A YORK accountant has seen her practice win the Best Start-Up award in a national competition celebrating the UK's entrepreneurial women.

Claire Turner, of Turner Lister & Company, known as TLC Accountants, was handed the best start-up award at the Forward Ladies National Awards on Friday.

Mrs Turner and business partner James Lister started TLC in 2014 and have since grown the firm to four members of staff in addition to the partners, with team advising more than 250 clients.

The win comes after Mrs Turner collected the Forward Ladies Yorkshire and North East Best Start-Up award in Newcastle in September, an award which put her through to last week’s final in Leeds.

Mrs Turner, who lives in Sherriff Hutton, said: "I was astounded to pick up the regional award, so I’m absolutely speechless about winning the national one – and people who know me know that I’m not speechless often.

"This isn’t just an award for me, it’s an award for the whole TLC team. We’re proud of the great service we deliver to our clients, which is what James and I have built our business on, and couldn’t do that without the brilliant team we work with. It was wonderful to have them all with me at the awards and to celebrate together."

Mrs Turner started work at a small firm of accountants straight after leaving school and says she “fell in love with tax”. She studied for her tax advisor exams while working as the office junior and worked her way up, moving to a larger York firm before joining established Leeds accountancy firm WGN a few years later .

In 2010 she was made partner, the youngest they’d ever appointed at the age of 35, leaving four years later in 2014 to start TLC with business partner James Lister.

Griselda Togobo, Forward Ladies managing director said: "The judges thought Claire was inspirational. She was a worthy winner as she’d done the most in the shortest amount of time. Her enthusiasm just shone through."

Mrs Turner beat off competition from three other regional winners - Jennifer Cross of Cross Productions in Leicester, Christianne Wolff of Body Rescue in Chartridge and Shazda Ahmed, Principle Partner at Monarch Solicitors in Manchester.