Your clients keep their accountant
No rebrand, no call centre, no "your account has moved". The firms we buy keep trading under their own name with the team clients already know.
Preston anchors a county of market-town practices: firms in Leyland, Chorley, Kirkham and beyond whose owners built them over a working lifetime. We buy practices like these directly, keep them local, and shape the exit around the owner rather than the transaction.
Lancashire's practices are quietly excellent. Away from the noise of the big city markets, firms in Preston, Leyland, Chorley and the Fylde have grown steadily for decades on farming businesses, manufacturers, hauliers and family companies that would never dream of leaving. When the owner of a firm like that retires badly, a whole town's businesses feel it.
We exist so it can be done well. SMB Accountancy Group is a North West family of four practices, each bought and then left recognisably itself: same name, same team, same standards, with the group absorbing the back-office grind that makes ownership exhausting. That is what we would bring to a Lancashire practice, from within the region, on first-name terms.
There is no broker anywhere in our process. No commission, no engagement fee, no listing seen by half your competitors before your staff hear it from you. One confidential conversation with the group's directors, a straight view on fit and value, and a timetable that follows your year ends and your life rather than a pipeline report.
From Preston and the Fylde coast down to Chorley and across to the Ribble Valley, if your thoughts are turning to succession or you want growth backing without giving up your name, we would like to hear from you below.
No rebrand, no call centre, no "your account has moved". The firms we buy keep trading under their own name with the team clients already know.
We buy practices because of the people in them. We support the existing team without overpowering the culture and values that make clients like the firm.
We are the buyer, not a middleman. Deal with us directly and there is no listing process, no sale fee and no percentage taken off your price.
Nothing reaches your staff, clients or the local grapevine until you decide it should. Early conversations are just that: conversations.
No. Preston is under an hour from our door, well inside the North West footprint we are actively buying in. What matters is not the mileage but the model: the practice keeps its own name, office and team locally, while the group provides its support from within the region rather than from a head office at the other end of the country.
Yes, and many owners should. A phased exit, perhaps full-time through the first year end, then two days a week, then advisory only, protects client relationships and often suits everyone. Because you deal with the buyer directly from the start, that plan is designed into the deal rather than negotiated awkwardly after a broker's introduction.
General practice firms with recurring compliance work and genuine client loyalty: accounts, tax, VAT, payroll, bookkeeping. Growing firms that want backing qualify just as much as retirement sales. Size matters less than the quality of the relationships.
A few details are enough to start; share only what you're comfortable with. We reply personally within two working days, in complete confidence.
Your enquiry goes directly to the group's directors and nobody else. It is never passed to member firm staff or discussed outside that circle.
Call 0151 709 9524 and ask for Chris, or write to hello@stuartmcbain.com and mark it confidential. Both reach the same small circle.
We also buy practices in: the North West Liverpool Manchester the Wirral Southport St Helens Warrington Chester East Lancashire South Cheshire