Preston has more accountancy firms than anywhere else on this site. Compare all 74 by their Google ratings, or tell us what you need and we match you with up to 4 who will quote for your Making Tax Digital updates.
Accountants across the city
Claimed firms first, then by number of Google reviews. Ratings come from each firm’s Google Business Profile (47 of 74 have reviews). Any paid placement is labelled Sponsored.
Example: how your firm could look here
Your office address, Preston
★★★★★ Your Google rating and reviews
Two lines in your own words: who you help, how you handle the quarterly updates, and what a sole trader or landlord pays.
426A New Hall Ln, PR1 4TA
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
Ground Floor 13, Cable Court, Pittman Way, Fulwood, PR2 9YW
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
Solomon House, Caxton Rd, Fulwood, PR2 9PL
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
Unit 21-22, Navigation Business Village 21, PR2 2YP
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
Alan May Newsagents, 129 Woodplumpton Rd, Fulwood, PR2 3LF
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
15, Cable Court, Pittman Way, Fulwood, PR2 9YW
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
Park House, 17 Moor Park Ave, PR1 6AS
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
5 Ribblesdale Pl, PR1 8BZ
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
165 Garstang Rd, Fulwood, PR2 3BH
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
Not sure who to pick? Let us match you.
Too many to ring round? One form reaches up to 4 firms that suit you. Free.
9-10 Cross St, PR1 3LT
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
Unit 7, Navigation Business Village, Navigation Way, Ashton-on-Ribble, PR2 2YP
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
Unit A30, Red Scar Business Park, Longridge Rd, Ribbleton, PR2 5NA
Free · we’ll also match you with up to 3 more · Your firm?
Is your firm missing or wrong? Claim or correct your listing.
There are 74 firms here. Tell us what you need and we narrow it to the few that fit.
Your request goes to no more than four firms. We never sell your details to anyone else.
Ask each firm the same questions and set the quotes side by side.
The service is free. Go ahead with a firm only if you want to.
Choosing an accountant in Preston
Winckley Square was laid out at the start of the 1800s as a private enclave of Georgian town houses for the city’s wealthier families. It did not stay residential for long. By 1933 the Lancashire Evening Post could report that most of the houses were used “as offices by lawyers, accountants”, a description the Winckley Square history project still quotes. Today the square is still occupied mostly by legal, insurance and other professional businesses.
That history is a useful reminder when you are picking a firm. A brass plate on a Georgian door tells you a firm has been around; it does not tell you whether it handles Making Tax Digital for sole traders or landlords, what software it uses, or what it charges for four quarterly updates. Those are the questions that matter from April 2027, when sole traders and landlords with income over £30,000 must start sending updates to HMRC.
A fair question when you are choosing an accountant is whether it matters who they are qualified with. The short answer is that “accountant” on its own means very little. It is not a protected word in the UK, and anyone can use it. A handful of titles are restricted to members of particular bodies, and each body has its own exams, rules on continuing training and a public register you can search.
| Letters or title | Body | Check it with |
|---|---|---|
| ACA or FCA, “Chartered Accountant” | ICAEW (England and Wales); Chartered Accountants Ireland also uses ACA/FCA | ICAEW Find a Chartered Accountant |
| CA | ICAS (Scotland) | ICAS directory |
| ACCA or FCCA, “Chartered Certified Accountant” | Association of Chartered Certified Accountants | ACCA Find an accountant |
| MAAT, FMAAT, “AAT Licensed Accountant” | Association of Accounting Technicians | AAT Find an accountant |
| CTA | Chartered Institute of Taxation: tax specialists | CIOT register |
| ATT | Association of Taxation Technicians: tax compliance | ATT register |
For MTD work none of these is compulsory. HMRC lets you authorise any agent to send updates on your behalf. In practice, many sole traders do very well with an AAT-licensed accountant or a bookkeeper who files updates and leaves the year-end to a chartered firm. Landlords with several properties in joint names, or anyone who expects an argument with HMRC, may want a chartered firm or a chartered tax adviser.
The accountants on this page fall into three clusters. The biggest is Fulwood (PR2), where 25 firms are based, many on business parks off Eastway and Garstang Road within reach of the M6 and M55. Be aware that “Fulwood” is used loosely: some addresses described that way sit in Plungington, Cadley or Greyfriars wards. The second cluster is Ashton-on-Ribble (PR2), with 10 firms, including one at Navigation Business Village by the docks. The third is the city centre (PR1): Winckley Square, Winckley Court, Chaddock Street, Church Street and Cross Street.
Outside those, you will find firms along New Hall Lane and Ribbleton Lane in Ribbleton, on Deepdale Road, and out at Cottam (PR4). Villages in the rural north of the city, such as Broughton and Goosnargh, use PR3 postcodes.
Preston is home to one of HMRC’s larger offices, at St Mark’s House off the Ringway, and in April 2023 the department confirmed that over a thousand jobs would stay in the city for the long term. That does not mean anyone at HMRC will help you choose an accountant, but it does mean plenty of Preston firms are staffed by people who have worked on the other side of the desk. If that matters to you, ask.
Invest Preston, run by Preston City Council, lists start-up support, grants and loans, workspace and networking events. Boost, Lancashire’s business growth hub, has a free helpdesk on 0800 488 0057. The North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce is based at Eastway Business Village in Fulwood, and city-centre businesses that pay the Preston BID levy get affiliate membership. Students and graduates of UCLan can use its Propeller start-up service. None of these will send your quarterly updates, but they are worth a call while you are setting up.
With so many firms to choose from, the danger is picking the first name you recognise. Ask three or four for a price that covers the four quarterly updates and the final declaration, check each one on its body’s register, and ask who supervises it. Our form does the first part for you: one request, up to four Preston firms, and you choose.
Preston questions
Not necessarily. Anyone in the UK can use the word accountant. The protected titles are narrower: only members of ICAEW, ICAS or Chartered Accountants Ireland may call themselves chartered accountants, and ACCA members use chartered certified accountant. Ask which body a firm belongs to and check its public register.
No. Quarterly updates can be sent by any agent you authorise, and many AAT-licensed bookkeepers and accountants do this work well. What matters more is that the firm is supervised for anti-money laundering, carries professional indemnity insurance and has done MTD returns for clients like you.
Each body runs a free search: ICAEW’s Find a Chartered Accountant, the ACCA and AAT directories, and the CIOT and ATT registers for tax advisers. If a firm says it is a member and you cannot find it, ask why before you sign anything.
A chartered accountant is qualified across accounting, audit and tax. A chartered tax adviser (CTA) has passed the Chartered Institute of Taxation’s exams and specialises in tax. For straightforward MTD quarterly updates either can help; for a complicated property portfolio or a tax dispute, a CTA can be worth the extra cost.
Of the 74 firms on this page, 25 give a Fulwood address, many on business parks close to the M6 and M55. Some addresses described as Fulwood actually sit in neighbouring wards, so check the postcode if you want someone within walking distance.
Several firms still work from the square and the streets around it, such as Winckley Court and Chaddock Street. Most will see you by appointment; many now do most of their work by phone, video and shared software.
Sole traders and landlords whose income from self-employment and property, before expenses, was over £30,000 on their 2025 to 2026 tax return. Those over £20,000 follow from April 2028.
Not always. A local firm may charge a little more for face-to-face meetings, but online firms often price per update and add charges for extras. Ask each firm for a fixed yearly price that includes the four updates and the final declaration, then compare like with like.
Invest Preston, the city council’s business service, points to start-up support, grants and workspace. Boost, Lancashire’s growth hub, has a free helpdesk on 0800 488 0057. The North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce is based at Eastway in Fulwood.
No. You are free to accept, compare or ignore any quote. We pass your request to no more than four firms and you decide.
UCLan’s Propeller start-up service supports its students, graduates and staff through the first years of trading. It is not tax advice, but it can help you get set up before you choose an accountant.