Meet the Team

Samuel Troy (FCA)Chartered Accountant, Partner

Sam is able to understand a wide range of sectors and their individual complexities and his client portfolio reflects this. As a Chartered Accountant with over 15 years practice experience, he brings a wealth of knowledge to the firm. Sam is an expert at navigating the technicalities and complexity of the tax and accounting regime and thus has a firm grip on where our clients are able to maximise profits and ensure tax efficiency. Sam enjoys making the numbers do the talking.

Speciality

Sam’s core focus is tax saving and financial planning for small and medium sized businesses helping to drive our client’s commercial success. He manages data in a way that’s transparent and makes traditional accounting relevant and interesting to our clients. The ability to make Accounting data readily available and versatile for any statutory tax or management purpose.

Recreation

Sam believes a healthy mind needs a healthy body, on his days off you will find him working out in the gym but Sam’s main priority is spending time with his kids and he loves cooking up a mean spicy chicken dinner and exploring the works of all kinds of philosophers.

Daniel Balakrishnan Accountant, Head of Business Development

Daniel has spent over 15 years working in accounting practices. In 2012 he was head hunted to help a large firm and their clients to transition to cloud based accounting. Daniels keen understanding of technology meant he was at the forefront of implementing pioneer cloud based accounting services. Daniel is also very skilled at getting to grips with new client needs and understanding the best way for the firm to make a difference to each individual business we currently work with.

Daniel handles all new business relationships and is very adept at advising clients on the best services for them, tailoring our basic accounting packages to include other financial services that your business may benefit from.

Speciality

Daniel is the glue that holds the practice together, his empathetic approach to clients and the team means he helps assign our clients to the best member of the team for the particular problem they need solving always making sure we achieve the best results for our clients.

Recreation

Daniel is a family man and loves spending quality time with his children. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, you will find him in the park playing football most likely allowing his sons to score all the goals. Daniel also loves new technology whenever he has a moment to himself, he will always be discovering the latest features of his new gadgets.

Laura Crawford Accountant, Head of Client Relationships

Laura has been with the firm for 3 years and has become an integral part of the team. She is the main point of contact for all of our clients when it comes to the day to day running of their business financials. Her expertise extends to expense tracking; vat returns and payroll. The firm believe in using technology to stream sales and expenses for the businesses we work with but as this is a new concept for a lot of our clients Laura offers hands on support when integrating any new accounting software, helping clients to navigate the system so they feel comfortable when using the technology.

Speciality

Laura is proactive when it comes to making sure your financials are always up to date. She enjoys working alongside our clients ensuring the business is operating in the most efficient and organised manner while hitting deadlines with precision.

Recreation

Laura enjoys sipping champagne on a sunny beach holiday while being pampered to the max. Laura is a real family girl and an avid dog lover. Laura carries her passion for order at work to her home which she keeps freakishly tidy, a bit like Monica from Friends.

Iftikhar Ahmed (ACCA)Chartered Accountant, Compliance Specialist

Iftikhar qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 2019, has spent majority of his working career in practice. Iftikhar has worked his way up from trainee accountant to a senior accountant role thus developing a well-rounded skill set in all tax aspects such as PAYE, VAT and corporation tax.

Iftikhar feels it is very important to ensure that the relationship with clients is that of trust and good faith. Iftikhar says "the strength of your relationship with your client is reflective of the quality of advice given. The healthier the relationship the better the advice, and in turn the more successful our clients become."

Speciality

Iftikhar specialises in providing tax advice and believes that with proactive tax planning minimises exposure to Corporation Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax and income Tax.

Iftikhar has said "during my experience working with business owners be it start-ups or established businesses, I have noticed that owners always restrict themselves in the fear that growth would result in higher tax liabilities making them question is it really worth going the extra mile? This is when with effective tax planning, earning more doesn’t meaning more taxes it would mean more rewards and potential."

Recreation

Iftikhar loves to quote his favourite boxer Muhammad Ali "A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life". As you can tell he is a boxing fan and he believes having a good work-life balance is crucial. Iftikhar is always up for any challenge and loves watching and playing any type of sport, his favourites being football, cricket, boxing and hockey.

Danyal Fayyaz (AAT)Assistant Accountant

Danyal is an AAT qualified accountant and bookkeeper and joined us in 2022. He also has spent the majority of his career working in practice, working up from a trainee to an established and critical member of our great team here at Connected.

He handles bookkeeping, VAT and Payroll for the majority of our clients, ensuring simple processes and procedures are put in place so our clients can concentrate on running their businesses and not have to worry about time consuming bookkeeping and record keeping.

Specialty

Danny’s expertise is mainly in helping clients to utilise the latest cloud accounting apps such as Xero and DEXT to name a few, ensuring they get the most from these amazing tools. If you’re new to Connected Accounting or just getting started as a business, Danny will make sure you’re setup and ready to go on our cloud accounting platforms.

Recreation

Danyal likes to always refer to himself as part of the ‘tech’ generation, if he is not automating process on software then he shall be found in the gaming universe challenging himself to reach the highest levels!

Manisha VaghelaClient Relationship Advisor

Manisha joined us in March 2023 as our new Client Relationship Advisor. Along with Laura, she is responsible for managing our clients bookkeeping, banking, and accounting needs as well as overseeing our Client Payroll department. Manisha comes from a long and rewarding career in the banking and finance sector where she worked for RBS in Financial Planning, Management and Compliance.

Speciality

When it comes to her approach to accounting & finances, Manisha is meticulous. Coming from the banking sector, Manisha’s client relationship and compliance skills are second to none. She has quickly become a great asset to our team, as well as to our clients, helping them to manage their day-to-day banking, payroll, and general business operations.

Recreation

Manisha enjoys travelling and learning about the different cultures of the world. She loves to watch anything to do with dance and certainly loves listening to her music at full blast - especially when cooking up a feast for the family!

Savan Patel Assistant Accountant

Savan is a part-qualified Accountant who joined us in 2024. He is looking to complete his qualification and achieve his lifelong ambition of becoming a Chartered Accountant. Having started his accountancy career as a payroll assistant, he has gained a wealth of experience, in various roles in specialised accountancy practices.

His career in the accounting and tax industry spans over 10 years, covering areas of tax such as PAYE, VAT and Corporation Tax.

Speciality

Having studied Actuarial Science at University, Savan’s key strength lies in numerical and statistical analysis. Savan has a detailed knowledge of the UK Tax system, making him a valuable asset to our firm and to our clients.

Savan’s current focus for our firm has been on Making Tax Digital, ensuring all of our clients are compliant with the upcoming changes, assisting them any needed transition to digital accounting.

Recreation

Savan has a keen interest in strength training, so you will find him regularly asking everyone about whether they know what a ‘compound exercise’ is! Outside the office, it would be a safe to say you will find him in the gym.