Small Business Accountant | Barton Accountancy

Small business

Big enough to deliver. Small enough to care.

Finding the right accountant as a small business is harder than it should be. Go too small and you're at the mercy of one person's holiday plans. Go too big and you're a number in a national firm that doesn't know your name. We sit in the sweet spot — a two-director ICAEW Chartered firm, small enough that every client gets personal attention from one of us.

We work with sole traders, limited companies, partnerships, landlords and contractors across the East Midlands. Fixed monthly fees, unlimited phone calls, no surprise invoices, and two directors who actually know your business.

What makes us different

Why small business owners pick us.

Everything is included in your fixed monthly fee. No extras, no surprises.

Fixed monthly fees

One fee, agreed upfront, covering everything. No clock, no surprises.

ICAEW Chartered

Proper regulation, proper standards, proper recourse if anything goes wrong.

Xero Bronze Partner

We use Xero ourselves and live in it every day.

Real people, real phones

Call us. We pick up. If we don't, we call back the same day.

Proactive, not reactive

We call you before year-end, not after.

2-week switch

Most new clients are fully onboarded within two weeks.

Sound familiar?

Most businesses don't have an accountant.
They have a filing service.

If any of these ring true, you're not getting what you should be.

01

You only hear from them at year-end

No check-ins, no planning, no conversation. Just a bill and a set of accounts you don't fully understand.

02

You're never sure where you stand

Your numbers are months out of date. You're making decisions based on gut feel, not real figures.

03

Surprise invoices keep landing

An email here, a phone call there — and suddenly your bill is twice what you expected. No one told you.

Common questions

Things people ask us.

What counts as a 'small business' for accounting purposes?

HMRC and Companies House have specific thresholds — a 'small company' has turnover under £10.2m, balance sheet under £5.1m, and fewer than 50 employees. In practice, most of our clients are well under those thresholds: sole traders, one-person limited companies, and small family businesses.

Do you only work with small businesses?

We work with a range of sizes — from pre-trading start-ups to growing businesses with 20+ staff. The model works at any size up to the point where you'd need a full finance team in-house.

Is a chartered accountant worth the extra cost?

Yes. ICAEW membership requires extensive training, continuous professional development, professional indemnity insurance, and a disciplinary process if anything goes wrong. Non-chartered accountants (AAT, ATT and unqualified) can still be excellent but have less oversight. For most businesses the extra cost is minimal and the protection is real.

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