BLACKBURN-based Pierce Chartered Accountants has won a prestigious national award for its work with small to medium-sized companies.

It has been named Accounting Firm of the Year by the Added Value Network, a national association of independent accountants.

The award was announced at the Network's annual conference in York, which was attended by more than 350 business leaders from across the UK.

The managing partner of Pierce, Paul Warren, said all 70 staff in the practice had worked extremely hard to win the award.

"Over the past 12 months, our range of profit improvement services and programmes has been incredibly well-received by all staff and clients," he said. "It is a real thrill to see it being acknowledged at a national level.

"The practice is continuing to grow at a phenomenal rate and we are looking forward to continuing to provide profit improvement strategies for existing and new clients."

The chairman of the Added Value Network, Steve Pipe, said: "There are a handful of practices across the UK who are redefining and improving what accountants do and Pierece is at the leading edge of this massive change."