David Hart was the Founding Partner of Optimal Compliance, who sadly passed away in March 2023.
David was passionate about business. After gaining a First in Pure Mathematics, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser with Coopers & Lybrand (now part of PwC), with a view to gaining a broad introduction to business.
Being fascinated by the puzzle presented by the tax rules and being intrigued by the potential for computerisation, he founded Tax Computer Systems Limited which went on to develop the tax management systems used by virtually all the major accountancy firms and by over 600 of the UK’s largest companies.
David’s inspiration for founding Optimal Compliance in 2009 came from a desire to help small businesses deal with bureaucracy and regulation. David could see that through systemisation and automation, small businesses could, given the right tools, successfully navigate that bureaucracy.
The first of these new tools was Paycircle, a software product aimed at helping businesses navigate the complex payroll regulations.
David’s desire was always to achieve fairness, in his words, for “the companies upon which the future of the economy depends”. In 2009, David published a white-paper entitled “Towards fairer taxation”, which set out his philosophies behind setting up Optimal Compliance.
David’s belief was that for small businesses, operating with a genuine partnership culture is far healthier than a traditional employment model, as it allows everyone in the business to behave and think like a business owner. One of OC’s main products is the partnership model, which David built using inspiration from his time working for much larger corporate businesses.
David was a great leader and mentor to the whole OC team, and he will be sorely missed. With clients and colleagues alike he was patient, supportive, and generous with his time. He was proud of his knowledge, but more than anything else, he wanted to share that knowledge to help others, and to achieve fairness.
