Meet the Team

Mark Friend is a Chartered Accountant and member of the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales). He works with a portfolio of clients on planning and business development, and on helping them to reduce tax and to create and protect wealth.

Mark established the business in 1992 from scratch. Initially working from home, he has successfully built the practice to the business it is today. Mark has experienced all the trials and tribulations of building a successful business and loves nothing better than helping his clients to succeed.

Andrew Grant is a Chartered Accountant and fellow of the ICAEW. His portfolio includes growing businesses where he finds business, accounting and tax solutions to ensure they maximise income, protect wealth and reduce tax.

Scott joined the practice in 2009 and qualified in 2010 as a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

In 2016 Scott became Head of Accounts & Business Support with responsibility for dealing with the day-to-day affairs of a portfolio of business clients.
Scott also leads on all the firm’s audits.

Simon joined Friend & Grant in March 2009, as a graduate trainee and since February 2013 he has been a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. In 2014 Simon joined the firm’s management team and works closely with the directors on a portfolio of business clients.

Before joining us Simon completed a joint honors degree in Marketing and Accounting at Canterbury Christ Church University achieving a 2:1.

Luke joined our Accounts & Business Support Team in August 2012 as a trainee accountant. Luke completed his exams and became a qualified Chartered Accountant and member of the ICAEW in November 2017.

Luke works with the directors on a portfolio of business clients specialising in the retail sector. His focus is helping clients to save tax, save time and build wealth.

Lewis joined our Accounts & Business Support department in June 2016 as a senior. Lewis has the AAT qualification and works primarily on accounts preparation for limited companies.

In August 2019 Lewis completed his studies, passing every exam first time and is a Chartered Accountant ACA.

Bryony joined the firm in September 2016 as an apprentice working in our Accounts & Business Support department.

Bryony has successfully completed studies and is now AAT qualified and has already started her ACA studies.

Nick joined the practice in September 2018 as an Apprentice Accounts Assistant. He’s already started studying for his AAT exams and is currently attached to the Accounts & Business Support department.

Jack is a Mathematics & Finance graduate who joined the practice in August 2019 as a trainee accountant in our Accounts & Business Support Department. Jack is currently studying for the ACA qualification.

Harry Joined the practice in April 2021 as a trainee accountant in the Accounts & Business Support Department. Harry is nearing completion of his AAT qualifications and wishes to complete his ACA qualification in the future.

Jess joined the firm in May 2021 working in our accounts and business support department.  Jess is AAT qualified and has 8 years of experience within an accountancy firm.

Jan Friend is a Chartered Tax Adviser and, as head of the Tax Team, is involved with all tax matters, business and personal. Jan looks after a portfolio of high-net-worth clients as well as being our probate services and estate planning expert.

Darren works as a member of our Tax Department, dealing mainly with our smaller clients. He is also responsible for general tax compliance work. His portfolio of clients is largely made up of self-employed and partnership businesses and includes property developers & investors, rental property owners and our high-net-worth clients.

Darren first started working for Mark as a trainee in 2000, when Mark was a sole practitioner. Darren joined the firm’s management team in 2014.

Sophie joined the practice in September 2016 as an Apprentice working in our Tax Department.

Sophie has successfully completed her AAT qualification and is now studying tax further with the ATT exams.

James deals with personal tax return preparation and provides capital gains tax advice to our clients to help reduce their tax burden.

James joined the tax department in 2017. James specialises in dealing with the personal tax affairs of high net worth individuals.

James is ATT qualified and plans to become a Chartered Tax Adviser in the coming years.

Christie joined Friend & Grant in November 2018 as an apprentice.

Christie has successfully completed her AAT qualification and is currently studying for her ATT qualification with a view to becoming CTA and ACA qualified.

Jess joined Friend & Grant in August 2020 as an apprentice.

Jess studied business, finance, and law at A-level and is now working towards her AAT qualification.

Ashleigh is a member of our Tax Department working closely with Darren on our smaller clients. She is both AAT and ATT qualified with 10 years of experience in Personal Tax.

Ashleigh re-joined Friend & Grant in June 2021 after originally being a member of the team from 2011 to 2017.

Bradley joined our Tax Department in August 2015 and then moved to the Business Support team in September 2016.  Bradley has successfully passed his AAT exams and is now training to be a Chartered Accountant.

He is an expert in Cloud Accounting as he is a Xero Certified Advisor, a QuickBooks ProAdvisor and also a Sage One Certified Advisor.

Paige joined Friend & Grant in October 2016 as an apprentice working in an administrative and communications role. Paige has completed her Level 3 Business & Administration qualification and was nominated for the ‘Apprentice of the Year’ award at the Mid Kent College Student Awards, coming in the top 3 out of 100 students.

Paige joined our payroll department in December 2020 as a trainee payroll administrator.

Paige is responsible for the firm’s social media and assists with marketing.

Gemma joined our payroll department in February 2021 as a trainee payroll administrator.

Gemma previously worked in sales for a number of years and in recent years for a local bank.

Whilst working at the bank Gemma became interested in pursuing a career in accountancy and started to train for the AAT qualification before joining us in 2021.

Matthew heads the Media Services Department at Friend and Grant.

He’s been working in the industry for the past 13 years and his work has taken him across the world. Some of his highlights include cars photoshoot in the deserts, weddings on top of the snowy Italian Alps, war zones in Israel, and filming in the market streets of Zanzibar.

In his own words, he says he has been lucky enough to be able to pursue both of his passion for photography and cars whilst working with clients such as Mazda, The London Taxi Company, MG and Caterham, on their advertising campaigns.

Matthew is currently focusing on his videographer and editor career with Friend and Grant to help them promote the business, but he always finds time to go on another adventure.

Julie Edwards is most likely to be the first person you talk to as she is our receptionist. She also acts as PA to Mark and is responsible for company secretarial matters.

Julie joined Friend & Grant in 2004. She really enjoys meeting the clients and getting to know them.

Carol joined us in April 2019 to manage our internal accounts.  She’s a qualified accountant with a wealth of experience working in practice and industry.  Carol is with us on Tuesdays & Thursdays and works as an accounts manager in industry the rest of the week.

Carol is also a Xero Certified Advisor and has wide experience of Sage accounts and payroll programs.

Matilda joined Friend and Grant in March 2021, as an apprentice administrator.

Matilda studied Geography, Religious studies and Sociology at A Level.

She is working for Level 3 business admin.

Sherrie joined Friend and Grant in April 2021 as our customer service officer.

Sherrie has a wealth of customer service experience that she brings with her to help enhance the service we provide to clients.  This includes collecting feedback to ensure we provide high quality service in all dealings with our clients.

Previously Sherrie has worked in a number of customer services roles for a local bank.