New ‘Research & Development’ Patron for MIM Encourages Everyone to Stop Calling it R&D

By Cooper Parry
schedule6th Dec 21

A team of engineers at Cooper Parry, a 171 year old well- established accountancy firm based near East Midlands Airport, have come together to create a Research and Development team to help manufacturers get cash back on their latest projects/innovations. Chris Knott, R&D Incentives Partner and creator of the R&D team at Cooper Parry, says that with their engineering and scientific backgrounds and knowledge, their R&D tax relief service is second to none when it comes to helping manufacturers. However, Chris is encouraging everyone to stop calling it R&D.

Cooper Parry is an expert accountancy firm with a client base ‘chock full’ of manufacturers from within the Midlands area. Over the years, the firm has grown to be the largest independent accountancy firm in the region with three offices based in Castle Donington, Solihull and London. 

In July 2017, Chris Knott joined the firm to grow an unbeatable R&D tax relief team. As a mechanical engineer by degree, and having advised on R&D tax reliefs for over 21 years, Chris saw an opportunity to build a team of people with a mixture of engineering and scientific backgrounds to help manufacturers and businesses alike. Now with a team of 20 people, they are helping businesses up and down the country, with a long-earned reputation for integrity. Since the inception of the team, the Cooper Parry R&D team has put £61m of savings back into the pockets of local companies. Chris firmly believes it's due to their technical knowledge. He said:

“Having backgrounds in engineering and other manufacturing sectors is a huge advantage when it comes to finding additional tax savings for the manufacturing sector. In some cases we have redone claims where businesses thought they had claimed everything they were entitled to but had actually left a big pot of cash on the table. We look under the “bonnet” of the case so to speak, with the knowledge to have a complete understanding of what the company does and hence be able to ask the right questions to draw out everything that qualifies.” 

However, Chris believes that businesses get turned off by the phrase “Research & Development” and is encouraging people to stop using the term. He says that “the name continues to conjure up images of rocket science and pharmaceuticals.” Whilst those businesses are entitled to R&D tax relief, of course, the simplistic way for businesses to look at it is that if you have “changed” anything in terms of what you make or how you make it (both new AND existing products or processes) and there have been “challenges” in order to make those changes work, you should be looking into specialists who can help.

With a passion for engineering and manufacturing, The Made in Group believe there are no better alternatives when it comes to an R&D (sorry Chris) tax relief patron. With a large portion of their client base in the manufacturing sector, the Cooper Parry team are eager to attend events with MIM and learn more of what is going on in the sector. As for members, they can look forward to having access to like-minded business professionals who can effectively help put cash back into their pockets. 




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