I help businesses and organisations with their VAT affairs. This ranges from queries on the VAT liability of transactions and whether VAT is deductible on expenditure, to more strategic advice on structures to minimise the cashflow impact and costs associated with VAT.

Why do you do it?
As VAT is transactional it can be an issue for a diverse range of clients so that means the work I do can cover a lot of different situations. When the advice I give makes a difference to a business or organisation, its a huge buzz. Similarly, digging clients out of a hole and managing any disputes with HMRC is also a great challenge.

Working at Cooper Parry with a fantastic VAT team throughout the UK has been a great experience and being alongside colleagues who have similar enthusiasms for these things makes every day a great one.

The VAT rules of land and property can be extremely complex and property projects where lots of money is being spent can be particularly challenging. A good example of this is heritage clients, who I have been advising for over 12 years now. Being involved with these local community projects enabling beautiful and interesting old buildings come back to life and managing the VAT costs is often a major factor. For the not for profit sector, funding is often a huge challenge and to make a difference through good VAT advice is something I am really proud of.

In terms of working at Cooper Parry, in Scotland and the rest of the UK we are trying to build a formidable team of professionals and its really exciting to be involved in this. I would like to be able to finish my career on a high, having contributed to this growth with a happy dynamic VAT team to hand things over to.

I’m a musician in my spare time and, although I have visited a few times, I would like to record one of my songs in Nashville one day.