16th January 2024
Mark Shaw, a Director at The Curtis Partnership, has joined the Lifecycle network accountancy community – launched by Leonard Curtis in 2016 – and taken its membership total to 5,000 for the first time.
Lifecycle is a unique, free-to-join initiative from the leading corporate recovery and business restructuring group aimed at providing a number of key benefits and access to specialist advisory services to UK accountancy firms of all sizes.
Set up over 40 years ago, The Curtis Partnership (no relation) is a firm of chartered certified accountants based in Cheadle, Staffordshire with a well-established client base.
Through Mark’s Lifecycle membership, his firm will benefit from a range of Lifecycle services including: Company secretarial and formation; offshore services for SMEs; debt advisory for SMEs; personal debt advice; corporate restructuring, insolvency and cessation; finance for SMEs; cashflow maximisation; property solutions and legal services.
In addition, members are eligible for a range of other offerings that directly benefit their firms. These include access to competitively priced Professional Indemnity insurance cover, a regular programme of free training and education and discounts on products and services relevant to their business and clients’ needs.
Mark, who has been a Director at The Curtis Partnership for over 10 years, said: “It’s a brilliant network to be part of, providing very useful CPD updates and giving access to competitive insurance quotes, which are particularly welcome.
“We also get a chance to talk about issues of the day with other finance professionals – things like pressures at HMRC which are causing major delays for us and our clients at the moment. It is good to share thoughts and help problem-solve together.”
As well as all the usual accountancy services The Curtis Partnership has niche expertise in the catholic church, dealing with tax returns for priests in what Mark describes as a “very unusual taxation regime”.
Mark has come a long way since his early years, where he entered the industry “purely by chance” after seeing a job advert in 1999.
He stated: “Back then, the first calculator I used had a till roll attached to print out what you had typed – a lot has changed since those days!”
Of life outside the office Mark said he still enjoys playing computer games. He confessed: “Not many people know this but I’ve never really got over my Football Manager addiction, just one more game!”
Chris Knott from Leonard Curtis presented Mark with a bottle of champagne to mark the 5,000 milestone and welcome him to the Group.
He said: “We are very proud of the network we have built up in the last seven years which includes many experienced, skilled accountants like Mark who collaborate with us, and each other, to support their clients’ businesses.
“The beauty of the group is that it allows a member to flex into non-core areas, but leaves them firmly at the heart of the solution for their own clients.”