LEE Robertson says he has been lured away from the bright lights of one of Birmingham's leading accountancy practices by Worcester-based firm Mc-Knights to enable him to give more personal service to small businesses across the Worcestershire area.

Although not related to the famous jam making family, Lee has developed his career by helping others out of sticky situations and advising them on their corporate and personal accounting needs.

Having been brought up in the Black Country, Lee attended Hagley High School and after taking his A-levels went on to work for an accountancy practice in Dudley. Following his qualification as ACCA Lee moved to a Worcestershire-based firm, where he gained experience in auditing larger clients. In Birmingham he worked for an international firm on some of their big accounts in the automotive and utility sectors.

"But although enjoying the experience and learning a lot, after a couple of years there, spending long periods of time away from home on audit and assurance work, I realised where my strengths lay and that I wanted more interaction with clients and especially business owners directly," he added.

Trish Sayer, one of the partners of the Britannia Court firm said, "McKnights embarked on its own expansion plan 12 months ago and is evolving further as a firm, but what we are absolutely determined not to do is compromise our customer service track record which is of paramount importance to each and everyone of our clients.

"Lee's experience within both large and smaller practices dealing with varying sizes of clients makes him an ideal client manager and his eye for detail, eagerness to get involved and ability to look at the bigger picture will be an undoubted asset to existing clients and other that come on board."

Just as well that Lee enjoys planning as he and his fiancée are busy planning their own wedding in February, 2007 and the forecast is that the future is looking rosy for his career at McKnights.