Profile

Nellie Ashton

Founder & Principal

Meticulous bookkeeping, finance, HR and accounting professional with more than twenty years of hands-on experience — from a Utah CPA firm to fifteen-plus years and running as HR Manager and General Accounting for a closely-held multi-state business with six locations across Utah and California. Ashton Bowers is where that experience becomes available to other owners.

Nellie Ashton
Background

A practice built on close work.

Nellie's career has been the operational side of accounting — the part where the books actually get kept, payroll actually runs, and HR paperwork actually gets filed on time. Over twenty years spanning a small central-Utah CPA firm, a concurrent stretch as town clerk for a central-Utah municipality, an independent bookkeeping and tax practice, and fifteen-plus years as HR Manager and General Accounting for a closely-held multi-state business with six operating locations across Utah and California.

The through-line has been being the person the owner actually calls when something needs to work. Not a policy quote, not a referral chain — the person who does the work, answers the phone, and knows what to do because they've done it enough times to know.

Ashton Bowers is the response to a pattern she kept seeing: closely-held businesses paying firm rates for junior-staff attention, or trying to run bookkeeping, payroll, and HR from a spreadsheet and hope. A small practice, staffed by a senior practitioner, doing the four things owners actually need done — and doing them right.

Career

Professional history.

2026 — Present

Founder & Principal

Ashton Bowers · Accounting + Advisory · Mt Pleasant, UT

Founded the firm to deliver senior, hands-on accounting and operations support directly to owner-led businesses. Practice areas focus on bookkeeping, monthly close, payroll, and HR.

2010 — Present

HR Manager / General Accounting

Closely-held multi-state business · Utah + California

Runs HR across six operating locations in two states — maintaining and updating HR policies and procedures to keep the operation compliant in both Utah and California. Concurrent responsibility for the full general-accounting cycle: payroll, taxes, internal audits, health-insurance benefits administration, and trade documentation (customer Letters of Credit, contracts, export paperwork).

2007 — 2010

Independent Accountant

Private practice · Mt Pleasant, UT

Payroll, taxes, financial statements, tax returns, and bookkeeping for multiple small-business clients.

2002 — 2010

Town Clerk (concurrent)

Central-Utah municipality

Validated official documents, oversaw the posting of official notices, and scheduled and maintained records for the town's boards and commission meetings. Prepared and managed the town clerk division budget — forecasting staffing, materials, and supplies — and was directly responsible for preparing and procuring grants from the State.

2002 — 2007

Office Manager

Small central-Utah CPA firm

Managed the operations of the firm's accounting office and personnel. Prepared and audited tax returns, payroll, and quarterly and annual filings for client businesses. Set up bookkeeping systems and accounting practices for multiple new clients.

Areas of Focus

Practice specializations

Credentials

Licenses & affiliations

Have a conversation with Nellie.

First calls are thirty minutes, no scope, no pitch. Tell her what you're working on — she'll tell you whether it's a fit.

Start the conversation