Who We Are

John Pickering - Senior Partner

John has been a Partner with Scrutton Bland for over 25 years and has built up significant expertise and experience in the sectors of agriculture, family businesses, the affairs of high net worth individuals and Trusts and Estates.

His particular concern is to build a close personal relationship with his clients to enable him to advise to best effect based on a clear understanding of their wider circumstances.

Contact t: 01473 259201 f: 01473 231643 mailto:john.pickering@scruttonbland.co.uk

Sharon Gravener - Managing Partner

Sharon has been with Scrutton Bland for 25 years and is now the Managing Partner of the firm. In addition she is a partner in our Corporate Services Department based in Ipswich. She specialises in providing services to larger owner managed businesses and professional partnerships.  She feels that her years of experience in practice and now managing the firm give her a great deal of empathy with her clients accounting, tax and business issues.

As well as delivering compliance based services of audit and accountancy, Sharon advises her clients of corporate finance transactions.

As part of the team delivering services to Higher Education and Further Education colleges, Sharon has an expertise in internal audit services, providing these to clients across the whole of East Anglia.

Contact t: 01473 259201 f: 01473 231643 mailto:sharon.gravener@scruttonbland.co.uk

Nick Banks

Nick joined Scrutton Bland in July 1993 and trained with the firm until qualification. In recent years he was a manager in the business services department of the Ipswich Office looking after a wide and varied portfolio but specialising in medical sector clients, small owner managed businesses, professional partnerships and farming clients. Nick is treasurer of the Ipswich and Suffolk Small Business Association. 

Contact t: 01473 259201 f: 01473 231643  mailto:nick.banks@scruttonbland.co.uk

Jason Fayers

Jason is one of our tax partners and specialises in all aspects of business and corporate taxation. He joined the firm in 1998 from the Inland Revenue where he had spent the previous ten years working as an Inspector of Taxes. His extensive experience in dealing with Inland Revenue enquiries and tax investigations has proved extremely worthwhile and successful. Jason heads our Tax Department in Ipswich which, in addition to providing personal, business and corporate tax compliance, planning and advice also includes the provision of payroll services, PAYE compliance support and remuneration planning services. 

Contact t: 01473 259201 f: 01473 231643 mailto:jason.fayers@scruttonbland.co.uk

Sue Gull

Sue joined Scrutton Bland as a partner in February 2001 and jointly heads our Corporate Services practice in Ipswich . She was previously a partner with Grant Thornton, having trained and qualified with that firm. Sue serves a number of our larger clients, which range from substantial privately owned businesses to subsidiaries of international companies. As well as audit and accountancy services, she has experience in advising corporate businesses on a broad range of issues including share valuations, group re-organisations and buying and selling businesses. Working closely with the tax department is essential and together the two departments have recently been involved in advising corporate clients on matters such Employee Benefit Trusts, Capital Gains Tax and taper relief and the implications of property purchases. Sue has a particular interest in the construction industry, which has many specific tax and accounting issues. She was also on the national Legal Panel at Grant Thornton where she was responsible for the technical aspects of the Solicitors' Accounts Rules and training staff thereon. She still deals with this aspect of many of the solicitor clients of Scrutton Bland. She is also Staff Partner for Scrutton Bland, responsible for over 100 staff, including 30 students in training for professional exams. 

Contact t: 01473 259201 f: 01473 231643 mailto:sue.gull@scruttonbland.co.uk

Tim Long

Tim joined the insurance broking division of Scrutton Bland Ltd in 2005, following the integration of SoleBay Insurance, building on our already extensive involvement with the East Anglian farming, estate and land-owning fraternity. Tim has previously worked for specialist agricultural Insurance Brokers and Underwriters advising clients and professionals on general and technical aspects of agricultural, estate and rural insurance. Tim was a founder of SoleBay Insurance Brokers offering agricultural, commercial and larger household insurance solutions to the business and land-owning community throughout East Anglia and beyond.

Contact t: 01206 838400  f: 01206 838401 mailto:tim.long@scruttonbland.co.uk

Nigel Hutchinson BSc(Tech), FPFS, FIFP, Certified & Chartered Financial Planner

Nigel heads up the IFA department at Scrutton Bland and has worked in the IFA sector for over 20 years. Before entering the IFA sector he worked for the accountants Price Waterhouse. He has been with Scrutton Bland for the last 14 years and prior to this worked for a leading pensions and investment provider and a large national IFA. He was the first Fellow of the Society of Financial Advisers in East Anglia and is one of only a small number of Fellows of the Institute of Financial Planning in the UK. In 1995 he attained the internationally recognised status of Certified Financial Planner and was in the first batch of advisers to be awarded the Chartered Financial Planner designation in 2006.

Nigel works out of the Ipswich office of Scrutton Bland and specialises in investments, pensions and personal financial planning.

Contact t: 01473 259201  f: 01473 231643 mailto:nigel.hutchinson@scruttonbland.co.uk

James McElhinney

James a Partner based in our Ipswich office.  Originally trained with Scrutton Bland, James spent a number of years as a Partner in another firm in Ipswich, before having a spell in commerce as Finance Director of a large haulage company. He then spent several years building a practice as a sole practitioner before merging with Scrutton Bland in 1999.  Now, James is a General Practitioner acting for a large number of varying types of businesses trading as sole traders, partnerships and family owned companies. He assists owners and  managers in production of regular management accounts and information, together with business planning as well as the usual array of compliance matters.

His specialisms include Freight Forwarding, Logistics, Warehousing and Distribution and currently acts for a large number of haulage businesses in Suffolk and Essex.  These range from owner operators to larger multi million pound turnover companies running fleets in excess of 100 own vehicles.

Contact t: 01473 259201 f: 01473 231643 mailto:mac@scruttonbland.co.uk

Tim Mulley

Tim is a partner based in our Colchester office as the head of our Insurance broking Division.  He manages a team of thirty-five people in Colchester and Diss who specialise in Corporate Insurances and Personal Insurances for High Net Worth individuals, handling approx £10 Million in premium income.

Tim has over 15 years experience as an Insurance Broker and previously as a Commercial Insurances underwriter at a leading UK insurance company.  He also is the partner responsible for marketing of the Group, the marketing team arranged over 15 events last year

Contact t: 01206 838400 f: 01206 838401 mailto:tim.mulley@scruttonbland.co.uk

Tim O’Connor

Tim joined the Colchester branch of the accountants in January 2002 as a manager, having worked for a medium sized accountancy practice in Norwich. He has been in practice for 17 years, the first 9 years was spent in general practice and has subsequently specialised in corporate work, particularly small and medium sized companies and not-for-profit organisations. 

Contact t: 01206 838400  f: 01206 838401 mailto:tim.oconnor@scruttonbland.co.uk

Andrew Strickland

Andrew is a corporate partner based in our Colchester office and acts for a wide range of proprietorial and educational clients. He has extensive audit experience and is chairman of the Review Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.  Andrew has been involved in a large number of corporate finance transactions, and is accustomed to providing close support to clients through the sale of their businesses. He recognises the importance of planning in ensuring that the best possible tax result is obtained: this often requires appropriate planning prior to sale. It also requires the careful management of any proceeds which are to be received on a deferred or contingent basis.  Litigation support is one of the specialist services offered by Scrutton Bland and Andrew Strickland heads up this service. Reports have been produced relating to personal injury claims, contractual disputes and Fatal Accident Act claims. Andrew acts as an expert who is very comfortable in giving evidence in court and in being subject to robust cross-examination on that evidence. The keynote to this service is simple: any report that is produced has to be written with the awareness that it may need to be defended in detail in court.

Scrutton Bland has a specialism in further and higher education: we currently act for three higher educational institutions and for some fourteen colleges of further education. Andrew is one of the partners who leads this service.

Contact t: 01206 838400  f: 01206 838401 mailto:andrew.strickland@scruttonbland.co.uk