Karen is wonderful both professionally and personally. Combining deep specialist knowledge with a desire to always go above and beyond, Karen has always filled us with confidence, delivered more than expected and treated us as if we were her only client. It’s a pleasure to work with Karen; we consider our partnership a precious one and if anything we wish we could keep her a secret! (But we can’t she’s too good). We rest assured that our books and our business are in good hands and good order!
Mark Neale, Founder, Nordhaugr Ltd
I am so thankful to have met Karen. I felt really anxious about everything I had to do and although I know I have a lot to put together I now feel so much more reassured. Accounting can be very intimidating and confusing but understanding some of the methods Karen has suggested on the workshop has helped me put everything in the right place making it a lot simpler. I have been trading for one year and I wish I had met Karen right at the beginning.
Joanne Day, Founder, House of Gallet
Karen is a breath of fresh air. When it came to searching for a new accountant I sought someone who offered the personal touch and this is definitely what Karen delivers. I have regular contact with Karen and this has been far preferable to the once year contact I was receiving previously. Karen not only helps me with my accounts and tax but she has given me suggestions to increase my income and helped move my bookkeeping onto Xero which has helped reduce my accountancy fees as well as greatly improve control over my business. I would without hestitation, recommend Karen to any small business owner.
Lisa Faye Broadhead. Founder of 4678 Music Entertainment
I like the fact that Karen is local, competitively priced and deals exclusively with her clients. With Karen, I achieve continuity in support from one accountant. Karen has been very efficient in managing to get my books in order,correcting errors overlooked by the previous practice and has been instrumental in obtaining a large rebate form HMRC on my behalf. I would highly recommend Karen to any start up or self-employed business owner.
Ben Savage. Founder of Property Focus
Following the purchase of my florist business I asked Karen to review my bookkeeping arrangements. She has been instrumental in helping me set up an efficient way of doing my accounting using Xero . This has left me with more time to manage the other areas of my business as well as providing me with complete confidence with regards to managing the paperwork side. Karen is both professional and conscientious and was a great pleasure to deal with – I would not hesitate in recommending her to other businesses.
Juliet Lock, Wildbunch Florists, Alresford
I’d been keeping spreadsheets but found it difficult to stay on top of everything I needed to do. Investing in support seemed like a bit of a luxury at first. But Karen’s highlighted areas that will actually save me money and save me time so I’ll have less tax to pay and more client-facing hours available. Plus she loves meeting face-to-face and explaining things in plain English. I like to do things by the book and that’s Karen all over – helping small business owners keep more of their hard-earned money while staying on the right side of the law.
Lisa Barber. Founder, Roots And Wings.Biz
I needed some expert guidance on analysing my current business and the viability of starting another business. Karen’s analysis of my business models was laid out clearly for me to understand and allowed me to make better decisions for my business. Working with Karen has made me more comfortable and confident in dealing with my business finances and I would recommend Karen to any of my Creative Women in Business group.
Sonraya Grace – Intuitive healer, facilitator and coach
I was initially hesitant about using an accountant to help me with my tax and record-keeping as I wasn’t sure whether I was a “big enough” business to justify using one. Working with Karen has proved a wise investment as she has helped me secure a tax refund, was very knowledgeable and gave me relevant and easy to implement advice. Karen was always happy to answer my questions to help clarify and explain things and I now feel very clear about what I need to do going forward.
Sally Davis, Founder of Massage For Wellbeing
Having battled with Self-Assessment for so many years, I decided to use an Accountant. Along came Karen Upcraft who explained everything in easy to understand language. Her superb service only cost me half of what I was expecting AND she saved me money by pointing out areas that previously I had no idea I could claim for. Karen is professional, friendly, easy to talk to and very approachable. I highly recommend her.Claire Quartel, Founder of Conscious Living Events
Karen was recommended to me. I had recently purchased a business and needed support on the accounting and bookkeeping front. Karen helped me set up a system and trained me to use Xero accounting software to manage my own bookkeeping and VAT returns. Karen was efficient, approachable, understanding and made me feel that I could manage an area that had seemed incredibly daunting from the outset.
Emma Black, Owner of Window Dressing
Karen kindly supported local complementary therapists by giving us a talk about the tax requirements for sole traders. It was clear that Karen understood the nature of our very unique kind of business and was able to give us targeted advice as well as hints and tips on efficient tax practice. I highly recommend Karen as a positive adjunct to any small business and believe her advice an absolute necessity to good business practice.
Carol Greewoood, Federation of Holistic Therapists (FHT) and owner of Greenwood Therapies
Thank you Karen for the really helpful tax and accounts coaching session. You helped make something that seemed quite daunting – simple and clear. It is so refreshing finding an Accountant who is so willing and patient to spend time explaining things so clearly.
Balbina Leeming founder of BLCM
Thank’s to Karen’s training I can now confidently move from a sole trader to Limited company. Her help and advice was laid out in a very clear, simple way to follow. Her recommendation to move from Excel to Xero is already making a huge difference in staying on top of the bookkeeping and not feeling swamped. Karen was highly recommended to me and now I can easily do the same.
Chris Hughes – Founder of Momentum Tennis Ltd
I had been on a previous course a few years ago and whilst this was useful it focused only on the tax side of things. Karen’s workshop for sole traders gave me a broader perspective and practical guidance about not just what needs to happen but helpful suggestions on how to approach things and pointers for the really key things – all framed in a user friendly way. I would recommend this workshop to anyone starting up but also to those further down the line too.
Nicole Gabriel, Naturally HSP
Thank you for your talk to the FHT support group. You made bookkeeping and tax from a therapist’s view much clearer. I now know some of the things I can claim for which I hadn’t been doing before and you were very clear on the two ways of claiming allowances or mileage for a vehicle. Your talk was friendly, professional and your knowledge showed in the answers that you gave.
Jemma Wheeler, Clinical Massage Therapist and Clinical Acupuncture
I can’t thank Karen Upcraft enough for helping me with streamlining our accounts and teaching me about cash flow and business modelling. She was very careful to understand how the business worked and clear in her explanations to change things for the better. Many thanks.
Nicky Ellis, Director, Hobbs Rehabilitation ltd
We would be drowning in paperwork and in one almighty mess without Karen’s help. Her advice and expertise have saved us thousands of pounds and permitted us to focus on what we are good at – running the business. Karen has demonstrated time and time again that she is totally to our success by going the extra mile in providing advice and guidance which has gone way beyond our expectations
Naomi Beamish and Ollie James, Directors, Forte Kitchen
Coming from a “creative” background, the numbers side of the business was never going to be an easy element to learn but Karen’s patience and support in helping me get my head around Xero and the bookkeeping side of the business has been invaluable. Karen’s guidance has helped smooth a very steep learning curve and I would highly recommend Karen to anyone starting their own business.
Simon Hill, Owner, Winchester Framing Ltd
Karen has been a great help to me – the relief of finally understanding and being able to produce a meaningful cashflow forecast has been invaluable to our company. I finally understand the difference between cashflow, balance sheet and profit and loss. The training will greatly help our company going forward and has helped increase my overall knowledge and use of Xero. I can highly recommend Karen to other small business owners who feel out of their depth on the financial side.
Helen Morris, Milieu Consult Ltd
I was extremely happy with the level of service I was given by Karen. She went through at great length my accounts with me. Everything was clearly explained in a way in which I would understand it. One thing that I found very informative which has helped me greatly was what I could and couldn’t claim for and areas where I could save myself money as previous accountants had never done this. I would definitely recommend Karen to anyone who is self employed.
James Ernest – Marwell Dental Practice
There’s an enormous number of things that you have to learn very quickly when you set up your own business – but having gone through the excellent one to one training session with Karen, I no longer feel anxious and bewildered about dealing with the financial parts to running a limited company. Karen’s training was specifically tailored to my corporate and personal circumstances and included suggestions on how I could save tax and how I could save accountancy fees by doing certain things myself. I would definitely recommend Karen to other one-man-band freelancers who need this kind of specialist advice and training.
Julie Hindmarch. Director of Julie Hindmarsh Consulting Ltd
My main reason for using Karen was because I was going VAT registered and needed some accounting training. Karen helped me understand how to use Xero to do all my quoting and invoicing. She advised me on all my recording responsibilities and the VAT margin scheme that could save me money. I would recommend Karen for her friendly, helpful manner.I loved how Karen came to my house and tailored her advice to my particular business.
Louise Langstone – Interior designer and Founder of The House of Langstone
I never thought it was in my best interest to use an Accountant because I was concerned with the cost and I considered my bookkeeping quite straightforward but meeting with Karen has helped me understand exactly how I should be recording everything in the future to make sure I am not in breach of any regulations. Karen also managed to save me money and hopefully I will be getting a tax rebate as a result
Sam Spriggs, Gentle Health Homeopathy
Karen has supported me in the completion of my tax return. Karen cares very much for the small businesses she works with: there was no standard approach in her work, she tailored all her services to just what I needed. Brilliant support for me, a sole trader in my first year!
Carmen Geil, Founder, Andina Treasures
Karen gave me support in my first year of running a business, teaching me about the record-keeping and advising me on what I could and couldn’t claim tax wise. Karen helped me with my self-assessment tax return. She worked fast and efficiently, communicating via email with structured and simple questions which worked very well for me.
Julia Kirby, Founder of The Felt Space
Karen has helped me understand my real costs and margins by developing a pricing model for my business. I can now use this to help structure future decision making on pricing my products. Karen was very attentive in extracting all the relevant information and was very patient in answering all my questions.
Lucy Land, Founder of Zulucow
I have recently moved from employment into self-employment and wanted to get the “managing of my finances” right from the start. Having done the one-to-one training package with Karen, I am now on top of my income and expense tracking and fully understand my tax and NI obligations and how to plan for them. I was impressed at how Karen had tailored the training around my business and existing knowledge. I particularly enjoyed the personal touch of working with Karen and would recommend her to any women starting up their own business.
Susie Leverton, Financial Advisor- St James’s Place Wealth Management
I highly recommend Karen to those who are taking the leap from employment to sole trader. Having been on Karen’s training course, I am now much more confident in understanding HMRC requirements and doing things correctly. Karen was extremely friendly but professional and went to lengths to explain our questions so we understood.
Kevin Sheehan, Sole trader
Karen gave a wonderful talk at the Workstead. With her wide breadth of knowledge and skills, Karen was able to translate this into useful, applicable and helpful insights and advice. Small business owners need straight forward, honest and thorough advice and this is exactly what Karen was able to offer. Karen is friendly, approachable and hugely professional.
Lucy Fetter, Founder of The Workstead and Winchester Hub
As a sole trader, I am very keen to stay on the right side of the HMRC but at the same time, I am equally keen to minimise my tax bill. Karen provided one to one support to work through with me how I could claim an amount for using my home in my business and how much I could claim for my business journeys, as I was aware that the rules had recently become more complicated. As a complete number-phobe, I found Karen’s advice to be clear and accessible – and was pleasantly surprised at the reasonable cost. I would highly recommend Karen to anyone puzzled about anything tax-related.
Lizzie Carver. Founder of Lizzie Carver (EFT, NLP, Master and Matrix Reimprinting practitioner)
I attended Karen’s workshop with no idea where to start and felt much more confident by the end that the numbers side to my business was achievable and less daunting. Karen’s friendly approach made me feel that no question was too silly. Karen was very approachable and it was obvious she is passionate about helping small businesses set up.
Claire Handley, Founder of Claire’s Cleaning Services