like his grandfather before him; he does still keep in trim with swimming and ballroom dancing. Having a love of real machines, probably his greatest wish would be able to afford to own a vintage MG PB or a Sopwith Pup biplane. Dream on Robert, not on our clients & fees!
Tim Smith
Tim is a very committed individual, sharing that principal commitment between the work he does for us and his religious faith. He therefore ensures that the work he does for you is delivered on time and with a high degree of accuracy and technical quality. His background experience is varied, as he qualified as a Certified Accountant and has since worked in both practice and commerce in various places in England and Northern Ireland before returning to Bury St Edmunds.
Always working with a calm demeanour, he deals with problems that occur without any fuss and has quickly become part of the foundation of our team. Equally at home with accounting or tax work and also with an eye to clients' commercial issues, he takes a pragmatic view of what is required to achieve the result needed. He is very organised and is able to quickly assimilate new concepts and so manages to deal with work efficiently and research technical matters thoroughly. If you're in a panic, just speak to Tim and he'll take you through the problem so that you then feel you've got someone who will relieve the burden for you.
If you want to start a philosophical discussion, we're sure he'll engage you in one outside of work, but otherwise it's strictly accountancy when you call. He does enjoy his holidays, friends and family and seems to have life well in balance, giving each part the attention it truly deserves.
Bob Jacobs
Bob was educated at Emanuel School in Battersea before embarking on his accountancy career, joining a small firm of Certified Accountants in Earls Court, London. Having obtained a thorough grounding in basic accountancy techniques there, he moved on to a firm in Holborn, where he reported direct to the principal and took on responsibility for overseeing the work of junior staff.
After some time he saw the light and decided to improve the quality of his family's life with a move to East Anglia. After qualifying as both a Certified Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, he became the manager of a new office in Bury St Edmunds for a firm of Chartered Accountants, which he ran for a number of years before setting up his own firm with Brian and Robert.
He is a consummate professional and excellent tactician, still getting enjoyment from being able to use his considerable experience and skills to help clients overcome their problems and steer them in the right direction. Equally at home with basic compliance, business advice or negotiating with HM Revenue & Customs, Bob adopts a very down to earth approach and you will find him straightforward and clear in his advice.
Having stepped down from managing that practice when the current firm was created in 2006, he now has considerably more freedom to indulge in his passion for overseas travel and is taking full advantage of that; "I haven't seen every continent yet, but I am determined to keep exploring more places in this fascinating world of ours." Food and gourmet cookery are his other keen interests, so he and Keith have recently indulged in some high level cookery tuition at Ballymaloe in Ireland, under the watchful eye of Darina and Rachel Allen (see the pictures on our achievements page and contemplate whether it was only the cooking that attracted their interest!). "Before you all rush to book up for dinner, we do know the world of difference between doing this for fun and the pressure of being a commercial chef, and this is strictly for relaxation!" So, enjoy your food, bon appétit, buon appetito, que aproveche, genießen sie ihr Essen, or even あなたの食事を楽しむ.
Brian Bell
Brian is a Bury St Edmunds man through and through, having been born and educated here and having worked here all his life. His working experience has always been in accountancy, from the accounting function through internal audit in the West Suffolk Hospital group in the 1960s then moving to join a local firm of Chartered Accountants in the early 1970s.
There he dealt predominantly with accounts, VAT and payroll for sole traders, partnerships and family companies and has continued his interest in this type of work for clients of all sizes. In 1993, he went into partnership with Bob and Robert and formed one of the foundations of the current business. His experience in accounting technical matters and superb organisational skills make him very efficient at putting together accounts and dealing with tax returns, ensuring that compliance issues are kept well under control. Most particularly, he has built up specialist expertise in accounting for property management companies and attendant property investor issues.
He qualified as a member of the Association of Accounting Technicians in 1987 and became a Fellow in 1994, concentrating his efforts on essential accounting matters.
Outside of work, one could say that he's a bit of a dark horse — sorry, that should be he owns a bit of a dark horse, and some others besides. He is seriously into horse racing and his co—ownership of horses has obviously been astutely managed, as his syndicate has had a number of racing successes. Whether you can get the inside knowledge to give you a better chance at the bookmakers is of course debatable.
Alison Hart
Alison is a member of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers and joined Jacobs Allen in June 2008 as a Bookkeeper/Assistant Administrator after obtaining Distinctions in both her bookkeeping exams. To complement these considerable achievements, she worked for 19 years with Barclays Commercial, the last four within Corporate Banking as Assistant to a Business Manager, developing and maintaining a portfolio of 150+ Corporate Clients. From that experience, she is very focussed on customer service and gets immense satisfaction from making sure clients get a top notch service from us.
She is perceptive in identifying when to bring her specific experience to bear "As Jacobs Allen works closely with their clients' bankers, my experience from the banking perspective is very beneficial. I am thoroughly enjoying my new career; it is really good to mix daily client contact with the technical side of the work and I'm looking forward to increasing my skills to help even more with the expanding practice."
She loves to spend her free time with her family, including her grandson (is she old enough?) and paddling her own canoe (with her husband) along the river Stour from Sudbury to Catterwade; she does this as she enjoys supporting the River Stour Trust and takes delight in their beautiful cedar strip canoe. Amongst her other interests, she is a keen ballroom dancer – move over Alesha Dixon!
Sheila Burke
Sheila assists Keith in managing the practice. Her skills in recruitment, systems and keeping people on their toes, as well as her having a sixth sense mean that she is at the forefront of ensuring we deliver a high quality of service to you.
Whether she is in the office or not, we all strive to please her and she is really working on your behalf, so we have to be better than good; in fact she wants us to be better than you expect us to be and that's tough, but we constantly try!
She has a very varied and successful background; from managing a pub when she was just eighteen years old; being the most successful Director of Studies at a top 10 firm of Chartered Accountants (not us, yet!) with students achieving a 100% pass rate (yes, they were shown how to be better than they expected too, and they thanked her for it!); as Director of Recuitment at another top 10 firm, analysing which graduates were most likely to succeed and persuading them to join the firm; running her own business for 15 years advising charity clients on tax effective giving and fundraising systems; named in the 1st Edition of Debrett's Distinguished People of Today.
We're lucky to have her on our side to keep us in shape; let's face it we wouldn't want her to be on anyone else's side, would we? Her caring attitude and desire for us all to be happy is what makes our business the great place to work that it is, so when you hear us having fun, be sure that it's Sheila's hand at work! And if for some reason we don't live up to your expectations, we are truly sorry and we do really want you to tell her (Email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), though it would be great if you can also tell her when we have delivered value to you.
Thady Senior
As IT Manager, Thady is a central cog in our continuing program of IT hardware and software upgrades, aimed at making our computer installation an easy to use platform for serving the needs of our clients. He works for us on an ad hoc basis looking after our IT infrastructure, dealing with technical administration and being involved in special projects.
His other 'job' involves studying Economics & Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin. His developing analytical skills have been enhanced by his wide interest in subjects from maths to critical thinking.
He shares our desire to achieve exacting standards, being an academic high achiever (also a member of Mensa) and having a significant interest in how businesses operate to achieve success. "I plan to run my own business in the future, and the opportunities I have here to use my IT skills in a work environment and see how strategic decisions are made at a practical level are fantastic."
When he's not working (academically or here) his interests include playing traditional music on the fiddle, photography (his artistic efforts are perhaps ill—represented by the photos on this website!) and food & drink. Yes, another foodie in the team, but he's really into making fresh pasta, bread and crumpets and appears to be becoming a connoisseur of teas — enjoying the subtleties of Darjeeling, gunpowder, jasmine and lapsang souchong etc.
Get the team working for you today! Send us a message or call on +44 (0)1284 704260 to find out what we can do for you.
