insideKENT Magazine Issue 51 - June 2016 | Page 152

BUSINESS

Wilkins Kennedy Canterbury office adds
to portfolio of success in Kent

© Kent Messenger Group

TOP 20 ACCOUNTANCY FIRM WILKINS KENNEDY HAS ANNOUNCED THAT
IT HAS MERGED WITH CANTERBURY-BASED ACCOUNTANTS, LAKIN CLARK,
AS IT AIMS TO EXTEND THE BUSINESS INTO EAST KENT.

Wilkins Kennedy was established in 1882 and is now one of the UK’s top
20 firms of chartered accountants and business advisers with a turnover
of circa £40 million. The new Canterbury office joins three existing offices
in the county – in Ashford, Orpington and Sandwich – with a combined
headcount of nearly 130 people. The firm also has a further 12 offices
across the UK and one in the Falkland Islands, employing more than 500
people.

Sandwich
Discovery Park / Ramsgate Road / Sandwich
CT13 9ND / 01304 249997

The merger with Lakin Clark adds a further 18 staff, including two partners
and a senior consultant, to the teams under its Southern region. Lakin Clark
specialises in a range of sectors, including agriculture, charities, construction,
retail, the professions and the service sector and will now trade under the
Wilkins Kennedy brand.
As the Wilkins Kennedy’s presence in Kent continues to grow, we take a
look at a timeline of the firm's history in Kent:

Ashford
Stourside Place / Station Road / Ashford
Kent / TN23 1PP / 01233 629255

The Sandwich office opened its doors on 2nd July 2013 and since then,
turnover has seen strong growth. At the end of 2015, due to its continued
success, it was necessary for the Sandwich office to seek a larger space
within Discovery Park. The office is now located in a much more prominent
location, which is better suited to the rapidly growing firm.
Kent is a great place to do business and this office has gone from
strength to strength. As a firm, Wilkins Kennedy recognises the need to
offer a local delivery of service and as such identified the need to provide
a local service to clients based in East Kent. So far it has been a success
and the Sandwich-based team has done a fantastic job at Discovery Park,
engaging with the community based there but also numerous Thanet
businesses.

Wilkins Kennedy’s Ashford office is centrally based at Stourside Place on
Station Road. Until its merger with Wilkins Kennedy in 2008, the firm was
known as Finn-Kelcey & Chapman, a provincial practice founded in 1920.
The firm continues to maintain the local historical name connection whilst
highlighting the availability of the solid, larger product base by trading as
Wilkins Kennedy FKC.
Following the recent retirement of Hugh Summerfield, Wilkins Kennedy
FKC continues to be headed by Partner and Head of the South Region,
Robert Reynolds, with four additional Partners and 60 staff. It offers
accounting and business advice to a large client base of individuals and
businesses across Kent.

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