An award-winning accountancy firm has gone bust, with its founder and owner blaming “challenging business conditions”.
Faith Simpson Accountants has gone into liquidation, leaving five members of staff unemployed.
The firm had offices in Elgin and Huntly until September, when the Moray branch was closed and staff were moved to the larger Huntly office – which has now also shut.
Ms Simpson, who founded the business in 2006, said it had been plagued by problems in recent months and struggled to bounce back after she had to take time off due to illness.
She said: “I have made the very difficult decision to close Faith Simpson Accountants.
“Along with rising staff costs and challenging business conditions, the company faced challenges since I took some time to recover from illness a few years ago.
“It is unfortunate, but in these uncertain times, we have struggled to persuade clients to raise their fees in line with our cost base and have also faced late payment which has meant the business has had to absorb these losses.
“We are doing our utmost to find alternative employment for our five members of staff.
“Overall, staff and clients have been very understanding and are sad to see an independent business that was dedicated to providing an essential local service close down.”
However, Huntly businessman Chris Mather has complained that he is one of hundreds of clients whose accounts and payrolls are inaccessible because they were stored in the town’s office.
Middlebrooks Business Recovery and Advice has been appointed to wind up the business and affected parties such as Mr Mather have been asked to direct their inquiries to Middlebrooks.
Faith Simpson serviced a variety of clients across the north-east in many sectors, from sole traders to major players in the oil and gas industry.
After expanding into Huntly in 2014, Ms Simpson predicted an increase in the firm’s takings over the following years.
And the Association of Scottish Businesswomen named the company as its “business of the year” during a ceremony in Glasgow in 2015.
But it is understood that employees in Huntly were asked to clear their desks on Monday, January 14, and the firm’s website has now been taken offline.
Ms Simpson will remain a director of Nimrod Safety Solutions in Elgin, which she says has made an “extremely promising start to 2019”.
She will also continue to offer services as a chartered certified accountant.