As with any other Winter edition of ProActivity, we like to wrap the year up and tie it with a bow to keep you up to date on all that’s going on across Foxley Kingham, Foxley Kingham Medical, FoxKash, and GKP. There have been lots of developments, both personal and professional, taking place across our offices. So, here’s the roundup of what this year has held.
The group takes part in Help to Grow programme
Run by the University of Bedfordshire and funded by the UK Government, Help to Grow is an executive development programme that gives our leadership team access to different courses on a variety of topics, such as Strategy for Growth, Engaging with Customers, and Building a Sustainable Business.
The aim of the programme is to deliver knowledge that’s relevant to business leaders, and best practices in management and facilitate peer-to-peer support. Across the whole group, we’re dedicated to continuing our professional development. We strive to implement best practices across our teams and our business so that we can serve our clients to the best of our ability. The knowledge we’re taking from the course will also bring added value to our clients, as we share all that we’ve learned.
Foxley Kingham’s Tara Aldwin and GKP’s Karen Dyer have thrown themselves into the learning and we look forward to reaping the benefits and sharing them with you all in the months to come.
New members of the team
We’re delighted to welcome a host of new starts to the teams across Foxley Kingham, FoxKash, and GKP. By growing our teams and bringing in fresh talent, we can continue to provide the best and most efficient service to our clients.
First of all, I’m sure you’ll join us in wishing a warm welcome to Sara Edwards who joins our group as our new HR Manager. Sara will be operating across all areas of the business and brings a wealth of experience as an HR professional within the financial industry.
At FoxKash we’ve welcomed Camelia Tatar to the team, in the role of bookkeeper. Camelia comes with heaps of experience and is getting to grips with our digital, ‘paperless’ processes and workflows which she deems to be incredibly efficient.
We’ve also had three new starts across the Accounts and Payroll teams. In Payroll, Reena Vagh has joined us as Administrator, and she is thoroughly enjoying her induction and training. Joining as Accounts Junior is Imad Uddin who will be working across numerous clients, supporting personal and corporation tax returns and auditing. We’ve also welcomed back Nicole Doran, who some clients may know as Nicole Balogh. Nicole has rejoined Foxley Kingham as Account Senior, after some time away from the business. Although not a new face, Audit Manager Rachel Hayler has moved across from Foxley Kingham to continue delivering services to clients at GKP.
New trainees and promotions
As well as our roster of new starts, we’ve brought four new trainees on board at Foxley Kingham.
Alice McCraken, Rusha Chowdhury, Luke Smith, and Abdul Sammad joined us in early September and have been working hard to get to grips with our internal processes, and training on software such as Sage and Xero. They’ve also been assisting with financial and accounts administration, tax returns, and audit projects – putting their knowledge into practice with the support of senior colleagues.
We’re pleased with their achievements so far, and their support has been much appreciated across our business operations.
We’re also delighted to celebrate internal talent with Nicky Watkinson promoted to Accounts Manager at GKP. Nicky will continue to deliver an efficient service for our clients and contribute to the growth of the business.
Xero basics training
We’re committed to continuing our professional development and knowledge of Xero – which is always changing and bringing on new features. And so, we continue to attend Xero events. This helps to inform the Xero training that we offer for free to our small business clients. The Xero training runs on Teams and in person at the Luton office, alternating between the two, each month. These sessions are organised by Kirstin Taylor and you can book by emailing Kirstin.Taylor@gkp.co.uk.
Please remember, that we can also offer more detailed, formal training, both online and in person, tailored to your particular business needs. Should you require formal, one-on-one training on Xero, please email Amer.Javed@fkca.co.uk who will be happy to organise this for you.
Client survey
Gathering your feedback is a crucial part of the improvement process across our businesses. It informs how we improve our services, and become more efficient. And so, our latest client survey is now live. We’d appreciate if you could take a few minutes to complete our survey here.
To maximise the number of responses, we’re pledging up to £10 donation to our partner charity for 2023, NOAH, for every response received. By providing us with your feedback, you will also be supporting the great work of NOAH, helping those living in poverty across Luton and Central Bedfordshire.
Some final greetings…
Finally, we’re delighted to announce that the GKP office has moved just a couple of doors down from No.5 to No.3 Doolittle Yard. The team is in the midst of decorating the office and they look forward to welcoming clients and colleagues into their new space. Contact details remain the same.
In terms of delightful announcements, we’re sure you’ll join us in offering warm congratulations to Syed Zaidi at GKP who has welcomed his beautiful, baby boy Musa into the world.
And, for those of you who knew her as Lyn Ainsworth – note the name change and offer your congratulations to Lyn Oaten who was recently married at an intimate family reception in Ampthill.
As we find ourselves at the end of another successful year, we thank all our clients for their continued support and wish you all a very happy festive period and new year. Here’s to 2024 and continued business success for all.
