RICKARD LUCKIN - Key Persons
Caroline Peters is a Director in our Audit and Accounts Team, and joined us in 1998. She has a strong and diverse portfolio of clients, many of which are family-owned entities, and includes individuals through to international groups.
Caroline works with a large number of farming businesses, which have very specific accounting and tax issues. She enjoys meeting with the families to discuss not just the accounts, but also other issues, many of which are unique to the farming world. Caroline has been a regular presenter at our annual Farming Families update.
In addition to farming and other commercial enterprises, Caroline has developed a specialism in the not-for-profit sector, having gained extensive experience working with charities and other not-for-profit organisations. These have been across a variety of charitable aims and different structures.
Caroline understands the complexities of charities and trustee responsibilities, and is able to provide advice relating to the many issues that affect these organisations. She appreciates the need to demonstrate a businesslike approach whilst delivering the charitable aims, and has been involved in several exercises advising on internal controls. She has also assisted our Tax Team in providing advice on trading issues including VATable supplies for charities.
Caroline enjoys meeting with clients to discuss their aspirations and accounting needs, and identifying solutions to help achieve these. She works closely with our Tax Team to ensure that an all-round, consistent service is provides to all of our clients.
Outside of work and her family, Caroline's main interest is Girlguiding and she has been a warranted leader since 1988. She holds a camp and holiday licence, which means the Guides are able to share her enjoyment of a wide range of outdoor activities.
Caroline acts as a mentor for other Guiders, passing on team and leadership skills while having a lot of fun. She is also a member of the Brentwood Activities Team, which provides more adventurous activities at fun days and camps.
Her interests include gardening, watching sport - especially football and rugby union, particularly the internationals and London Irish.
Job Titles:
- Client Services Director
- Director
- Fellow
Dan Garside is a Client Services Director; his primary aim is to help his clients and colleagues to achieve their aims and realise their potential.
Dan joined us in 2018, joining from what is now one of the largest regional SME accountancy firms. He has worked in general practice for over 25 years and specialises in ensuring that business owners feel supported and listened to, so that they have someone to soundboard and offload their problems.
Amongst many areas of support, Dan has extensive experience in:
Business strategy
Ensuring financial information is both accurate and informative
Designing efficient remuneration packages and mitigating corporation tax payments
Helping businesses to understand the overall strategic picture, rather than focusing too narrowly on particular issues
Identifying personal and commercial goals and building plans to work towards them
Building a business for sale
Retirement plans and bringing in the next generation
Helping clients unlock funding requirements
Dan's key strength lies in his ability to demonstrate genuine empathy for his clients' situations so that they, in turn, can understand that they can trust him to be reliable and committed in resolving each issue. Dan has an extensive business network which he utilises in order to ensure his clients are able to access the support they require outside of Rickard Luckin's capabilities.
Dan centres his relationship on building a clear development plan with his clients so that there is transparency and structure in everything he does. His service is therefore based on a proactive approach where clients feel supported throughout the course of the year rather than just having an annual contact and therefore reactive service.
Clients have previously praised his genuine care for their business and personal interests and one client commented that ‘Dan is a superb accountant that I found friendly, knowledgeable and highly organised. A real expert in his field'.
Dan is a fellow member of ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).
Outside of work, Dan is a dedicated family man but also finds time to keep fit with swimming and the occasional game of golf.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Accountancy Updates
- Business Services Director
- Member of Institute of Chartered Accountants
Darren Clarke is a Director heading up our Business Services department; a team delivering the financial information and support our clients need to run their business successfully. These services include:
Management information
Financial forecasting and budgeting
Accounting system support and training
Bookkeeping and VAT return preparation.
Darren has been instrumental in creating bespoke management information solutions, designing reports to meet the needs of our wide-ranging client base. Darren believes it is important that clients have the right information and key performance indicators (KPIs) on a timely basis in order to ascertain how they are performing and enable them to make informed business decisions.
Do not expect Darren to print off a generic report from the accounts software and leave it with you to interpret. He believes it is imperative that business owners are able to understand their financial information and enjoys working with our clients to ensure they do. He specialises in visual design to ensure that information is presented in the most meaningful way. This, coupled with his 20 years' of accounting experience, means that he is well placed to help our clients understand their business and financials and work with our team to provide business advisory services.
Darren is a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).
When driving your business forward, the dashboard is more important than the rear view mirror
Job Titles:
- Associate in the Business Tax Team
- Tax Associate Chelmsford
David Rose is an Associate in the Business Tax Team based in our Chelmsford office. He provides support to both companies and individuals in a range of tax services across the firm.
David trained with HMRC after reading law at university and became a senior tax inspector, providing advice to internal governance boards as well as setting strategy within counter-avoidance. He devised and delivered training to over 150 new inspectors and went on to complete a second degree in professional studies in taxation. David is also a Chartered Tax Adviser. After nearly a decade in public service, David joined Rickard Luckin.
Leaning on his previous experience, David leads our tax investigations and dispute resolution service, as well as our research and development offering (R&D). He is driven to help clients achieve their aims whether that be in dealing with HMRC, advising on a specific transaction, or in understanding how claiming the right tax reliefs can help your business grow. David provides guidance and support in:
Transactions in securities
Company re-organisations
HMRC powers and protections
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) - business aspects
Employment-related securities
Research and development (R&D) reliefs
General corporate taxation
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)
Taxation of crypto-assets
David is passionate about bringing out the best in people, whether that be Rickard Luckin's clients, his colleagues or others. David also provides training to our internal team and delivers regular tax updates across the firm.
Additionally, David is involved in our initiative to support accountants in the local area, offering access to our expertise; he also provides specialist advice to other accountants in Essex, and their clients. Often, this will be on helping the accountant manage succession planning, a group reorganisation or a shareholder exit, but he also helps with complex HMRC enquiries and other technical queries that benefit from a specialist.
Continuing that theme of helping others, David is a member of the Professional Standards Committee of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), ensuring that members of the organisation are held to the highest of standards.
In David's spare time, he likes to keep active by cycling, playing league cricket for Rayleigh Cricket Club, or long countryside walks with his wife and dog. His biggest sporting achievement was completing Liege-Bastogne-Liege, a 173-mile cycle ride that mirrors the professional race that takes place the following day. He also enjoys photography of all sorts, but in particular enjoys astrophotography and owns several telescopes.
Job Titles:
- Construction, Land and Property
- Tax Associate Southend
David Tallon joined us in 2012, and is now an Associate in our Tax Team. He helps individuals with their tax affairs, both in improving and advising on tax efficiency and ensuring their compliance requirements are met.
David is responsible for leading the delivery of the private client tax advisory services of the firm, with a focus on high-net-worth individuals and families; assisting these clients with transactional projects as well as long-term, multi-generational tax planning.
David advises on all areas of private client taxation in estate planning, including trusts, UK taxation of overseas individuals and trusts, as well as Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT). David advises clients from around the UK and across the world on UK taxation issues.
Job Titles:
- Accountant
- Associate
- Accounts Associate
Dean McCormack is an Accounts Associate, primarily based in our Southend office. His main focus is to understand his clients' aims and then work with them to achieve these.
Dean has held various different positions since he joined the firm in 2008, which has given him a wide range of experience helping clients to overcome obstacles and take advantage of opportunities. These roles have allowed him to gain significant experience in:
Ensuring clients remain compliant with the minimum amount of stress
Ensuring client management information systems are providing accurate, informative reports and helping clients to interpret the results effectively
Working with clients to understand any system deficiencies and providing solutions to correct these
Working with clients to implement efficient remuneration structures and mitigate Corporation Tax liabilities
Building holistic and pro-active development plans and roadmaps with clients to achieve their specific goals.
Dean works very hard to ensure that he understands each of his clients' individual aspirations, any obstacles that may be preventing them from achieving these, and then working alongside key individuals to create a defined and clear plan to work towards them. Dean truly thrives on helping others to achieve their goals, and takes great joy in seeing his clients realise their ambitions.
A key element of the service Dean provides is to really ‘get under the bonnet' of each client, in order to build trust that he will deliver on each commitment he makes. Clients have commented on Dean's ability to translate the often bewildering world of accounting into easier to understand language for business owners and managers, allowing them to make more informed decisions.
Dean is a firm believer in the notion that accountants should be more than ‘just the numbers' and is committed to being a trusted adviser to his clients, aiming to help them with any query they may have, either directly, via his colleagues, or his wider network of contacts built during his career.
Outside of the office, Dean is a keen sportsperson, watching almost any sport and trying his hand at a few - mainly football and golf. Dean also enjoys music and still takes great pleasure in attending a gig or discovering new music. Dean also loves travelling and discovering new places around the globe, and has been lucky enough to visit all but one of the world's continents.
Job Titles:
- Associate in Our Business Advisory Team
- Chartered Tax Adviser
- Tax Associate Chelmsford
Hayley Sheppard is an Associate in our Business Advisory Team, primarily based in the Chelmsford office.
Hayley joined the firm as a Chartered Tax Adviser in November 2018, having previously gained her chartered accountancy qualification a few years prior. She also holds a first class honours degree in business studies.
Hayley has a strong corporate tax background and is responsible for leading tax advisory projects for large corporates, ranging from mergers, demergers, hive ups and other reorganisations. She also helps to oversee the delivery of compliance services to those clients with more complex structures, supporting the wider team to maximise corporate tax reliefs and explore research and development (R&D) and patent box opportunities.
She has a wide range of tax knowledge and has advised and built trusted relationships with an array of owner-managed businesses, advising on specific transactions but also ensuring they receive support longer term to help their business grow and succeed.
Hayley adopts a pro-active approach to ensure that clients are maximising all opportunities and reliefs available to them, and prides herself on advising, not only on the tax aspects of a transaction, but also the wider commercial and practical considerations.
Over the last few years Hayley has built a network in the local Chelmsford area, as well as contacts within the MGI Worldwide network, giving her the tools and support to deliver a wider service to our clients.
Hayley advises on a wide range of topics including:
Succession planning
Capital Gains Tax (CGT)
Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment SchemeOverseas Corporate Tax issues
Corporate Tax
Inheritance Tax (IHT)
Shareholder exit planning including management buy-outs (MBO) and employee ownership trusts (EOT)
Design and implementation of employee share incentive plans including EMI schemes and growth shares
Group reorganisations including demergers and mergers.
Hayley is also passionate about a number of the firm's initiatives, including being a member of the team that leads the firm's ‘Best Companies' project, helping to gather internal feedback to enhance the team's experience by leading action plans for change.
She also recently led a number of development forums within the firm, whereby she organised experts within the firm to meet to discuss particular clients and topics to enhance the overall client experience.
Outside of work, Hayley enjoys being active, having previously competed in the Hackney Half marathon and Chantilly triathlon and climbing Snowdon. She also enjoys spending time with her family and eating out.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Founding Member of the MGI / CPAAI EU VAT
- Tax
Ian is a founding member of the MGI/CPAAI EU VAT group and has a network of contacts throughout the EU and further afield to assist clients with understanding the issues they face when looking to do business elsewhere.
James Boustead is primarily based in our Chelmsford office, but is responsible for leading delivery of our business tax advisory services across the firm.
James first trained as an accountant in our Accounts and Audit Team in 2008, before deciding to specialise in tax in 2012. He then completed his Chartered Tax qualification shortly thereafter.
Over the past decade, James has spent the vast majority of his time focusing on tax planning work and advising owner-managed businesses from a range of sectors, across a wide variety of tax issues.
With a diverse knowledge in taxation, finance and business, James has become a trusted adviser to many of our largest clients, and supports a number of our relationship leads in developing the advisory aspects that we offer as part of that holistic service.
James prides himself on reserving the right to ask as many questions as it takes to develop the best understanding of a scenario, before considering matters from a tax and non-tax perspective, as part of ensuring clients get the best advice in areas including:
Corporate Tax
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)
Inheritance Tax (IHT) including Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR)
Capital Gains Tax (CGT)
Employment tax
Residency status and interpreting double tax treaties
Single joint expert (SJE) witness report work
Partnership tax
Over recent years, James has overseen tremendous development within our Business Tax Advisory Team, where he and his colleagues regularly consult on a wide range of topics, but in particular have been helping with a large number of the following scenarios:
Succession planning
Group reorganisations including demergers
Shareholder exit planning including management buy outs (MBO) and employee ownership trusts (EOT)
Design and implementation of employee share incentive plans including enterprise management incentive (EMI) schemes and growth shares.
In addition to this, James has developed deep expertise in advising our agricultural clients on tax issues specific to that sector, including the Inheritance Tax reliefs - Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR) - which can be so significant to landowners. With Essex having undergone substantial house building activity in recent years, advising landowners also regularly involves consideration of option agreements, promotion agreements and third party land sales.
James has substantial involvement in helping his clients to gain new clients, particularly through his relationships and reputation within other firms of professionals that Rickard Luckin work most closely with.
Outside of work, James lives in Billericay with his wife and two young sons. Other than spending time with his family, James spends his free time following a wide range of sporting interests.
As our current Chairman, Ethics Director and former Managing Director, Janis has been part of the leadership team at Rickard Luckin for many years. From early in her career, she always wanted to influence the company as a great place to work and that led her into leadership.
Taking on this big responsibility, yet appreciating it as a huge privilege, added an extra dynamic in her ability to truly ‘step into clients shoes' and understand first-hand the rewards and challenges of running a business.
Janis is a maths graduate so you might think that accountancy is an obvious choice.
Joanna Southon is a Director in our Audit and Accounts Team, having joined the firm in 2002. Within her role, she works with owner-managed and cross-border businesses across a variety of sectors.
Whilst Joanna works with clients across several industries, her particular specialism lies in the construction, land and property, and manufacturing sectors. Additionally, she has significant experience working with legal firms and other professional practices. She is a key member of our team of specialists in the Solicitors Accounts Rules.
During her time at the firm, Joanna has built an extensive portfolio of audit clients, and in some instances, members of UK or overseas groups.
Aside from her time working with clients, Joanna acts as our audit compliance partner, dealing with the regulatory aspects of audit registration for the firm.
Joanna holds a degree in literature from the University of Essex and is a Fellow member of ICAEW (the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) and ACCA (the Association of Chartered Accountants).
Outside of work, Joanna is a keen home cook and loves to spend time with her friends and family.
Kevin Thomas is a Director, heading up our Small Business Unit (SBU) which specialises in businesses with a turnover of up to £632,000. This unit, based in our Basildon office, focuses on the needs of small and growing businesses.
Job Titles:
- Head
- Associate in Our Tax Team
- Budget Summary - Employment Status / off Payroll Working Rules ( IR35 )
- Construction Industry Scheme ( CIS )
- Tax Associate Basildon
Lee Styles is an Associate in our Tax Team. In his role, he provides support to both companies and individuals in a wide range of tax services.
Lee is head of the owner-managed business tax section, working closely with the firm's Small Business Unit (SBU) Team. He specialises in off-payroll working (IR35) and the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS), but is able to offer extensive guidance and support in:
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) for both business and non-business assets
Personal and corporate tax planning
Incorporation tax planning
Succession planning
Corporate restructuring
Residency status
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT).
Lee is committed to building lasting relationships with all of our clients, understanding both their individual and business needs to identify opportunities and support them in achieving their overarching goals.
Clients have commented on Lee's ability to stand in their shoes to fully understand the requirement of both the individual and business holistically and how that fits within their wider family or business interests. Lee has the ability to explain and apply complicated technical legislation in a way that makes sense to the individual so they have a clear understanding of any tax planning and tax compliance before implementing.
Job Titles:
- Corporate Finance
- Director
- Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accounts
Mark Brooks heads up our Corporate Finance Team. Working alongside his internal colleagues and network of contacts, he provides solutions for new and existing clients looking to achieve their aims and objectives in significant and complex event-driven transactions.
Within the Corporate Finance Team, Mark specialises in four key areas:
Deal origination - identifying targets for clients looking to grow via acquisition, or identifying potential buyers of clients businesses and negotiating terms for a deal to be agreed
Transaction support - helping our clients through all stages of a merger, sale or purchase of a business. This includes supporting detailed due diligence request or reports, advising on deal structures, tax implications or producing and reviewing completion or earn-out accounts
Business valuation - providing commercial valuations of businesses for a variety of purposes
Supporting in the raising of debt/equity finance - supporting clients to raise funds for a transaction, major asset purchase or to fund future growth, working with them to secure cost effective and appropriate funding either through debt or equity.
Mark is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accounts (ACCA), and a member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments (CISI). His background in running a mixed accounting and audit portfolio, alongside spending time in different departments whilst train at Rickard Luckin, allows for an understanding of the many challenges of running a business. This allows him to provide pragmatic, professional and practical advice aimed towards achieving positive results.
Seeing clients achieve positive results on completing a transaction, finding a funding solution or progressing with their own retirement planning provides Mark with a passion to deliver results, taking great pride in finding real world solutions. Knowing that these decisions can be some of the most important in our client's business lives is not to be underestimated, so taking the time to understand the real drivers for our client's decision making allows Mark to help them meet their goals.
Mark encourages all clients he works with to consider their medium and long-term goals and how they will achieve these. The sooner the ‘bigger picture' questions can be understood, the sooner plans can be put in place to move towards them. By encouraging clients to put in place plans that can be measured and monitored, it is often that these can be achieved sooner than anticipated.
Outside of work, Mark is an avid fan of all things automotive or sport, combining both with his passion for F1. Mark is still known to pull on his boots playing football at weekends - having now achieved veteran status this is somewhat easier to manage! When not watching or playing sport Mark spends time with his young family.
Job Titles:
- Head of Marketing
- Accountant Recognised by Accountancy Age
Matthew Rowe joined Rickard Luckin as Head of Marketing in February 2022 and is an award-winning marketing specialist with over 20 years' experience. He has a proven ability to develop and lead high-performing marketing teams and is a key member of the firm's Leadership Team.
Matthew leads a team of five and advises the Executive Board on all strategic matters relating to the firm's marketing efforts in targeted sectors and geographic markets.
He is responsible for the firm's marketing strategy and execution, creating impactful marketing campaigns that contribute against three core objectives: winning new business, enhancing existing client relationships and building brand awareness. To achieve this he works closely with business development (BD) colleagues across the firm to convert marketing campaign activity into qualified new work enquiries in line with the firm's business objectives.
He brings a data and insight-led approach to the firm and has established himself as a strategic thinker with first rate problem-solving skills, having worked at a senior level for several professional services firms in various ‘Head of' roles.
Matthew's core responsibilities include:
Developing and implementing marketing strategy and plans
Creating new propositions and campaigns
Brand management
Budget control
Public relations; and
Team development.
Away from the office, Matthew was previously the Vice Chair of Colchester Swimming Club and also served a term of three years as Press Secretary at the club. He was also an independent member on Swim England East Region's Audit, Risk and Probity Committee and was formerly a governor at a primary school in Colchester for three years
Matthew is a Chartered Institute of Public Relations Accredited PR Practitioner and is based at our Chelmsford office.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Construction, Land and Property
Michael Breame is a Director within our Audit and Accounts Team, working alongside fellow Directors and Managers to ensure delivery of exceptional client service.
Michael builds close relationships with his clients by being inquisitive about their plans and aspirations. This enables him to provide guidance and support in the most appropriate way, either through his own experience and expertise, or by calling on other specialists around the firm or wider network.
Michael's portfolio of clients centres around owner-managed and family businesses of varying sizes, as well as businesses looking to achieve significant growth.
Michael has worked with a number of business owners as they have gone through substantial change; whether that be through a phase of growth, a build-up and execution of an exit from the business, or a restructure of the business as part of longer term planning.
Michael's pragmatism and common sense is at the heart of his approach, underpinned by his ability to recognise the balance between the commercial and human aspects of running your own business and planning for the future.
Michael has significant experience in the property and construction sectors, as well as working with a number of trading businesses and groups across the county. Each sector brings different challenges, and Michael is well-versed in getting to the heart of things and understanding where clients need further support.
Michael trained at the firm and is a Fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA); he is also one of the firm's audit responsible individuals (RI). Michael sets and experts high standards of his team, but in return is able to help them develop their experience and skills so that they can progress within the firm and provide the best, client-focused service.
Michael is part of the firm's leadership team and has recently taken responsibility for driving forward the firm's environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspirations, something he is truly passionate about.
Neil Brewer is a Director in our Audit and Accounts Team based in our Southend office.
Neil completed an Accountancy Foundation Course at the Polytechnic of Central London (now the University of Westminster), before undertaking professional training and going on to qualify and become a member of ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales). He is one of our responsible individuals (RI) for audit and acts as a senior statutory auditor.
Neil is experienced in working with and providing services to a number of clients of various sizes ranging from small, owner-managed businesses to large corporate multinational groups of companies and has experience of working with clients across a wide range of industry sectors, including wholesale, logistics and professional services.
Neil specialises in providing audit and assurance services in relation to medium and large corporate entities, groups, and UK subsidiaries of overseas parent companies. He has experience of corporate mergers, de-mergers and group restructuring and consolidations.
Neil is committed to building lasting relationships with all of his clients; getting to know them and obtaining an understanding of their business, goals, aspirations and challenges, identifying how their systems work, the key risk areas, and providing constructive feedback. In this way, Neil supports his clients in every step of their journey to ensure their individual needs are met and provides a high quality of service to clients with effective and timely delivery of relevant information.
Neil enjoys meeting with clients to discuss their needs, and identifying solutions which can help these to be achieved. He assists clients with many aspects of their financial reporting providing general advice and guidance, reviewing underlying processes and controls, and applying technical expertise in carrying out audit and assurance reviews that enable the clients to meet their compliance requirements.
Job Titles:
- Associate in the Tax Team
- Government Announces U - Turn on 45% Tax Rate Cut
- Tax Associate Chelmsford
Neil Spicer is an Associate in the Tax Team based in our Chelmsford office. He provides advice to individuals and businesses on a range of tax matters.
Neil joined the firm in 2019 but has worked in tax for over 30 years. Having obtained a degree in Geography, he trained and qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser with a top 10 firm of accountants in Ipswich before moving on to become an Associate Director at a global accountancy practice. His experience at this firm taught him the importance of collaborative working and knowledge sharing, particularly on complex tax planning matters such as residence and domicile and planning for high net worth individuals. It also taught him that tax planning should be part of an overall strategy and not undertaken in isolation.
Over the course of his career, Neil has gained a wealth of practical knowledge and experience helping and advising a wide variety of individuals from window cleaners to professional footballers and TV personalities. He also spent a few years seconded to a financial planning team and holds a financial planning certificate, which has helped him understand the breadth of financial products available and their suitability in particular tax planning scenarios.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of Our Leadership Team
Paul Forster is a Director within our Audit and Accounts Team and works with a broad range of clients. His portfolio includes owner-managed companies to subsidiaries of international groups.
Steve Revill is our Managing Director, directing and overseeing the firm's operations through leading the Executive Team. He provides strategic guidance and direction to the Board of Shareholders to ensure that the company achieves its mission - to help clients realise their potential and achieve their aims.
Prior to joining the firm as Commercial Director in 2018, Steve held a number of client-side and international consulting roles across a broad range of industry sectors, including technology, fintech, financial services and professional services over a 20+ year career.
Steve's specialisms include:
Strategic planning
Change management
Employer brand management
Internal communication
Strategic marketing
Business development
Steve holds a BSc (Hons) in Business from the Manchester Metropolitan University and the Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).