Why Val and Owen stand out from the crowd

Written by: Claire Thompson, Papa Romeo PR Photography by: Vic Toplisek, Whitley Stimpson

Although they are part of a close knit team in a company that prides itself on the quality of its training, development and integration with the communities it serves, they were in the spotlight to celebrate a total of 30 years’ service with the company.

Val Buzzard is celebrating 20 years with the company. She joined Whitley Stimpson as a qualified accountant and became the first woman partner 16 years ago – and 2017 is definitely her special year. For Val, who is a fully registered holder of the Trust and Estate Practitioner Diploma, was crowned as businesswoman of the year at the Banbury Women in Business awards in March this year.

Within the company she is currently working to develop further the firm’s payroll management programme for companies of all sizes and has restructured a team to create a more efficient, effective and cohesive service for clients. She is also audit compliance director for Whitley Stimpson and plays a leading role in bringing procedures across all four offices in Banbury, Bicester, High Wycombe and Witney in line during the company’s strategic merger process over the last five years.

Val is also pioneering the company’s specialisation in areas associated with trusts and estate administration, following her award in this field, which gives clients assurance that the company is well versed in this area. She is busy building up the specialist service team to deal with this growing element of the company’s business.

She is also the link with Husky Finance, a workplace pensions service provider, to provide small and micro employers with a range of solutions to meet their auto-enrolment programmes. This service allows companies to compare pension providers based on their specific needs.

Owen and Val both regularly collaborate with other local professionals to run seminars and webinars on contemporary matters, as diverse as government budgets and tax relief changes for buy-to-let landlords to helping employers and staff of small and micro companies through the complexities of pensions auto-enrolment.

Owen Kyffin came to the fore to celebrate 10 years as a director. He is a well-known specialist in tax planning and qualified in that field with the Inland Revenue, now HMRC, in 1988. After two years in the Inland Revenue he moved to a top ten international firm, where he studied for his professional qualifications with the Chartered institute of Taxation.

He stayed with this firm for 20 years, working mainly with family and management owned companies, before joining Whitley Stimpson in 2007, where he advises companies and individuals on the ever increasing complexities of tax matters.

Owen is also committed to community service and he was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Banbury Cherwell in 1977, which means he has been involved in Banbury Rotary for 20 years. He is also a cricket fan and has been involved with Banbury Cricket Club for 23 years and is a fervent believer in the company’s commitment to involvement in the communities in which the company works.

Whitley Stimpson’s managing director Jonathan Walton paid tribute to the two long service directors at the company’s annual conference where staff from all their offices meet to discuss past performance and to help plan the future of the company.

He said: “Everyone in our team is a star in their own right, but it was a good opportunity to celebrate the outstanding achievements of these two directors. Their achievement embodies the very spirit of the company and represents our commitment to excellence in service to our clients and to the communities in which we work.”