About us: testimonials
Les Enfant Day Nurseries Limited
With engineering as his profession, and more than three decades’ experience in vocational education and training at the highest level behind him, a switch to running day nurseries might sound like an unlikely career move for David and Joy Smith to have made.
But when David was offered early retirement from a local technical college, he and Joy opted to try their hand at the day nursery business – an idea triggered by the fact that his eldest daughter was a trained nursery nurse and his eldest grandson attended a nursery – and that decision has worked out very well indeed.
Since setting up their first nursery in February 1994, the Les Enfants Private Day Nurseries chain has expanded to four nurseries – two in Huddersfield, one in Dewsbury and one in Batley, plus a crèche at a Total Fitness gym in Huddersfield. In total, the business employs around 50 staff and provides places for 190 youngsters.
David, who is responsible for the financial side of the business, has worked with Lambert Roper & Horsfield, where his contact director is Denise Thornton, virtually from the start of Les Enfants. A conversation with a nursery client connected to Lambert Roper & Horsfield, just a couple of weeks after the nursery opened, led to David making contact and he has been with the firm ever since.
He explains: “We are happy to stay with Lambert Roper & Horsfield and have built up a strong, professional relationship with them.”
Les Enfants has its own in-house bookkeeper, whose records form the basis for the annual accounts that Denise’s team prepares, and which she interprets for David, and discusses with him, to assist in his business planning.
Lambert Roper & Horsfield also provide advice on tax and played a key role when Les Enfants, which started life as a partnership, was incorporated as a limited company in 2002. The firm has also set up the Les Enfants company pension scheme, with Scottish Widows.
David says: “If I need advice, I’ll give them a call. I’m comfortable enough with them to ask silly questions, and they don’t flinch when I do!
“Whilst competent in my own areas of expertise, I am not an accountant and need a company I can trust and rely on. Lambert Roper and Horsfield meet that need. It is important to have access to professional advice at the end of a phone, this we have.”
