Paul changed career, leaving work as a steel fixer to pursue accountancy and begin building the experience and qualifications required to enter the profession.
What we learned from teaching tax, we apply with clients every day.
What kind of firm we are
Like most accountancy firms, we started out as a traditional compliance practice — accounts, tax returns, payroll, bookkeeping.
Over the past few years our focus has been shifting toward tax advisory work, and that is now the direction the firm is heading.
But it is not yet the whole picture: most of our existing clients came on years ago as compliance clients, and we continue to look after that work for them.
The shift to a primarily advisory practice is a multi-year journey rather than a switch flipped at a singular point in time.
For new clients we engage today, our focus is firmly advisory — forward-looking strategy, structuring and planning, rather than backward-looking returns and accounts.
This enables clients that wish to keep their existing accountant for compliance and use us purely for advisory work can easily do so.
There is one principled exception to our advisory-only model for new clients.
Where our advisory work creates a new entity that needs ongoing compliance — most often a property company through incorporation, but the same applies to any holding company, trust or family investment company we help set up — we offer to look after the resulting statutory compliance ourselves; the relationship is already there, the structure is already in our hands, and splitting it across two firms may make the client’s life harder, not easier.
Paul Connolly
Principal — Tax & Advisory
FCCA — Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants | ACCA Practising Certificate Holder | Companies House ACSP Registered
Paul has spent much of his career at the intersection of tax teaching and tax practice — This combination has shaped a practical, explanation-focused approach to tax advisory.
Paul is a former contributor to Alan Melville’s Taxation — a UK taxation textbook used by students and practitioners — and brings both practice and teaching experience to his advisory approach.
Paul’s work involves complex areas including property incorporation, trust structuring, HMRC dispute resolution, and international residence, where bespoke advice is essential.
Gina Lay
Head of Accounts & Client Services
MAAT — Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians
Gina manages the day-to-day running of TSG’s client services — ensuring that every client receives the same quality of service whether it be an advisory engagement or an accounting and tax compliance job.
Gina works primarily with new and growing businesses — with company accounts, payroll setup, bookkeeping systems, and the practical financial management that turns a startup into a sustainable business.
Gina leads TSG’s UK operational management — ensuring continuity of service for all clients and maintaining the practice’s day-to-day compliance output.
TSG has always operated as a remote-first practice, and Gina’s focus on helping clients to adopt and use these systems effectively is very much an essential part.
Our story
1995
1996
Part-qualified with ACCA, Paul moved into an office-based accounting role with a logistics firm — his first step into a corporate environment.
1997–2006
Paul built broad commercial accounting experience across industry and the public sector. In 2000, he moved into freelance work, taking on short-term contracts across both.
2007
Paul incorporated his work as a limited company consultancy, continuing contract assignments in the UK and China.
2011
Paul obtained his ACCA Practising Certificate and re-tasked United Practices Accountancy Ltd — to be a compliance-led practice serving small businesses across Northamptonshire.
Over time, client work increasingly centred on structuring, planning, and advisory conversations beyond compliance.
2015
Paul was invited to become an Associate Lecturer in Accounting at the University of Northampton, delivering across the full undergraduate programme (Levels 4–6), including the final-year tax module.
From this point, teaching and practice ran in parallel.
2017
The business rebranded, creating a new firm, TSG Taxation Ltd — reflecting a shift toward advisory-led work, supported by technology, structured tax modelling, and remote delivery.
2018
Paul contributed teaching practice Q&As to two consecutive editions of Alan Melville’s Taxation, one of the standard UK university texts, and is credited in both editions for that material.
Gina joined the practice, bringing expertise in accounts, client services, and operations that continues to shape TSG
Paul began lecturing at the University of Buckingham.
2019–2025
Paul delivered undergraduate and postgraduate modules at Buckingham across financial accounting, financial reporting, and management accounting — including Strategic Management Accounting at master’s level.
Lecturing concluded in June 2025 as demand for advisory work increased.
2025
TSG operates as a fully advisory-focused practice for new clients — specialising in forward-looking tax strategy, structuring, and planning.
Paul continues to teach — now through the firm’s diagnostic tools, helping clients understand their position and make informed decisions.
We regularly work alongside solicitors, IFAs and other professionals, focusing on the tax position while they advise on legal or financial planning matters. Find out about our referral programme →
Based in Northampton. Working with clients nationally.
Our office is at Moulton Park Business Centre, Northampton.
Most of our client work is conducted remotely — by video call, phone, and shared document — which means geography has never limited who we work with.
We have clients across the UK, and internationally.
Ready to talk?
A quick conversation is always the right place to start. We will tell you honestly whether we can help — and if we can, exactly what that looks like.