WHAT DO YOU DO?

I advise businesses on how to use shares and tax‑efficient investment properly. On the equity side, that covers EMI, CSOP and growth share arrangements. This could mean scheme structuring work and valuations or it could involve ERS reporting and making sure schemes stay EMI compliant over time. There could always be other reasons to value a company, maybe for inheritance tax purposes, employee transactions and more.

Alongside this, I’m involved in assisting companies navigate the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme and Enterprise Investment Scheme, supporting companies with advance assurance applications, submission of SEIS1 and EIS1 forms, and related advisory work. I work with a broad mix of clients across sectors and stages of growth, helping them reward teams effectively and raise investment without falling foul of HMRC.

WHY DO YOU DO IT?

Honestly, a bit of both. I probably fell into accounting to an extent given that my mum and my uncle both work in the profession, so it was always around me. I didn’t deliberately set out to join Cooper Parry but started at a London‑based practice and moved across when the team was acquired by CP.

Working at CP is great. The work is varied, the clients are interesting, and there’s real scope to specialise rather than being pushed down a generic path.

Spreadsheets have to be part of the day job, but not what really gets me going. I’d rather be talking, discussing and helping people understand what actually matters.

WHAT KIND OF PROJECTS HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN?

I’ve worked on a mix of projects, but one that stands out was a complex growth shares valuation and modelling exercise for a company introducing growth and freezer shares as part of a new management incentive scheme. This was the company’s first attempt at setting up a share-based incentive structure for management, and we adopted a collaborative approach to explaining our work. The end result was a robust and defensible valuation that could stand up to future scrutiny and delivered a strong outcome for both the business and its management team.

Alongside this, I’ve also worked on a number of complex SEIS and EIS cases. Most notable would be a successful advance assurance application for a company in the film industry a notoriously challenging area for SEIS and EIS and these are companies that have been subject to high HMRC scrutiny in recent years.

WHAT’S ON TOP OF YOUR BUCKET LIST?

Hard to choose a top one so I’ve listed instead:

• Hike West Highland Way end-to-end
• Boxing day test match in Australia

HMRC scrapping EMI notifications