home - specialisms - academics
The University of Cambridge occupies a central place in the city and we act for a significant number of academics. As well as Cambridge University we also act for academics in London, Cranfield, Nottingham, Bristol and Universities outside the UK.
Since the firm grew from tax consultancy origins we have always attracted clients with relatively high earnings who clearly understood that they could benefit from careful tax planning.
We have built a team with unrivalled expertise in dealing with academics, usually those undertaking outside commercial work. Although not all our clients have significant income, others may just have difficult tax issues e.g. because they moved to the UK or have periods working overseas.
Our clients include many who have left academic positions to take up new roles including writers, broadcasters etc. As well as many clients who have started biotechnology or other hi-tech companies.
One reason why we have so many academic clients is that our staff profile is different from many accounting firms and we do not conform to the stereotype of boring accountants. The range of services and our intellegent but informal style of dealing with clients tends to appeal to academics.
current issues
The new 50%tax rate is making many of our higher earning clients look more carefully at tax planning. However the techniques they may use are also available to help others lower down the income scale.
Getting tax relief on additional pension contributions is a problem for those with good University pensions.
specialist team
We support our niche expertise by loosely grouping clients in a similar sector to one or two account managers within our team. We then encourage those account managers to further develop their understanding of the sector to be better able to identify proactive issues to be addressed with the clients.
international clients
Academics are more likely to move internationally than other professionals. Our team of international tax specialists provide solutions to their problems.
Your account manager can quickly talk to a tax specialist whenever they need advice on a more complex problem.
inside knowledge
We have built up expertise beyond tax and accounting by working with clients over many years.
For some clients we have also been able to make valuable introductions to others working in a similar field allowing the possibility of collaborations.