Whitesides Chartered Accountants, based in Horsforth, Leeds have recently won an MP HERoes award at the first annual running of the new event. Created by Savvitas in partnership with NatWest, the MP HERoes awards have been formed to allow local MPs to celebrate female entrepreneurship throughout the country across all sectors and industries.
Stuart Andrew, MP of Pudsey, Horsforth and Aireborough, nominated Whitesides to be his MP HERoes due to the integrity that shines from within the heavily female led firm. He stated in his nominations that the friendly and professional way in which they operate has made them a key contributor to the local community.
“I was delighted to nominate Joanne Whiteside and Sarah Greenwood of Whitesides Chartered Accountants as my MP HERoes. Joanne and Sarah do excellent work in my constituency of Pudsey, Horsforth and Aireborough by making a longstanding contribution to the community, assisting local businesses, and creating local jobs. I’m glad to support the MP HERoes programme and proud to champion women-owned businesses and the wide-ranging benefits they bring to the UK economy.” – Rt Hon Stuart Andrew MP.
Whitesides is one of few second-generation female-run businesses with Joanne Whiteside founding the practice 33 years ago in 1989. Joanne’s daughter, Sarah Greenwood, trained as an accountant at BDO LLP before moving to Deloitte , she then joined her mother’s firm in 2015. In the time since Sarah joined the business, Joanne and Sarah have more than doubled both the turnover of the business and the number of staff. Sarah was made a director of the firm in 2020. Daniel Dufton joined the firm in 2021 to continue to build on the growth of the business and allow Joanne to take a step back as she looked to retire from the business.
“Women need to see and have access to other women who have managed to be successful in their chosen career. I was lucky enough to have that role model in my mother, but that isn’t always the case, so it’s great to see initiatives such as MP HERoes showcasing this.” – Sarah Greenwood, Director of Whitesides Chartered Accountants.
The MP HERoes award has been a great achievement for the firm and a brilliant way for the company to celebrate the success of Joanne Whiteside in the year of her retirement.
