Advisers move north to meet demand for help in hard times

A Yorkshire-based firm which has helped to keep troubled companies afloat is planning significant growth in the North West.

Clough Corporate Solutions has expanded into Manchester with the opening of a new city centre office at 3 Hardman Street in the Spinningfields district.

The firm is part of the chartered accountancy firm Clough & Company, which was established in 1953.

It employs 88 staff across offices in Cleckheaton, near Bradford, and Keighley.

Fiona Rae has been appointed as a partner to head the Manchester office which offers a range of corporate and personal insolvency services including administration, liquidation, company voluntary arrangements, bankruptcy and individual voluntary arrangements.

Ms Rae has worked in the sector for 20 years and previously held a senior roles at FRP Advisory in Manchester.

She said: “Clough Corporate Solutions has a solid reputation and this new venture provides an exciting opportunity which made this a very appealing career move.”

Chris Wood, a partner and insolvency practitioner at Clough Corporate Solutions, said yesterday: “In recent years Clough Corporate Solutions has helped to save a wide range of businesses and hundreds of jobs.

“The economy dictates that, for the foreseeable future, we’ll continue to see business owners and individuals requiring solutions to their financial problems.

“We already operate across the North West and have lots of established business relationships in the area, so opening this office is a natural progression and gives us a dedicated resource to continue building on this.”

He added: “Fiona has a superb track record in the industry and is very experienced across all areas of insolvency which made her the ideal person to head up the office.”

Earlier this year, a tax expert from Clough & Company defended consumers’ rights to plan ahead in order to mitigate their tax bill. Paul Captieux, of Clough Taxation Solutions, said law-abiding businesses and individuals were entitled to devise tax planning strategies.

He said: “The debate has always been an emotive one and tax planning has been around since taxation was first introduced.

“Even in the 18th and 19th centuries people were bricking their windows up to avoid ‘window tax’ – hence the saying ‘daylight robbery’.”

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