You stumbled across the page that tells you about me. This page is really important for three reasons:
1) Whether I’ll be working with you on accountancy, marketing or both, you’ll be putting the trust of your business and a small part of your livelihood in me. This is a responsibility I take very seriously, and you can only do that if you know who I am.
2) If we go ahead and organise a meeting, trust me – we’re going to make it all about you and your business – for good reason!
3) I’m really rubbish at talking about myself 😅
I’m Ellis Harris-Kijak – Founder and Director of FieCo Accountancy & Marketing. I live in the East Midlands with my partner Seb and my dog Lottie.
Outside of work (let’s face it, that’s the important bit), I love travelling, train with a martial arts club, try to motivate myself to get up for parkrun on Saturday morning and enjoy gaming. If you’ve ever wanted to follow a random guy who runs an accounting practice ramble through life, here’s my Instagram.
I made the rather sporadic decision that I’d had enough of sixth form, and fancied learning how to make posh coffees. I never heard back from a popular high street chain – they clearly had the inside scoop on my cooking ability (except apple crumble, which is my go-to dish). I randomly spotted a job advert for an accountancy apprenticeship, and went for it.
Little did I know that this would be the start of my career in accountancy.
Before getting the apprenticeship, I had absolutely zero interest in accountancy, and imagined a world of grey suits with droning number machines in grey offices. How wrong was I?!
I started FieCo and left my job a few months before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sidenote – did you know that a global pandemic is a terrible time to start a company? I invested £1000 and promised myself that I would return to paid employment if it ran out.
I can credit my success in the early years to two people:
– Helen Deacon from Starting Off, who let me return to the training provider where I had learned all things double entry and journals to teach. I loved it so much, even as the business has grown I’ve continued to teach there.
– David O’Neill from Caswell and Company, who entrusted me to take his £7m revenue company into the digital age and project manage an accounting software migration. I still get to join the staff at Caswell for a Chinese meal every few months and they’ll always be a big reason for FieCo’s success.
Without these two icons, and a lot of pure luck, there’s no chance we’d be here today.
A big shoutout is owed to Hana Robertson at HanaTech – she’s the person I consider to be my first true client – someone I didn’t know before meeting during a speed networking event!
This was my side quest era – I joined Leicestershire Police as a Special Constable, and was promoted to a Special Sergeant for four years. I policed the county and met some incredible people, arrested some not so incredible people and finally became a Rural Crime Team officer. I won the SPC Superintendents Association Award for writing crime reduction plans for my beat in East Leicester. I also volunteered as a Community First Responder for East Midlands Ambulance Service with Seb; we responded to 999 ambulance calls with a defibrillator, oxygen tank and med kits to try and reach rural patients before the ambulance. These experiences were some of the most interesting and challenging id ever had, but they’ve helped to shape the person I am.
Business had grown, and I had the immense privilege of hiring my mum after she’d decided to leave her career of 20 years in the NHS. She came on board to retrain in accountancy with a Level 2 Accounts Assistant apprenticeship. I had the rather surreal experience of being both her tutor, employer and son – and we had a tradition of going to Nando’s together after every exam. She’d collect the flags on top of her burgers as trophies for the pass!
Side quest era part 2 – I was funded by Disney to study at the National Film and Television School as a Production Accountant. Studying under film industry accounting supremos, this has completely changed my approach to budgeting and accounting for clients. I graduated in 2023 and spent a placement with Disney working on their [redacted] film. My biggest complaint: i never saw Pedro Pascal walking the corridors!
Business had continued to boom and my Mum diligently held the fort during my escapades to film school. But it was time to take on our new apprentice, and as it happened, Elander – my sister, decided she was ready for an apprenticeship. She’s a talented graphic designer (look at this!) and joined our marketing department.
I was honoured to be shortlisted for 2x AAT Impact Awards, and won the AAT Professional Member of the Year 2024. I spoke for my first time during a panel event about Career Development and hosted my first webinar during AATs student conference
I also joined AAT Northampton Branch as student liaison, and am now proud to be co-chair, organising regular events for AAT members and the wider community around Northamptonshire.
I’m incredibly lucky to get to work with a collection of fabulous businesses across the UK and beyond, alongside my Mum and Sister, where we’re treated almost as an extension of the business. A record 5 Christmas party invites last year just shows how close we work with our clients; by New Year I’d had enough butternut squash soup to last a year!
I love working with AAT, working to inspire the next generation of accountants. From webinars at the Accelerate Student Conference and being the face of their accounting virtual work experience program open to hundreds of thousands of students in the UK, to speaking at events to being a judge at their Bursary scheme and Connect Awards 2025, I’m very grateful to be able to take part in these exciting opportunities.
So what’s next!? Well, more of the same and more, I’d say! But perhaps – with you in the story?
Connect with me on my socials!
We’d be absolutely delighted to hear from you, whether it’s about some work, or just for a chat!
