A FAMILY firm of chartered accountants is celebrating ten years in business after building a customer base that has stretched from North Yorkshire as far afield as America.

Colin Hutson Accounting Limited, based in Northallerton, held a special anniversary lunch for staff, followed by a ‘thank you’ to clients and introducers at an evening celebration at the town’s Katch restaurant on September 21.

The family-run business was established in September 2013, by Colin and his wife, Julie, and has grown to a staff of 17, which includes their eldest son, Sam and nephew Pete.

Colin, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the profession, was a partner at Kenneth Easby, having previously worked for Clive Owen and Price Waterhouse.

Julie was in the public sector, dealing with schools' finance and business management, when they took the decision to set up their own business, opening offices on Northallerton High Street.

Although most of the company’s clients are in North Yorkshire and the North-East, it has also supported customers in other parts of the country and Europe, with one business as far away as Tennessee.

Associates, Sam Hutson and Nigel Copland (who previously worked with Julie) joined the firm in October 2013 and August 2014, respectively, where they have since trained and qualified as Chartered Accountants with the firm.  Two further staff members have also been trained by CHA and qualified as Chartered Accountants, and all four are now part of the management team.

33 year-old Sam was the chair in 2022-23 of the international Student Council for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), representing more than 180,000 chartered accountant students worldwide at the ICAEW Council.

Nigel is a keen runner and took part in this year’s Northallerton 10k.

The family are also at the heart of the local community, with Colin and Julie both serving as volunteer town councillors, and Julie a volunteer Director of the Northallerton Business Improvement District (BID) and a School Governor at a local primary school.  The firm is an active member of the BID, supporting various events including the annual town business pancake race.

“It was a big decision to launch our own business, but it has been an exciting, and, thankfully, successful ten years for all of us,” said Colin.

Julie added: “We have been very fortunate to have had the support of the Northallerton business community, enabling us to provide career opportunities for local young people.”

“We feel that we have established firm foundations over the last ten years for our business to continue to flourish, providing a personal service to our clients current and future.”