The Team

Careful attention to staff selection has paid off over the years and our team of 12 partners and staff has an enviable record of continuity.

Over half of this number have been with us for at least ten years and we generally tend not to lose people. We strongly believe that dedicated and motivated staff will be most effective in providing excellent service to our clients. In any service based business the staff are the key to success; their time is the predominant ingredient in our production cycle.

In listening to our clients we attempt, wherever possible, to ensure continuity of staffing so that staff members familiarise themselves with the same clients from year to year and a close working relationship develops. This also reduces time spent on familiarisation and briefing, which would otherwise add to cost.

Charges are calculated by reference to time spent, and effective delegation is important as scale rates are naturally higher for the more qualified and experienced senior staff. Delegation always involves supervision and review, so the mix of different levels of experience is important to maintain. This is always more difficult to achieve where there is a high degree of staff turnaround so our stability also pays off in this respect.

We feel that we operate very much as a team. The various players have individual skills and we play to their strengths continuously. The firm’s compact size allows us get to know our team-mates extremely well and we are able to confer and share knowledge and experience whenever it is advantageous to do so.

Within the team we have specialists in a number of different software packages including but not limited to, Sage 50, Sage Business Cloud, QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage Payroll and Moneysoft Payroll.

Mark Robinson

Mark joined Brett Pittwood in 2002 and worked his way through the ranks to become an Associate Director in 2017, subsequently becoming a full director in early 2019. He heads up many of the cases we have handled for the longest time, and clients appreciate his calm and measured approach.

Mark was educated in Ferndown, where he still lives, doing daily battle with the traffic coming from that direction. He contends that the secret is to pick the route carefully each day, there being several to choose from.

He is a keen and competitive club tennis player and enjoys motor sports (as a spectator) as well as being a bit of a film buff on the quiet. He spends most of his leisure time with his family and likes to visit interesting and out-of-the-way places in Dorset, Hampshire, Devon and Somerset.

Phil Polden

As a Poole resident all his life, Phil has a strong sense of local community and in particular a deep affinity to the Branksome area. His call to accountancy came early, studying the subject at “A” level and then going on to train with Brett Pittwood where he quickly qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant. Between college and joining Brett Pittwood his outgoing personality benefited from a brief spell in the brash end of the insurance industry.

A few years after qualifying, in order to gain further experience, Phil spent two years working in the local office of a “top 10” international firm of accountants where he came across larger clients and broadened his skills generally. On returning to Brett Pittwood in 2017 to take up the position of Associate Director, subsequently full director in early 2019, he has been able to widen the range of services we can offer.

When not at work Phil enjoys family life with his wife, and their two young children. A dog and too many chickens to refer to here by name, make up the rest of the Polden family. To relax Phil takes himself off to the golf course and strives toward the goal of getting his handicap down to single figures, which always seems just out of reach! As a child he was very fond of football but no longer plays after an ankle injury several years ago. If there is any time left in the week Phil can be seen out on his road bike, working on keeping fit.

Our roots

Michael Brett and Brian Pittwood

The firm maintains strong links with Mike Brett and Brian Pittwood who founded the business via their individual practices in the early 1990s, coming together quite quickly to share premises prior to the company’s formation in 2003. Michael is still formally engaged as a part time Consultant and Brian is a regular visitor to the office.

Both of the founding partners trained and qualified as accountants locally during the 1970s and 80s, gaining experience in dealing with owner managed businesses and taxation for individuals and business entities. Brian was born and educated in Bournemouth whilst Mike grew up in the Midlands and studied economics at Newcastle University.

On joining forces, the partners had in common a thorough grounding in the technical aspects of taxation and accountancy but they also recognised that too many accountants are poor communicators. They were keen to ensure that Brett Pittwood would always be known as a firm that would be accessible to its clients and, as far as possible, would educate its clients to understand more about the financial side of their business and therefore become better owner managers. This philosophy is still a key aspect of Brett Pittwood, distinguishing the firm from many of its competitors.