Thomas Cox & Co | Accountants & Accountancy Services, Luton, Beds, St Albans, Herts

Peter Cox	Peter Cox Peter started his career in accountancy in 1962 after his parents had talked him out of being a Cruise Liner Purser, a School Teacher or seeking a career on the railways. He qualified with Chantrey Button, became a Partner there in 1972 and saw that Practice grow to what has now become Chantrey Vellacott. During his time with his former firm, one of Peter's achievements was his involvement with the financial structures and controls of Watford Football Club in the heady days of the Elton John/Graham Taylor partnership. This even included running the London Marathon in 1989 and raising £3,500 for the Club! In 1997 Peter decided that he needed fresh challenges and so formed Thomas Cox & Co. Peter is married to Yonna and has three children – Wendy, Gareth and Victoria – all of whom, despite some questionable parenting techniques, seem to have grown up into model citizens. << top of the page
Sarah Quiggin	Sarah Quiggin Sarah is Peter's PA and tries her best, with varying degrees of success to keep everything ship-shape and under control. Her previous experience includes working as a personal assistant in a merchant bank in the City and as a trainee management accountant in a large shipping company. Sarah moved into the retail sector some years ago and when not at Thomas Cox divides her time between working as a section manager for the John Lewis Partnership and looking after her family. << top of the page
Helen Robinson	Helen Robinson Helen is our resident tax person, dealing with the bits that Peter hasn’t time for. She has spent more years than she cares to remember completing personal tax returns, having qualified all those years ago with Thomson McLintock in London, and then working for a firm of financial advisors in St Albans. Helen divides her time between working for Thomas Cox and enjoying herself playing badminton, tennis and getting used to her husband’s retirement. << top of the page
Amanda Codling	Amanda Codling Amanda qualified in 1992 and spent 10 years working for a medium-sized local firm of accountants. After a "break" at home for a few years she worked for a travel company and a property company as their accountant before joining Thomas Cox & Co in September 2008. In her spare time she enjoys football and is a fan of Manchester Utd. Despite living in the south she does actually get up there for games when she can. Amanda is very interested in family history and digging around for skeletons in the family tree that some older members of her family would rather stayed secret! Like Peter, she watches Coronation Street but also likes Eastenders too. Most of all, she loves being a mum and spending time with her family." << top of the page
Frances Pardell	Frances Pardell Frances is our part-time ‘director of first impressions’ which covers everything from marketing and business development, to straightforward PR. She gained her extensive experience in promoting hotels, films, leisure, accountancy, finance and much more. She worked for 12 years at the BBC and finds life in the ‘real world’ of business just as entertaining. Frances met Peter when they both did a fund raising trek for The Prince’s Trust in the Himalayas. She says that it’s amazing what you can find out about someone over a pizza in Kathmandu or 11,000’ up a mountain. When she’s at the Thomas Cox & Co office she makes everyone tea. << top of the page
Maureen Rigby	Maureen Rigby Maureen is a qualified book keeper and has been keeping a careful eye on peoples’ accounts for over fifteen years.. She feels more at home ‘playing with numbers’ than any other activity and admits to a complete affinity with it. In fact, she’s passionate about it. A former chef, Maureen still loves to cook and treats her family and colleagues to some of the most delicious cakes in the region. When she’s not ‘cooking the books’, she likes other sorts of activity- going to the gym, walking, playing tennis or the more cultural visits to the theatre. << top of the page

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Tony Warren - R C Warren Packers Ltd / Jura Watches Ltd
I currently utilise the services of Thomas Cox & Co for two of the companies that I run (combined turnovers of approximately £4.5m) and I can gladly explain what sort of service you can expect from them and I will outline their help in developing a start up business.

In the summer of 2006 the process of establishing a brand new business was begun which was to operate as a combined "bricks and mortar/internet" company. It is in the luxury accessories area and projected turnover is expected to grow from £2.75m in the first year to £6.0m in the third. I chose to use Peter Cox of Thomas Cox & Co due to the relationship I had previously built up with him over a number of years. In particular I have always liked the fact that Peter not only provides a professional service but is also accessible and very reliable. To start with Peter was closely involved in introducing us to a new Bank. He facilitated the introduction and assisted in providing the bank with the necessary financial information required.

The next stage was the development of a Business Plan which was to be utilised to source finance; this was going to be raised via a Bank and also External Investors.

Peter was responsible for putting together the financial projections required for the business plan; this included profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow projections and key statistics and ratios forecasts. Forecasts were developed for the first three years of the new enterprise. The new business took nearly a year to complete and in this period there were frequent changes required to the business plan. Peter was extremely accommodating (often at very short notice) whenever amendments were needed. Peter also offered us advice on many aspects of the business plan from dealing with HMRC to assistance in handling the external investors. This advice has proven to be invaluable. The new company is due to launch & naturally Thomas Cox & Co will be the accountants. I can thoroughly recommend Thomas Cox & Co.