Experience

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  Ellacotts Accountants

  • West Midlands, England, United Kingdom

  • Forensic Accountant

    • Oct 2023 - Present
    • West Midlands, England, United Kingdom

    Forensic accountant working on regulatory, matrimonial, criminal and civil matters

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  Gambling Commission

  • Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

  • Head of forensic accounting

    • Oct 2015 - Sep 2023
    • Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

    Oversee accounting issues linked to licensing, compliance and enforcement activity.In respect of Licensing, I oversee complex licence applications and change of corporate control applications. The team review financial information in the applications identifying issues and missing documents/information needed to assess the applications. I also attend meetings with applicants and panel hearings. For panel hearings I will prepare expert reports.My Enforcement role is focused on providing a steer on cases that may involve financial investigation work and ensure that the team is involved in the relevant complex case work carried out by the Commission, identifying breaches and non-compliance with the LCCP and appropriate legislation. The Enforcement casework I am involved with may require me to assist enforcement officers by identifying relevant financial and AML information required for an investigation, reviewing documentation provided in an investigation, identifying breaches and non-compliance, writing my findings up in a simple format that can be used by the enforcement officers in documents or attending meetings with Licensees.Where criminal prosecutions have been brought by the Commission I have prepared expert reports to be used in the hearings.In respect of compliance activity, I have been involved in a variety of case work including detailed reviews of financial accounting processes, assisting on corporate evaluations, looking at customer fund protection levels and considering operator’s decisions on a customer’s betting limits based on the information they held on the customer.I have also assisted in instructing external parties to carry out independent work on behalf of the Commission, provided financial information packs to HMRC on potential tax avoidance vehicles and provided a witness statement to the Police on an individual’s betting activities to assist them in a money laundering investigation.

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  BDO LLP

  • Birmingham, United Kingdom

  • Manager - Forensic services

    • Mar 2013 - Oct 2015
    • Birmingham, United Kingdom

    I am a Manager in the Forensic Services department, based in Birmingham and have over six years’ experience of forensic work. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2007, I spent two years seconded to the Serious Fraud Office. I have been involved in all types of forensic work including fraud and financial investigations, confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act, commercial litigation and business valuations in matrimonial proceedings. My secondment to the SFO centered around assisting with their investigation into illegal payments by British companies to a Middle Eastern country. During this secondment I obtained Security Check Clearance to allow for the review of government records up to secret confidentiality level. I am also trained in conducting interviews and have been involved in interviews and property searches in accordance with PACE. I have assisted in a variety of litigation support and expert witness work, notably shareholder and agency agreement disputes for various businesses recently including restaurants, exhibition shows and distributers of housing insulation. I have also regularly provided forensic accountancy assistance on behalf of defendants in criminal proceedings and undertaken numerous forensic reviews for confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

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  PKF (UK) LLP

  • Birmingham, United Kingdom

  • Manager - Forensic Services

    • Apr 2009 - Mar 2013
    • Birmingham, United Kingdom

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  Mazars LLP

  • Trainee accountant

    • May 2004 - Apr 2009

    Trainee accountant in auditSecondment to Serious Fraud Office