Jenna McArtney
We’ve recently merged with the firm of Mr S Tough, a chartered certified accountancy business that offers accounting services to the Dundee, Angus and Perth regions. To celebrate our expansion, we’ve sat down with his youngest daughter Christine, who takes us on a journey through the ages of the accountancy firm’s legacy.
“I found an article out based on my father, Stewart Tough, just the other day. It was a news article printed in the Sidlaw Industries News in the early seventies. Published before I was born, it gave a glimpse into my father’s early years.
“I guess you could say my father has always had his eyes set on the accounting industry. Just before he left school, he was put into a commercial class that consisted of bookkeeping and typing, a subject he enjoyed. At the age of 15 and entered the world of work as an office boy in an accountancy firm in Dundee. He worked in Sunbury -on-Thames as an assistant accountant and was then promoted to a position in Glasgow. In 1964, he returned to his hometown of Dundee to work in the internal audit department at Sidlaw Industries.
“At the time, Dundee was the largest jute manufacturer in the world and an essential market for Indian jute producers. The jute trade brought an influx of potential clients to the local area with the decline in the trade, my father took it upon himself to start his own accountancy firm part-time.
“The year VAT was introduced was a pivotal year for our family. It was the year that my father established his own business which has become a firm with family values at its core. Over the years, my sisters, father and I have worked together to offer accountancy services to Dundee and the wider area. We’re a local firm that serve many generations of the same families and businesses close to our hearts.
“I’ve worked in the business for over thirty years, and during my time, I’ve adapted to modern-day processes. When I started working, we jotted everything down on paper and used an adding machine. When computers were widely adopted in the nineties, I went forth to update our processes.
“Income tax self-assessments were introduced on 6th April 1996, and during this time, I saw the benefit of utilising accountancy programmes. From adopting software and cloud accountancy solutions, we’ve established an efficient method that goes hand in hand with the needs of today’s clients. In keeping with the times, we’ve created lasting relationships. Some of our initial clients and extended families, from 50 years ago, are still clients to this day.”