The Team

Ben has been a principal in the firm since 1994 and is the Managing Director of the Exeter Office.

Ben is also responsible for a diverse portfolio of clients, most of whom are the owner managers of their businesses and have a turnover of between £1M and £30M.

It is Ben’s firm belief that by being pro-active in his approach to advising clients, they can gain competitive advantage to develop and strengthen their businesses. He also acts as a non-executive director for charitable and not for profit organisations.

Outside of work, Ben has an interest in military history and enjoys walking the battlefields of Europe and beyond.

David is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and has worked exclusively in professional accountancy practices in and around Exeter for over 25 years. He has an extensive knowledge of local business issues.

He is particularly experienced in bringing financial direction to the client’s board room. To succeed in business financial strategy is paramount and yet many smaller businesses do not have the resources to recruit internal finance directors.

David has been a business owner since 2005 and an equity partner at Haines Watts since 2013 specialising in providing strategic business and taxation services to owner-managed businesses.

David spends his time working between the Crediton and Exeter offices.

Outside of work he is a voluntary governor at his children’s school and a director of Crediton Rugby Football Club.

David remains hopeful of becoming a professional surfer one day but after 40 years of practicing without getting any better this might not happen.

Terry qualified as a member of the AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) in 2001, and was granted Fellow Membership in 2008 whilst with Ocean Consultancy. Ocean Consultancy became part of Haines Watts in 2013 and Terry became head of accountancy services where he spends his time working between the Exeter and Crediton offices.

His main responsibilities are overseeing all activities of the accountancy department for small to medium owner-managed businesses, involving supervision and management of general accounting and maintenance of effective internal controls, ensuring statutory compliance in all accounting initiatives.

Terry is a keen football supporter and also enjoys rugby, and, time and family permitting, follows the Exeter Chiefs whenever possible.

Helen is our Senior Associate Head of Tax and joined in June 2019.  Helen provides advice to our broad client base on various different tax issues including corporation tax, personal tax, trust tax, employment taxes, tax residency issues, inheritance tax and others on an as-needs basis.  Helen believes strongly in being a support to our clients whether in terms of tax planning or ensuring timely compliance.

In her spare time, Helen enjoys country walking, gardening, holidays and being with good people.

After leaving KPMG Duncan was a partner in Reynolds, a predecessor firm of Haines Watts in Exeter. He specialises in expert witness engagements and has many years of experience in civil and criminal forensic accountancy; he has given evidence in Court on numerous occasions. Duncan’s areas of expertise include divorce finance, environmental and fishery claims, commercial disputes, and quantum in personal injury and clinical negligence claims. He is an accredited and experienced commercial mediator. Duncan is also a highly regarded lecturer for MBL Seminars and a principal tutor with the Academy of Experts in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore. When not at work he is a keen military historian and battlefield guide.

https://www.compass-resolution.com/interviewing-experts-duncan-barnes/

Claire returned to Haines Watts in 2020 after 13 years away. She qualified in 2007 and is a member of both the ACCA and ICAEW.

In her time away, Claire has gained extensive experience within Practice at a Senior level, and has a detailed knowledge of both Accounts and Tax.

In her spare time, Claire loves spending time with her family exploring the countryside where they live. She is also a massive rugby fan, supporting the Exeter Chiefs either at Sandy Park or at home by shouting at the TV!!

Jade trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Haines Watts and in 2011 was promoted to Accounts and Audit manager.

In 2018 Jade was the youngest employee at Haines Watts to be eligible to sign audit reports, a responsibility only a select few have authority to carry out.

As well as extensive audit experience, Jade deals with many of the technical queries that arise, advising clients on correct accounting treatment and complex financial reporting issues.

Jade is also responsible for preparing the accounts and tax for a portfolio of small and medium sized owner-managed companies, partnerships, sole trades, charities and other not for profit organisations.

In Jade’s spare time she enjoys days out with her young family.

Sarah is a qualified member of the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) and has 17 years’ experience working in the accountancy profession.

Sarah joined Haines Watts in 2013, having worked for the previous five years as a manager for Ocean Consultancy. She is currently based in both the Crediton and Exeter office.

She is manager of The Business Services team, who deal with the day to day requirements for clients, ranging from bookkeeping, VAT, management accounts, accounting software advice and software implementation and training.

Making Tax Digital has resulted in a switch to digital record keeping, Sarah has been responsible for helping clients with this change. She specialises in cloud based accounting and is Xero certified, along with the rest of her team.

In Sarah’s spare time, she enjoys walking, cycling and days out with her family.

Jason has been with the Exeter Office since 1999 after 8 years in various roles at HM Revenue and Customs. He is a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians. Jason’s main areas of work centre around the preparation of self assessment tax returns, capital gains tax computations, corporation tax returns, taxation of deceased estates, dealing with HMRC enquiries, and any general taxation and National Insurance matters.

Jason is a musician in his spare time and enjoys playing in an English folk dance band as well as having a keen interest in travelling to new and exciting places when at all possible!

Jess is a Chartered Certified Accountant working in the Accountancy industry since finishing college in 2010.

Having always had an interest in the industry she became an Accountant to help people in business.

Jess is responsible for managing a portfolio of clients preparing the accounts and tax.

Outside of work Jess enjoys spending time with family and friends and going out and about trying to see as much of the world as possible.

Charlotte qualified as a member of the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in 2018. She has 7 years’ experience of working in professional accountancy practices.

Charlotte joined Haines Watts accounts department in February 2019. Her main areas of responsibility relate to the preparation of annual accounts and tax for small and medium sized owner-managed companies, partnerships and sole trades.

In her spare time Charlotte enjoys seeing friends and family.

After graduating and spending ten years as a computer programmer Helen moved into teaching and studied a maths degree. Wanting a change of career, Helen then worked in school payroll for Taunton School and WESC Foundation. After gaining high knowledge and lots of experience in this field Helen decided that a new challenge was called for and joined Haines Watts as Payroll Supervisor.

In her spare time Helen enjoys swimming, walking, cooking and spending time with her family and numerous pets.

Sarah joined Reynolds back in August 2003 which became part of the Haines Watts Group in 2005 and has been progressing academically as well as by promotions within. Sarah’s role has progressed from Junior Administrator to Senior Administrator of which she undertook her Leadership & Management training which progressed with her promotion to Admin Manager.

Sarah has progressed even further and is now the Office Manager for the Exeter and Crediton offices, which incorporates the Head of Administration, Head of Marketing, HR, Health & Safety and P.A to the Partners.

Her long standing commitment to the firm has proven to be an asset to the firm as she has high knowledge of the day to day running of the office. Sarah is everybody’s “go to girl” if you want or need anything.

Qualifications include:

Management & Leadership NVQ, level 3

Business Administration NVQ, level 2 & 3

OCR Basic Bookkeeping

Outside the office, Sarah is a farmer’s wife who enjoys baking, walks in the countryside, agricultural shows and enjoys a bit of tap dancing.