Sam Cotton

Experience

• 

  DEB Chartered Accountants

  Jun 2010 - Aug 2018

  Senior Bookkeeper

  My role at DEB was my first job within the field I wanted to launch a career in, fresh from education. As such, I went in with little experience and started with a relatively simple role that evolved over time.• I completed the bookkeeping of 21 businesses of various sizes on a monthly basis. This included maintaining sales/purchase ledgers, bank reconciliations, VAT returns and monthly adjustments so we could provide clients with accurate management accounts. • Wide variety of clients with more complex issues such as partial exemption, factoring and CIS tax.• My clients covered many sectors including construction, mechanics, retailers and engineers. Turnovers ranged from £100k a year to £3.5M.• I managed my own time and ensured that I met all deadlines imposed by either the client or HMRC. • I used a range of bookkeeping packages but predominantly Sage and Quickbooks.• I also ensured other members of staff completed their own client base of bookkeeping each month and helped more junior members of staff.• With the introduction of MTD on the horizon I had also been looking at our internal systems to see where we could improve our accuracy and consistency in the new digital environment as well as creating a way for us to check that the bookkeeping we prepared was both accurate and consistent. • I also developed several spreadsheets that were distributed to clients to help them run their business day to day. • I self taught myself skills in order to help DEB with tasks not within my job role such as learning how to edit HTML and update the company website. • The latest addition to the role had been that of training staff internally and client. Show less

• 

  TMC Accountancy Ltd

  Sept 2018 - Apr 2022

  Bookkeeping Manager

  As bookkeeping manager at TMC Accountancy it was my job to ensure the compliance of a number of our clients for VAT as well as providing support for those clients that prepare their own returns.I provide training to clients to produce their own bookkeeping which is a large part of the role.I also assist the payroll and accounts departments when needed.

• 

  Northern Tonic

  Apr 2022 - now

  Following the merger of TMC with Northern Tonic, my previous role expanded to oversee a larger team to deal with roughly double the number of clients. I have placed a large focus on trying to create consistent processes across the team which was necessary after the two practices were brought together.Alongside the main VAT compliance aspect of the job I also spend a substantial amounts of time supporting our clients as they transition to digital record keeping through both training and adhoc advice. Show less

  • Head of Business Management Services

    Sept 2023 - now

  • Bookkeeping Manager

    Apr 2022 - Sept 2023