A South West鈥檚 fastest growing independent accountancy firm has promoted one of its rising stars 鈥 and a skilled carpenter - to director.

Tom Stuckey joined chartered accountants and business advisers Thomas Westcott in 2009 when he was part-qualified before completing his formal training towards full chartered certified accountant status.

The University of Exeter graduate is now based in the firm鈥檚 Axminster office, and said that in his spare time enjoys running, watching movies, listening to music, carpentry and woodwork. He is also an advisory member of the Axminster Young Farmers Club.

Mr Stuckey said: 鈥淥ver the years, as well as supporting me through my training and continued professional development Thomas Westcott has provided fantastic opportunities to progress, looking after our clients on a daily basis.

鈥淚 now work across a wide portfolio of corporate, charitable sector and owner-managed clients and take great satisfaction in being able to help them achieve their business goals.鈥

In recent years Thomas Westcott, which has 17 offices throughout Devon and Somerset including in Plymouth and Exteter, has doubled in size through a number of carefully planned mergers.

In 2016 Thomas Westcott merged with Plymouth-based chartered聽聽accountants聽聽and taxation advisers Parkhurst Hill.

The merger saw Thomas聽聽聽Westcott聽鈥檚聽聽Plymouth聽-based staff move from the firm鈥檚 Queen Anne Terrace location to Parkhurst Hill鈥檚 offices in Plym House, Marsh Mills.

In 2009 Thomas Westcott merged with Plymouth聽-based David Rice and Co.

With 30 partners and 220 staff, the firm acts for a wide variety of clients ranging from individual tax return cases to businesses operating in local, national and international markets.

During the past decade the firm has placed a strong emphasis on recruiting, nurturing and training the best young accountants to ensure it has clear inter-generational succession planning in place for its growing client portfolio.

Shona Godefroy, deputy managing partner, said: 鈥淭om joined us part-way through his training and has proved himself to be a talented accountant and a real asset at Thomas Westcott.鈥

She added: 鈥淭his promotion to the role of Director is extremely well-deserved and we all look forward to watching his further professional development.鈥

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To contact William Telford: william.telford@reachplc.com