This week we put the 'Spotlight' on our best of member Kathryn from Certax Accounting (Birmingham South)

Hi everyone, my name is Kathryn Coley and I am the Director of Certax Accounting (Birmingham South) Limited. We are a family run small accountancy practice who specialise in looking after small businesses and are part of the UK-wide Certax Accounting franchise.

I live in Redditch with my husband, son and male Jack Russell/King Charles Spaniel cross Chester, so you could say that I am seriously outnumbered at home. When I am not working I like to read, do puzzles of various types and listen to music. I also love walking in the countryside and visiting historic buildings.

I moved permanently to the West Midlands 29 years ago at the end of my Business Studies degree course. Where I came from before that is a bit complicated, so here goes.

I was born in Singapore at the end of my Fathers 3-year tour with the army. My parents briefly ran a corner shop in London when we first came back to Blighty. My Father then joined the Met and we moved to a police house in Wimbledon where we stayed for about 6 years until we moved to Blackpool just before my 8th birthday. I stayed there until going to college in Bournemouth at 18.

My parents now live in Lincolnshire and I have two siblings, a Sister who lives in Hampshire and a Brother who lives in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We are widely spread but still manage to keep in touch on a regular basis. My parents soon learnt how to use Skype once my brother and sister had children and I have a regular weekly phone call with my Mother every Sunday evening.

We are a musical family. My Mother played the piano as a youngster and my Dad played the bugle in the army cadets. My Sister plays the flute, guitar and piano and is a music therapist. My Brother plays clarinet, saxophone, guitar, ukulele, banjo and various other stringed instruments, plays in a band and is the choir master of his local church.

I play the piano and clarinet (although it has been some time since I last did so) and love to sing. In the past I have been part of various choral and amateur dramatic societies. I even took part in a concert at Symphony Hall as a part of a Midlands-wide choir, drawn from many different choral societies and church choirs, to sing with an American gospel choir who were touring the UK.

During my Business Studies degree course I quickly realised that I had a flair for numbers and an interest in business management in general, so the die was cast at about 19 that I would be an accountant for the whole of my working life. I have dabbled in a few other ideas over the years but have quickly returned to what I do best.

Since leaving college I gained my CIMA accountancy qualification and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management plus a few other random ones in between. I am still learning new things every day from my clients, articles and news items I read. I have to keep up-to-date with anything that impacts my work so regularly attend update courses.

I am passionate about helping small businesses reach their potential and often write blogs about important changes in the tax legislation to help both my clients and the general public at large negotiate their way through what can seem very tricky waters.

You can read my blogs at  certaxbirminghamsouth.co.uk/blog

This blog by kind permission of Kathryn Coley.

If you need any help with your business accounts see the many services  Kathryn provides and her great reviews at  Certax Accounting (Birmingham South)