Profiles

Matt Leggett BFP FCA

Matt is a chartered accountant and our founder and managing director.

His career in accountancy began in 1998 at a large regional firm of chartered accountants initially putting stamps on letters and distributing the internal post, although quickly moving into the corporate team.

It was in the corporate team he found his inner geek and took an instant liking to corporate reporting and technical issues and even used to read accounting standards in his spare time (seriously, we're not kidding!).

That thirst for technical knowledge led Matt to qualify, firstly with the Association of Accounting Technicians in 2003 and then with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) in 2007, becoming a fellow in 2018.

After spending time managing the corporate teams of two top 40 firms, the time was right to try things out for himself, and externalaccounts was born.

Outside of work Matt likes to spend time with his family, eating out and enjoy the odd holiday abroad.

Lee Brown FCCA

Lee is a Director of externalaccounts and started his accountancy journey in 2000 for a regional firm, originally as one of the office juniors, later moving into the accounts and audit departments. During his time there he qualified with the Association of Accounting Technicians in 2004. He then ventured out into commerce and worked for various SME’s as the Finance Manager. It was whilst out in the world of commerce, around 2009 that he qualified with the ACCA as a Certified Chartered Accountant. Upon qualifying he felt that he wasn’t using his technical knowledge and skill-set enough so decided to return to Accountancy Practice and started up Jarvis Brown, specialising in advising smaller, owner-managed businesses. He successfully looked after a wide and varied portfolio of sole traders, partnerships and limited companies ranging across many sectors.

Outside of work, Lee lives locally in Norfolk with his wife and 3 children. Lee is a big football fan and volunteers his services as a coach to his son’s team as well as providing a free taxi service to all 3 children!

Susan Lawson

Susan originally started work as a hairdresser until her husband required her administrative assistance with his accountancy practice in Great Yarmouth. Here she assisted numerous clients with bookkeeping, VAT returns and payroll preparation. That was until her husband called time on his practice to achieve a better work-life balance. However, Susan still had more to offer and joined Lee at Jarvis Brown in 2017. She is incredibly thorough and precise with her work and takes pride in keeping all the clients happy through regular and effective communication.

When she is not at work, her and her husband enjoy spending time with their growing family and taking their grandchildren on days out.

Calum Dickinson

Calum joined externalaccounts as an apprentice accountant in 2021 and is currently studying towards the AAT qualification. Calum provides bookkeeping, tax and accounts preparation support. Outside of work Calum plays for Fakenham Town FC in the Thurlow Nunn Premier League.

Billy French ACIS

Billy is the founder and managing director of externalservices.

He read law at the University of Hull and trained as a lawyer and qualified as a chartered company secretary in 2008. He provides commercial, corporate and construction law advice.

He has over 15 years of experience in the oil & gas, renewable energy and civil construction sectors, together with recent experience in the banking and finance sector. He has held key positions within the businesses of previous employers and has negotiated multi-million pound construction contracts for onshore and offshore projects in the UK and several foreign jurisdictions including the USA, Mexico, Malaysia, Libya and Qatar.

Billy has previously worked at FTSE 100 company Severn Trent plc, SLP Engineering Ltd and Triodos Bank N.V.

Billy is also chairman of the local branch of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.