King Loose & Co Company History

King Loose & Co was founded as a firm of accountants and registered auditors in 1926 by Alphonse King – a Fellow of the London Association of Accountants and Arthur Loose – a Tax Inspector at Oxford Tax Office. Alphonse was known variously as “Fonse” or even “Alphabet” due to his many initials (A. W. H. B. King)

Originally trading from Alphonse King’s home at 1 Longwall Street, the firm was also an agent for the Abbey Road Building Society. This agency was continued until the move to Summertown, with the building society eventually becoming the Abbey National through a merger with the National Building Society in 1944.

During the 1960s Peter Stone – a Certified Accountant - and then Michael Peak – a Chartered Accountant - became partners in the firm. Michael Peak also brought his skills as an insolvency practitioner.

By the 1970s Alphonse King and Arthur Loose had retired, and Robert (Bob) Styles – a Certified Accountant who had trained with the firm - joined Peter Stone and Michael Peak as a partner.

In 1977 King Loose and Co moved from its home of many decades at 16 Beaumont Street to its current location at 5 South Parade. The lack of parking in the city centre was becoming problematic, and Summertown is an attractive and buzzing area of North Oxford.

In 1983 Heather Fanthome – a Chartered Accountant - joined the firm from Peat Marwick (now KPMG), recruited to bring her expertise on corporate and compliance matters.

Peter Stone and Michael Peak retired from the practice in 1985, and Heather Fanthome then became a partner. Bob Styles continued the firm’s insolvency work.

The firm was an early adopter of computer technology. In the 1970s using a system where data was entered on punched cards which were sent to Bristol by post to be entered onto computerised ledgers overnight and returned the following day. In the 1980s the firm was using accounts and taxation products on micro-computers from Computer Services Midlands (CSM), and as the century drew to a close these evolved into Sage Accountants’ Suite.

Clearly this area continues to evolve, as does the firm’s knowledge and experience of a wide variety of software packages.

Colin Chandler joined the firm in 1992, qualifying as a Certified Accountant in 1997 and remains with the firm as a manager. Colin is an “allrounder”, having experience in a wide variety of client types and sizes.

Gary Rudman joined the firm in 1999, qualifying as a Certified Accountant in 2004 and after a brief spell as a Management Accountant returned to head the firm’s tax department. Whilst knowledgeable in all elements of taxation, Gary’s speciality is personal tax.

Bob Styles died suddenly in 2001 and Heather Fanthome has continued as a sole practitioner since then. King Loose & Co withdrew from acting as insolvency practitioners to concentrate on its core business as accountants and registered auditors.

David Eden joined the firm in 2002, qualifying as a Certified Accountant in 2015. Again, David is an “allrounder” who has gathered his wide experience from within the firm.

Russell Barker joined the firm in 2008 having previously worked for several other firms in the Slough and Oxford areas and bringing his experience to the practice. Russell came to the firm already qualified and has continued to expand his experience, assisting Heather with some of the larger clients, and those involved in the third sector.

Other professional staff include Lisa Blackman (MAAT), Sue Young (our payroll expert) and Jo Wagerfield (AAT qualified and now enrolled into ACCA training).