Meet the Team

Our team of specialist accountants are here to help you prosper.

Online Bookkeeping And Accounting Solutions From People You Can Trust

When it comes to getting help dealing with your business finances, we believe that it’s not just a question of price, but also a question of quality, efficiency and above all trust. After all, you need to know your business is in safe hands.

The Smart Accountants are an expert team of bookkeeping and accounting professionals based in North Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, drawing on many years of experience in providing financial support services to hundreds of small businesses across the country through our online solutions. Our specialist accountants have in depth knowledge of the sectors they support, meaning they are able to identify the opportunities available to your business and prepare you for any future issues specific to your industry.

Meet Some Of The Smart Accountants

Marie Pegram
Marie PegramManaging Partner/Head of Strategy (Recruitment)
Marie is a Managing Partner and Recruitment Industry Sector Specialist. Marie has been working in the Recruitment sector since 2013, developing the Recruitment Sector specialism and now acting for over 80 recruitment businesses.

Marie is rapidly gaining a reputation as a leading adviser to the industry. Whether she is providing planning services, meeting new clients, presenting to wider audiences or helping tailor forums through the firms APSCo membership, Marie is determined to cater to the needs of each client to enable them to achieve their individual goals.

In her spare time, Marie enjoys playing netball for her local club and is an avid Watford Football Club fan.

Dave Hailey
Dave HaileyHead of Tech & Media
Dave is a Partner and heads up our Tech & Media department at The Smart Accountants. He has extensive experience in supporting tech businesses, whether they’re early-stage and pre-revenue or preparing to exit.

With over 15 years of practice experience, in addition to stints in both industry and the insolvency sector, Dave has built up significant commercial and business acumen. Dave spends time understanding his clients and the vision they have for their business, their key drivers and the challenges they face. This allows Dave to help them navigate the common pitfalls and to provide solutions to the challenges they face.

Outside of work, Dave enjoys playing golf and watching Tottenham Hotspur (although, don’t hold the latter against him!).

Stuart Hutchison
Stuart HutchisonHead of Recruitment
A Partner at The Smart Accountants, Stuart is also the founder of our Recruitment Accountants division(www.recruitmentaccountants.com) and leads a growing team which specialises in supporting businesses in the recruitment sector.

Stuart is passionate about recruitment and is an active voice in our clients’ board rooms. Stuart enjoys the fast paced and ambitious nature of the recruitment industry and loves nothing more than helping his clients achieve their goals.

Outside of work, you most likely find Stuart at John O’Gaunt Golf course or involved in some other sporting activity.

Alison Price
Alison PriceTax Partner
Alison Price is a Tax Partner with over 20 years of experience. She is a Fellow member (FCA) of the ICAEW and a Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA). Alison started her career as an auditor in Surrey and later relocated to Cambridgeshire where she joined a local firm and specialised in providing tax advisory and compliance services to corporate clients, with a focus on owner-managed businesses.

In her free time, Alison enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, and paddle-boarding.
Graham Boar
Graham BoarTax Partner
One of our tax partners, Graham has been with us since 2003 and is both a Fellow member (FCA) of ICAEW and a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).

Graham is also an Authorised Person under the Letchworth office’s license to carry out non contentious probate work in England and Wales, given by ICAEW. This accredited status can be viewed at www.icaew.com/probate under reference C003725121.
As a tax partner, Graham is responsible for private clients across our offices in the East of England, both ensuring that tax compliance obligations are met and providing added value and advisory services. He is also responsible for supervising and controlling all probate related and estate administration work within the firm.
Outside the office most of Graham’s spare time is spent with his young family.
James Price
James PriceAudit Partner
James is an Audit and Corporate Finance Partner and has been working at The Smart Accountants for over 20 years.
James heads up the firm’s audit function in the East of England and also delivers a range of advisory services to clients including transaction support, lead advisory and valuation services to clients.

James has been awarded the ICAEW’s Advanced Diploma in Corporate Finance and its CF designation. A current area of interest for James is employee ownership, both through share & share option schemes, and the utilisation of Employee Ownership Trusts.
Outside of work James is an occasional golfer and keen follower of Liverpool Football Club.
Lesley Prutton
Lesley PruttonHead of Small Business
Lesley heads up our Small Business team, overseeing a diverse portfolio of small to medium-sized owner-managed businesses, including electricians, plumbers, builders, convenience stores, stationery shops, and a wide array of consultants across different industries.

Additionally, Lesley manages our company secretarial department, dealing with all statutory matters for our incorporated companies.
Outside of the office, Lesley enjoys watching football, F1, going to various concerts, and spending time with her family and two dogs.
Sian Toumazou
Sian ToumazouAssociate (Recruitment)
Sian is an Associate in our Recruitment team at The Smart Accountants.
Sian’s primary responsibility revolves around ensuring that our impeccable service quality is consistently delivered to a diverse portfolio of clients. With a wealth of experience as a technical escalation point for accounts, she possesses the knowledge and expertise to meticulously review accounts and assist clients with their financial inquiries.

One of Sian’s distinctive qualities is her passion for nurturing and maintaining strong, lasting relationships with our clients. Her approach is centered on making clients feel genuinely valued and respected, fostering an atmosphere of trust and partnership that is essential in the world of recruitment.
Outside the office, Sian enjoys camping, dancing and loves trying out new restaurants and food.
Scott Rouse
Scott RouseAssociate (OMB)
Scott is a key member of the management team at The Smart Accountants and thrives on building strong relationships with his portfolio of owner managed businesses.
Specialising in business advisory and accounting, business planning, FCA compliance, Scott has many years of experience working with owner managed businesses and in depth knowledge of the opportunities and challenges they face.

Scott is passionate about providing his clients with the best service possible and enjoys getting under the bonnet of a business, understanding the real growth drivers.

Outside of work, Scott spends his spare time with his family, which involves running around after his kids who play cricket, football, golf rugby, swimming and anything else going. Scott is also a long suffering Peterborough United fan!

Zoe Underwood
Zoe UnderwoodPayroll Manager
Zoe is The Smart Accountant’s Payroll Manager and supports our clients with varying levels of payroll support.

Throughout her time at The Smart Accountants, Zoe has ensured that we have continued to innovate and improve our systems and processes to ensure that our team provide the best possible service. The landscape of payroll is constantly evolving, so Zoe ensures that she and her team stay abreast of any changes to legislation to keep our clients both compliant and informed. From submitting RTI submissions to pension administrations and ensuring staff get paid accurately and on time, Zoe is a reliable asset to our team.

Outside of work, Zoe enjoys keeping fit through Thai boxing and going to the gym.

Nicola Scully
Nicola ScullyManager (OMB)
Nicola is a Manager within our owner managed business team. Having worked in the accountancy profession for over 25 years, she has a wealth of experience and has supported a diverse range of clients of all sizes and sectors.

She prides herself on developing great working relationships and is always keen to get to know her clients so that she can guide them through all the regulatory requirements and take the strain away.
In her spare time, Nicola enjoys going for long walks in the countryside or watching a show at the theatre with friends. She also regularly dedicates her time to help at a club for the elderly.

Sam Robson
Sam RobsonManager (Tech & Media)
Sam is a Manager within The Smart Accountant’s Tech and Media team.

As an ACCA qualified accountant, Sam offers a wide range of accounting services and advice to tech and media businesses.

Sam enjoys the fast pace and speed of innovation within the tech industry and aims to support our clients as they progress along their tech journey, often from the pre-MVP stage to exit. Whilst ensuring all compliance needs and deadlines are met is critical, Sam also values building strong relationships through pro-active communication with his clients.

Outside of work, Sam likes to travel and explore new places. He also enjoys watching football, namely Tottenham Hotspur FC.

Melissa Ward
Melissa WardManager (Rural and Agriculture)
Melissa is a Manager within The Smart Accountant’s Rural and Agricultural team. Melissa is AAT qualified and has been involved with rural and agricultural-based accounts and bookkeeping for over 6 years. Supporting farmers and their families to succeed is one of Melissa’s passions.

She enjoys getting to know clients and their businesses and is keen to build strong relationships through communications whilst also helping some to find their way with cloud accounting and leaving paper files behind.

Outside of work, Melissa likes to explore new hiking locations and also enjoys horse-riding.

Jez Lowe
Jez LoweBookkeeping Supervisor
Jez is a key member of The Smart Accountant’s Outsourcing team. As Bookkeeping Supervisor, it’s his responsibility to ensure all management accounts, VAT returns and CIS submissions are delivered in a timely manner, both to meet HMRC deadlines and also client’s expectations.

Jez is our cloud accounting specialist and has a wealth of knowledge using market-leading solutions to support a wide variety of businesses, to provide them with real-time information to make key business decisions.

Outside of The Smart Accountants, Jez enjoys attending music concerts and festivals such as Glastonbury and watching football.

Panos Tsakloglou
Panos TsakloglouManagement Accountant (Tech & Media)
Panos is a Management Accountant within our Tech & Media team. With 10+ years’ experience in Bookkeeping and Management Accounts, and specialising in cloud accounting, Panos is passionate about finding new technology solutions for his clients.

Panos likes to get things right and enjoys streamlining processes to optimise performance, deliver accurate information and meet all internal and statutory deadlines.

In his free time, Panos loves watching films (especially sci-fi), listening to music, exercising, travelling, and spending good time with friends and family. He also often spends hours watching educational YouTube videos about science/biology, new developments, new technology and travel.

Testimonials

“We’ve always found the team to be responsive, helpful, and proactive in suggesting ways for us to improve our processes.

In particular, we have been happy with the move from Sage to Xero, which has made our lives much easier as we scale the company.”

Jack Waley-Cohen, what3words
“This is our second year with them and we are very satisfied. As a start-up we appreciate the high touch service without the high price.

The entire team is pro-active to all of our requests (notably around Payroll and Pensions) and our account manager has shown a genuine interest in our business. We hope to become a larger client for them in the future.”

Paul Balogh , Learn Forward
“The open, friendly and genuinely interested approach of all staff was highly motivating for the business founders, who subsequently raised just over £1m in their seed round.

They have been supporting us through all stages of the start-up journey and we are excited to see what the future holds”

Dr. Juergen Fink, OBRIZUM Group

The Next Steps