Dave Ingram F.C.C.A.

Dave joined Cottons in 1987 as a trainee and went on to qualify with the firm in 1992. He helped set up the firm`s second office in Northampton and became a partner in July 1999. Dave now works at our Rugby branch as a general practitioner and is also Employment Partner for the whole firm.

Nick Warne F.C.A., A.T.I.I.

Nick joined Cottons in 1987 and moved back into general practice following a spell heading up a taxation team. He was responsible for bringing Cottons forward as a training office for Chartered Accountants and the expansion into their second office in Northampton in 1991. He has overseen further progress as offices have opened in Banbury, Rugby and Southam. During this time Cottons continued to add specialisms to its core accounting services enabling it to grow from a small Daventry based firm to one of the top 100 firms in the UK.

Richard Wilch F.C.C.A

Richard joined Cottons LLP in 1989 and has supported the growth of the Daventry Office from general practice work to providing all aspects finance and accounting to large corporate and group structures within the local community , nationally and internationally. Whilst continuing his general practise role for his clients Richard works with the larger corporate entities, helping them to develop internally and strategically as they move in to new markets.

Mark Palmer F.C.A

He specialises in general tax planning advising both owner managed businesses and private individuals Mark said “My job is varied, I like to develop a relationship with my clients and find that I am often the first port of call on matters that have little to do with accountancy”

Lisa Malone F.C.C.A., C.T.A

Lisa joined Cottons as a trainee accountant in 1987 qualifying as a Certified Accountant in 1993. She then went on to qualify as a Chartered Tax Advisor in 2005 and became a partner in 2008.
Lisa is based at our Daventry office running her own portfolio of mainly SME clients in many different trading sectors. In addition to this Lisa continues to support the practice together with a small team of tax professionals in dealing with technical tax issues and planning across all the taxes.

Guy Pain B.A., F.C.A., C.F.

Guy is a partner who heads up our rapidly expanding corporate finance department. He has over 30 years of experience in corporate finance work and has also worked as a finance director of a large international family owned company. Throughout his career, Guy has focused on developing cost effective and bespoke corporate finance solutions within the owner managed business sector. He is involved in business acquisitions, finance raising, succession planning and business disposals, strategic planning and forecasting, tax efficient corporate structuring and employee incentives, company and business valuations.

Will Smart B.Com, F.C.A

Having originally trained with Cottons in the 1990s, Will then pursued a career outside practice, eventually acting as a Chief Financial Officer. In 2003, a return to practice saw him set up his own firm in London, which he built and eventually sold. Will has remained in general practice since, and returned with his team and clients to Cottons as a partner in 2017. Will has looked after many of his larger clients for over 10 years.

Will’s key aims are to assist small business owners and taxpayers in driving profitability and reducing tax: Through careful planning and a practical approach, he aims to increase wealth generation and retention. His particular interests include countering the current Government’s tax attacks on small owner-managed businesses, contractors / freelancers, and residential landlords.

Dan Roberts B.A., A.C.A

Dan joined Cottons in 2003 as a trainee after completing a degree in Economics and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2006. After progressing through the ranks of the firm Dan became a Partner in 2013. Dan works with a broad spectrum of clients to improve internal reporting and helping clients understand their accounts as well as advising in general accounting and taxation matters. He is also a director of Northampton BID and is treasurer of a local charity.

Emma Reid A.C.A

Emma joined the firm as a trainee in 2004 following the completion of an Accounting with Law degree at the University of East Anglia. Four years later she qualified as a chartered accountant whilst building experience working in general practice in our Daventry office. Since 2011 Emma has been based from our Rugby office working closely with owner-managed SMEs in a wide range of sectors to fulfil their accounting and taxation requirements.

Sarah Randall A.C.A

Sarah joined Cottons in 2005 whilst on a placement year for her degree. After graduating she was given a training contract with us and qualified as a member of the ICAEW in 2011. Based in our Northampton office she is now the main point of contact for many of our clients and specialises in working with new businesses and solicitors. Sarah also manages the workflow in the office and is responsible for the training of junior members of staff.

James Melvin B.A., A.C.A

Our Corporate Finance Manager, James joined the firm in 2006 and qualified as a Chartered Accountant four years later. He has considerable experience of working with owner-managed SME’s as well as subsidiaries of larger groups. He specialises in business acquisitions and disposals, financial forecasting and due diligence. In previous roles, James has demonstrated strong technical knowledge and audit expertise, performing assignments for companies operating in a variety of sectors and managed a portfolio of more than 300 residential service charge accounts.

Tracy Burton F.C.A, C.T.A

Tracy joined Cottons as partner designate in June 2013 having moved from a local practice where she had been a partner since 2008. She trained with a medium-sized practice and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1997 gaining experience in Audit and Accountancy within a wide range of sectors including Schools, Farmers and Manufacturing. She then moved to a small practice in the Milton Keynes area working closely with small businesses and her passion for tax lead her to train and qualify as a Chartered Tax Advisor in 2005. Tracy has a portfolio of clients and also helps to run our Rugby office. In her spare time she enjoys driving her Mini and is often seen at Mini Club events and Shows.

Annette Parker A.C.C.A, M.A.A.T

Annette started working for Cottons in 2009, and qualified as a member of the ACCA in 2011. She is based in our Rugby office and works closely with a wide range of small businesses, assisting them with their accountancy, VAT and other requirements. She also assists with the development and training of junior staff members and managing the workflow in the Rugby office.

Lesley Voss Personal Tax Compliance

Lesley joined our Daventry office in May 2014 as a tax compliance accountant specialising in personal tax. She has extensive knowledge and experience in income tax and capital gains tax, enabling her to provide a quality and efficient service for clients. Lesley manages a portfolio of clients including sole traders, company directors, partners, high net worth individuals and trustees.

Lucy Clayton

Lucy joined the firm in 2011 with 15 years of experience in general practice. Since joining Cottons, Lucy has become our dedicated Sage training provider, managing and running our Sage bookkeeping courses and also advising in other areas of accounting software training solutions. Lucy is currently based in our Rugby office but services each of our offices’ clients in assisting with their outsourcing arrangements (support with bookkeeping, management accounts, VAT compliance plus bespoke accounting software training and advice).

Karl Spencer F.C.C.A, M.A.A.T

In 2005 Karl qualified as a Certified Accountant, later that year he joined Cottons. He has over 15 years’ experience in general practice where he specialises in management and corporate accounts. Karl helps manage workflow in the Daventry branch is also part of our Audit team and Corporate Finance Team. Away from work Karl has a passion for motorsports and football, he can be seen supporting his local side Rugby Town FC at the weekends.

Ollie Warne A.C.A

Ollie has been a fully qualified chartered accountant since 2012. With strong technical knowledge of taxes and fantastic experience within all areas of an accountancy practice. This has put him in a position to work with Cottons Chartered Accountants and open up their London branch. The branch opened in May 2017. Cottons London will specialise in providing all accounting requirements for SMEs but being part of the Cottons network means we will always be able to meet client requirements however big you grow.

Dawn Hopper MCIPP(Dip)

Dawn is our payroll bureau manager with over 15 years payroll experience and is based in our Daventry office. She specialises in payroll processing including pension deductions and all legislative requirements for RTI, assisting clients with their own payroll processing queries/computer programme support and basic employment law.

Benjamin Burnett M.C.S.A.

Ben joined Cottons in the summer of 2008 as a trainee accounts technician. He completed his AAT in 2011 when a new opportunity presented itself within Cottons looking after the internal IT infrastructure. Having a strong understanding for IT, Ben took this new role and has continued to support both Cottons and its clients keeping them up-to-date and on the cutting edge of today’s Information Technologies. Combined with Ben’s background originating in accounts preparation and bookkeeping, this allows Cottons to provide a unique IT support service to our clients with their bookkeeping programs.