Key Staff

Nik Hynes FCCA
Director

I qualified in a top ten firm and then spent some time in industry for a successful electronics company where I built the finance team and restructured the company’s finances to allow expansion. I then went back into practice and at one of the fastest growing firms in the country became a senior manager for 3 offices. I moved on to a niche firm to become a partner and this is where I spent most of my time advising on many businesses on growth and strategies and also led the roll out of the Boots Opticians franchise.

I now sit on many boards including a PLC with an annual turnover of over £30 million and provide financial advice along with advice using the entrepreneurial skills and instincts that I have developed.

A lot of my clients have been with me for a number of years and together we have developed a fantastic relationship that allows a much greater understanding of their businesses and goals.

In my spare time I spend time with my family and am a keen but not very good golfer.

Craig Barlow ACCA
Assistant Director

I began my accountancy career in as a regional assistant accountant for The Co-operative Group in the Funeral Care department before deciding to move into practice for a mid-tier firm. Having qualified as an ACCA accountant with this firm I joined a large and fast growing regional firm to progress my audit experience before moving into Ernst & Young, one of the Big 4. Here I worked on a large number of household names such as Eddie Stobart and BNFL in addition to being asked to teach as a Ernst & Young National Audit Instructor whereby I taught a number of courses to new E&Y graduates.

I however felt that I would like to progress my career in a smaller firm and consequently moved to Tree Accountancy Limited whereby my responsibilities include running of the office and management of internal processes and structures. At Tree we are constantly working to build relationships with our clients and the community. We have expertise in core services such as audit, management accounts, tax & VAT, however we excel at being able to offer a more personable service to our clients such as business reviews, general business support, acting as debt collection and arranging financing. I am also involved with a large number of charities both from a statutory perspective, but also with the sourcing of possible grant funding.

Outside work I am married and in addition have a number of hobbies, amongst these include music, fishing, golf and aviation.

Philip Gilmore ACCA
Client Manager

10 years ago I began my career with one of the largest independent accounting practices in the north west. The firm had a large client base of small owner managed businesses to large national and multi national corporates, covering most industry sectors. As the firm had a wide variety of clients of varying sizes I was able to gain a good foundation of knowledge whilst studying towards my qualification with the ACCA.

The majority of my early career was spent auditing and preparing accounts for large number of small to medium sized enterprises, but as time went by I didn’t feel the businesses I was acting for were getting any benefit from me simply preparing and auditing their accounts, I then decided I wanted to be more involved with the running of clients businesses, see my clients more often and report to them on a regular basis, it was at this point I met with Nik Hynes and he told me what Tree was all about, our goals and objectives complimented each other and we have worked together ever since.

Most of my time is now spent at clients who I see on a monthly/weekly basis whether it be managing their own accounting function or acting as the accounting function, bookeeping, preparing management accounts and reporting to the directors on a regular basis. I have a good working relationship with all my clients and I enjoy watching their business grow and develop as well as helping those businesses that are struggling find different strategies to help improve operations within their business.

I try to make the most of living in the Manchester city centre by watching as much live music as I can, I've always been interested in the history surrounding the Manchester music scene. Im also a big Man United fan, but admit most of it is spent in front of the TV.