Much like doctors and lawyers, accountants often contribute significantly to the fabric of Britain’s market towns. Take Jim Hair CA. For almost 45 years, his Cupar-based practice has been supporting farmers, SMEs and investors in the agricultural heartlands of north-east Fife.

That support doesn’t end when he leaves the office. Hair (who prefers the informal “Jim”, despite the firm’s name) also sits on the local development trust, chairs the town’s business association and no doubt provides an informal sounding board to friends during his regular appearances on the local golf course.

With the rapid consolidation taking place across the market, small practices such as James Hair & Co are becoming rarer. But while the proprietor has now dropped his working week to two days, he’s steering a succession plan to pass the firm on to his four “like-minded” directors. His aim is to ensure that it continues to build long-term relationships through a strong understanding of local issues.

Originally from Dumfries and Galloway, Hair grew up as one of three brothers in a farming family. And while he chose a different career, he’s never strayed far from the world of agriculture. Having pursued a law and accountancy degree at the University of Edinburgh, he remained in the city to train for his CA qualification with Peat Marwick Mitchell (now part of the giant KPMG). But it didn’t take him long to realise the corporate world wasn’t for him. “The day I qualified, I knew I wanted to do my own thing,” says Hair.

Fortuitously, an opportunity to carry out accounting work for a family in Fife provided the springboard to launch his own business just two months after qualifying. Those early days were modest – a small office in Cupar, with an assistant handling bookkeeping and administration. But the practice was able to expand gradually. Today, in addition to Hair, the firm is led by four directors, with 28 staff and a satellite office in St Andrews, just 10 miles to the east.

“We’ve relied heavily on bright, local women who work part-time, providing them with flexibility. It’s been a huge asset to the practice”

Jim Hair CA

The firm’s core services are accounting and tax for SMEs and individuals, often utilising the knowledge of agricultural and land management issues that Hair and his team have developed over the years. The company distanced itself from audit around 20 years ago, but took an earlier decision to diversify into financial planning.

“Audit wasn’t adding much value for our client base,” says Hair. “I was more interested in investment work and financial services. In the ’80s, long before financial regulation came in, I had a licence to manage private client portfolios. That became a core part of the service offering, even when regulation came in and a lot of firms shied away from it.”

That’s still a key part of the business today and a good fit with high-net-worth clients in the Cupar area. Similarly, the firm provides business consultancy services, tapping into its understanding of local SME pressures and opportunities.

Keep it personal

With a mission to give clients “confidence in their finances”, Hair emphasises the importance of personal relationships. “There’s a shift towards IT-driven processing models in many firms, but we stick to traditional partner-level involvement,” he says. “Every client has direct access to a dedicated director.”

Hair believes this helps the firm to maintain a distinctive appeal, particularly as local competitors are absorbed into national chains. And that ability to stand out is key when it comes to the perennial challenge of recruiting new talent, particularly outside the big cities. Hair says: “We remain committed to steady expansion of the practice, with target revenue for 2024 of £2m and additional main-street office space opening up before the end of the year.”

Whether it’s attracting CA trainees or other skilled workers, recruitment has been a concern for Hair throughout the history of the business. But with families often drawn to north-east Fife for the quality of life, one of the solutions has been to offer flexible, part-time opportunities. “We’ve relied heavily on bright, local women who work part-time, providing them with flexibility,” he says. “It’s been a huge asset to the practice.”

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Despite the length of his career, Hair is not ready to fully retire yet. “The thought of selling up and doing nothing doesn’t fill me with enthusiasm,” he says. “I still enjoy working with clients, so I do that a couple of days a week to keep my brain engaged. And then I can play as much golf as I want.”

The future is taken care of, however. “About 15 years ago, I began to develop an internal succession plan, ensuring the longevity of the firm,” says Hair. “I wanted to promote from within and see like-minded people take over.”

That succession plan is now taking shape through Raymond Hutt (Director of Accounting and IT Services), Sheena Gibson (Director of Agriculture and Charities), David Arthur (Director of Financial Services) and Paul Robertson (Tax Director).

Originally from Dingwall, Robertson developed his career at several practices in the north of Scotland, including Inverness-based Stewart and Stewart and the local offices of Johnston Carmichael, EY and Saffery Champness. But the attractive rural and coastal environment of north-east Fife appealed to him and his family, as did the opportunity to play his role in further developing a well-established business. “Coming from a market town not too dissimilar to Cupar, I’ve enjoyed the transition,” says Robertson. “I like the close-knit community feeling and the firm’s client-focused approach, which is how I like working too.

“Our ambition is to maintain the quality of client service we’ve always been known for, while adapting to the evolving market. We’re riding a wave of change, such as HMRC regulation, working practices and the intergenerational differences we’re seeing with Generation Z. We must adapt to this but our core values will remain the same. We’ll continue to focus on understanding our clients’ needs and ensuring that we support them the best we can.”

 jameshair.co.uk