Mazuma didn't disrupt accountancy.
It replaced the model entirely.
In 2006, accountancy meant hourly billing, paper receipts, and an annual visit to someone in a suit. Lucy Cohen changed that. Mazuma was the UK's first subscription-based accountancy firm - a model so far ahead of its time that the profession spent years catching up.
Today, Mazuma is the UK's most successful female-founded accountancy business: a multi-million-pound firm serving thousands of micro-businesses and sole traders, built on novel principles and decades of real-life data.
The subscription model.
Before Mazuma, accountancy was sold by the hour. Lucy's insight was simple and radical: small businesses don't want unpredictable bills, they want a fixed monthly cost and a firm that actually gets their finances done. She built that. The profession followed.
Accounting by Exception®.
Lucy didn't stop at pricing and process. She invented a new accounting principle - Accounting by Exception®, that uses AI to surface only the transactions and decisions that actually need human attention. It is currently the subject of her active doctoral research programme. It is the future of the profession, and she built it at Mazuma first.
The technology
Mazuma isn't just a firm that uses technology. It's a live environment for what AI-enabled accountancy actually looks like in practice: agentic systems for sales and operations, autonomous client-servicing functionality, AI-driven bank transaction categorisation, and OCR-powered document processing - all built and running, not theorised.
This is why Lucy speaks with authority on AI in finance that most commentators can't match. She isn't predicting the future of accountancy. She's already built it.
Timeline
2007 The industry started paying attention.
One year in, the recognition came. Not bad for a firm that wasn't supposed to exist.
Shell Livewire Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Wales)
Lucy Cohen with First Minister 2009
2014 — 2015 National champion. Best employer. Same year.
Building fast, but building right. Named national champion across Europe and recognised for the culture being built inside the firm, in the same twelve months.
National Champion, Entrepreneur of the Year
— European Business Awards 2014/15
Best Employer
— British Accountancy Awards 2014
2020 — 2021 The profession caught up with what Mazuma already knew.
Fourteen years of proving the model finally earned its formal recognition, from the profession itself in the form of its lifetime achievement award.
Woman of the Year
—Women in Accountancy and Finance 2020
Outstanding Contribution to Accountancy Award 2021
2024-2025 Elected. Nominated. Recognised again.
Elected President of the AAT, representing 130,000+ members and students across 105 countries. Nominated for a St David's Award, Wales's highest civic honour. And recognised by Barclays for a contribution to entrepreneurship that spans nearly two decades.
AAT President 2025
Barclays Outstanding Contribution to Entrepreneurship 2025
St David's Award Nominee 2025
2006Qualified. Then immediately broke the mould.
Lucy completed her accountancy qualifications through an apprenticeship and founded Mazuma the same year. The subscription model didn't exist in UK accountancy. She built it anyway: fixed monthly fees, no surprises, no suits.
2009 — 2010 The results were undeniable.
Three years in, Mazuma was winning at a national level: not just as a business, but as a model that was proving itself at scale.
Accounting Personality of the Year
— PQ Magazine 2009
HSBC Start-up Stars Overall Winner 2010
2018 — 2019 Best in the country. Two years running.
By now it wasn't a surprise. It was expected. Wales recognised the disruption happening on its doorstep, and the national press took note.
Accounts and Tax Adviser of the Year
— British Small Business Awards 2018
Accounts and Tax Adviser of the Year
— British Small Business Awards 2019
GBEA Disruptor of the Year Wales 2019
2022 A bestselling book. And AAT’s highest honour.
Lucy's first book, Forget the First Million, won Short Business Book of the Year and became a bestseller. The AAT, the professional body she would go on to lead, awarded its Past Presidents Award in the same year.
Short Business Book of the Year
— "Forget the First Million" 2022
AAT Past Presidents Award 2022
Now Still building. Still ahead.
Mazuma is in active M&A, acquiring firms across the UK's fragmented micro-accountancy market. An AI and automation programme, including agentic systems, autonomous bookkeeping and real-time reporting, is running live. The next chapter of the profession is already being written from inside Mazuma.
Timeline
2006Qualified. Then immediately broke the mould.
Lucy completed her accountancy qualifications through an apprenticeship and founded Mazuma the same year. The subscription model didn't exist in UK accountancy. She built it anyway: fixed monthly fees, no surprises, no suits.
Lucy Cohen with First Minister 2009
2007 The industry started paying attention.
One year in, the recognition came. Not bad for a firm that wasn't supposed to exist.
Shell Livewire Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Wales)
2009 — 2010 The results were undeniable.
Three years in, Mazuma was winning at a national level: not just as a business, but as a model that was proving itself at scale.
Accounting Personality of the Year
— PQ Magazine 2009
HSBC Start-up Stars Overall Winner 2010
2014 — 2015 National champion. Best employer. Same year.
Building fast, but building right. Named national champion across Europe and recognised for the culture being built inside the firm, in the same twelve months.
National Champion, Entrepreneur of the Year
— European Business Awards 2014/15
Best Employer
— British Accountancy Awards 2014
2018 — 2019 Best in the country. Two years running.
By now it wasn't a surprise. It was expected. Wales recognised the disruption happening on its doorstep, and the national press took note.
Accounts and Tax Adviser of the Year
— British Small Business Awards 2018
Accounts and Tax Adviser of the Year
— British Small Business Awards 2019
GBEA Disruptor of the Year Wales 2019
2020 — 2021 The profession caught up with what Mazuma already knew.
Fourteen years of proving the model finally earned its formal recognition, from the profession itself in the form of its lifetime achievement award.
Woman of the Year
—Women in Accountancy and Finance 2020
Outstanding Contribution to Accountancy Award 2021
2022 A bestselling book. And AAT’s highest honour.
Lucy's first book, Forget the First Million, won Short Business Book of the Year and became a bestseller. The AAT, the professional body she would go on to lead, awarded its Past Presidents Award in the same year.
Short Business Book of the Year
— "Forget the First Million" 2022
AAT Past Presidents Award 2022
2024-2025 Elected. Nominated. Recognised again.
Elected President of the AAT, representing 130,000+ members and students across 105 countries. Nominated for a St David's Award, Wales's highest civic honour. And recognised by Barclays for a contribution to entrepreneurship that spans nearly two decades.
AAT President 2025
Barclays Outstanding Contribution to Entrepreneurship 2025
St David's Award Nominee 2025
Now Still building. Still ahead.
Mazuma is in active M&A, acquiring firms across the UK's fragmented micro-accountancy market. An AI and automation programme, including agentic systems, autonomous bookkeeping and real-time reporting, is running live. The next chapter of the profession is already being written from inside Mazuma.