The Bath office of Target Accountants, which went into administration last week, has been bought by Bishop Fleming, the accountancy firm with the widest spread of offices in the South West.
The move has saved the jobs of three partners and more than 40 jobs at Target, whose offices in Bath, Reading and Rugby were placed into administration following a financial crisis caused by the failure of its independent financial advisory (IFA) business. However, more than 20 Bath-based support staff have been made redundant.
Bishop Fleming managing partner Matthew Lee: “We have known of Target Accountants‘ ability to deliver quality professional accountancy services from their Bath office and are very happy that the partners and staff of the office have joined the firm.”
He said the deal preserved the operations of Target’s professional audit and corporate tax services – which he described as “superb” – and they would now run under the Bishop Fleming formula.
However, the acquisition does not include any involvement in the Target IFA operation, which caused the failure of the business.
The business was left facing £6m of claims relating to the collapse of UK life settlements firm Keydata Investment Services in June 2009.
Target was among firms being pursued by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to recoup compensation paid to Keydata claimants.
Mr Lee stressed the synergy of Target’s accountancy services with those of Bishop Fleming.
“Both firms provide services to a wide range of clients and we recognise the additional corporate expertise that their audit and tax teams bring to our firm, while Target‘s clients will benefit from the high-level capabilities and specialist skills of Bishop Fleming‘s team,” said Mr Lee.
The acquisition of Target‘s Bath operations follows Bishop Fleming‘s recent merger with Rabjohns in Worcester. “We have now assembled probably the best-resourced independent accountancy firm in the region, with offices spreading from Truro to Worcester”, added Mr Lee.
“This growth reinforces our focus, as the region’s champions of owner-managed businesses and increases our capacity to act for larger corporate businesses and public sector clients.”
