The accounting firm, which will be rebranded under the Baldwins umbrella, employs 15 people and provides general accountancy services to more than 1,200 businesses in the North East.

Pullan Barnes was founded in 1992 by Keith Pullan and Mike Barnes, and Yasmin Bari joined as a partner in 2005 after eight years with the firm.

Barnes and Bari, both partners at Pullan Barnes, will head up the former Pullan Barnes’ offices in Durham and Hutton-le-Street, with Pullan remaining on staff as a consultant.

Bari said: ‘In a year where we have been reflecting on the firm’s past successes [25 years after setting up], it’s fitting that we have also been able to future-proof the business by joining the Baldwins Group.

‘Legislation from the government is constantly evolving and changing, so to be able to work with an accountancy group that has specialist teams in place to keep us and our clients abreast of all of these changes is invaluable.

‘It’s business as usual for both of our offices, and we’re looking forward to growing our services and client base with the added resource and support from Baldwins over the coming years.’

Baldwins’ acquisition of Pullan Barnes takes the Group’s number of offices in the North East to 11, following the acquisition of Rowlands Accountants and Evolution in 2016, SV Bye, Brennan Neil & Leonard, CTC and G T Grant so far in 2017.

Martin Barber, North East board member for Baldwins, added: ‘The Group is always on the search for potential areas where it can use its specialisms to help businesses to flourish.

‘Pullan Barnes has built up a fantastic reputation and rapport in the Durham business community over the years, and our aim is to support them with additional services so they can help other businesses to develop and tackle any challenging obstacles.’

Baldwins, which is backed by Cogital Group, includes a number of different entities, including London-based accounting firm Blick Rothenberg with estimated fee income of £20m and the former BPO division of Visma, which specialises in business process outsourcing for accounting, payroll and HR services, primarily in the Nordic region. BPO reported income of NOK 2.1 billion (£20m) in the 12 months to June 2016. As a result, Baldwins claims annual turnover of £75m and employs more than 1,250 people, although a third of the revenue is attributable to its offshoring arm, based in Sweden.

Report by Sara White