Following the announcement of investment on the 3 November. Top 100 accountancy practice Shaw Gibbs are pleased to announce the acquisition of the business of Wise & Co chartered accountants and business advisers.
Surrey-based Wise & Co who have been advising SMEs for over 50 years were seeking a collaboration to enhance and secure the long-term success of the firm and were also looking to provide a wider range of expertise to their clients.
Sharmini Woodings, Managing Partner of Wise & Co comments
Wise & Co have been on a transformational journey since inception. Starting as a small business with three staff we now proudly employ over 70 with the expertise and dedication to provide our clients with excellent services in accountancy, tax, business advice and strategic planning.
We were looking for a firm with which we could easily integrate but who also have the intention to allow us to operate within our own market and be supportive of the growth of our practice locally.
It was important to us to find a firm with a similar culture, operational structure and client-base as well as the drive to provide high quality compliance and advisory services to their clients. Shaw Gibbs are a great fit for us and joining forces with them will also provide us access to a new range of in-house expertise including dedicated VAT advisory, insolvency services and specialist valuation teams to mention but a few.”
Peter O’Connell, Managing Partner of Shaw Gibbs adds
There is no doubt that we will gain and learn a significant amount from our partnership with Wise as it is clear they have an abundance of skills, experience and market-knowledge. Our expansion plans are based on ‘one culture, one approach’ regardless of geographical location with our company values of: Expert, Respectful, Innovative and Collaborative at the heart of all we do.
One of our main drivers for expansion is the need to invest in our people, empowering them to take on new challenges and excel in their career path. This helps us to retain our employees and provide a consistent and expert team to best serve our clients. Wise will benefit from this investment and our plan is to retain and develop their existing team in order to support the growth of their operation in Farnham.
I am looking forward to welcoming the Wise team to the Shaw Gibbs Group.”
Shaw Gibbs and Wise & Co have a similar client-base of entrepreneurial businesses and private clients and largely use a consistent IT infrastructure. The combination of the two firms will result in a 185 person-strong practice based over three offices in Oxford, London and Farnham.
About Shaw Gibbs
Shaw Gibbs is a top 100 accountancy practice who provide expert solutions for entrepreneurial businesses and private individuals in Central and Southern England. Shaw Gibbs invest in their teams of high-quality specialists who work with the best-in-breed technology to create value for our clients which exceeds expectation.
About Wise & Co
Wise & Co is a chartered accountant and advisory practice based in Farnham, Surrey with 70 members of staff and four Partners. They provide creative and practical solutions aligned to fast growing start-ups and established SMEs. The team at Wise & Co is dedicated and enthusiastic, with a range of skillsets from day-to-day processing abilities to highly technical business strategy expertise.
