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Rebecca is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. She is a lecturer, writer and consultant on a variety of taxes, lecturing extensively throughout the UK, to accountants, business people and also to HMRC and the Treasury. She has her own accountancy practice based in Gloucestershire, with a variety of small business and personal tax clients.

During the last two years, this has become a 100% digital practice. She is Chair of the HMRC Digital Advisory Group, providing help and support to HMRC in understanding the challenges that Making Tax Digital presents to small businesses and their advisers.

She is also a member of the Admin Burdens Advisory Board, an independent advisory group to HMRC monitoring the burdens which the tax system imposes on businesses.

Having worked for a number of years in practice, and with one of the profession’s regulatory and support institutes, Des co-founded OmniPro to develop tools, techniques, products and services that make accountancy more profitable and rewarding.

Des is passionate about bringing innovation to the accountancy profession and enabling accountants to achieve what they want from their careers and business. His core belief is that when empowered to achieve their best, accountants can deliver transformative results for clients.

He holds qualifications from the ACCA Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, CPA Institute of Certified Public Accountants and ACIS Association of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.

Carl Bayley is the author of a series of plain English tax guides designed specifically for the layperson and the non-specialist (available from www.taxcafe.co.uk). His particular speciality is his ability to take the weird, complex, inexplicable world of taxation and set it out in the kind of clear, straightforward language taxpayers themselves can understand. Carl takes the same approach when speaking on taxation, a role he frequently undertakes with great enthusiasm, including his highly acclaimed annual ‘Budget Breakfast’ for the ICAEW. He has spoken on taxation on radio and television, including the BBC’s ‘It’s Your Money’ programme and BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show. Carl is a past Chairman of the Tax Faculty of the ICAEW and former member of the Institute’s governing Council and Board. Aside from his tax books, Carl is an avid creative writer. His first novel, Trinity of Souls, was published in 2024, with his second, Destiny of Souls, following in March 2025. When he isn’t working, he takes on the equally taxing challenges of hill walking and horse riding: his Munro tally is now 106 and, while he remains a novice rider, his progress is cantering along nicely. Carl lives in the Scottish Borders, where he enjoys spending time with his partner, Linda.

Samantha formed SJCM Accountancy in 2019 having spent over 13 years employed in practice.

As an AAT licensed accountant, she is now focusing on helping small business owners have a better understanding of their numbers, be ahead of compliance and perform at their best.

Samantha uses technology as much of that as the next ‘modern’ accountant, but also aims to bring back the personal touch to accountancy and really show her clients that she cares, not just about their finances but about them as people.

Emma Rawson is Director of Public Policy at the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT), leading their tax technical and professional standards work. Her focus is on emerging tax policy, and she works closely with HMRC and the Treasury. She also strongly believes in sharing her knowledge about and love of tax with others. Whether that’s members of the accounting and tax profession through articles and talks, or the general public through media work and school visits.

Emma has a main focus on business and employment taxes, and frequently contributes articles on topical tax issues to leading tax and accountancy publications. She has presented talks and webinars around the country, as well as appearing on BBC Radio 5Live and BBC News to discuss tax issues and providing oral evidence to committees of both the House of Lords and House of Commons.

Emma is a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) and Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW).

Lenny works on the MTD Programme and focuses on VAT, helping agents and clients come to terms with MTD requirements.

He has been the mainstay of the MTD Webinar Programme providing tens of thousands of agents and clients with easy to follow information and explanations. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in MTD VAT and ITSA.