Anne is a Chartered Accountant who qualified, in 1981, with a firm in Guildford after which she moved to a medium sized entity in London and then finally ended up, through a merger, in a “big four” firm. Through all these practices she gained invaluable experience, but found that her main interest was in “general practice” rather than in any one specialisation.
Anne decided that she did not wish to continue working within such a large organisation and so during 1989 she and Dermot set up Coakley & Co in Guildford as a firm in which she would be able to use her skills to offer the local businesses and individuals a personalised accounting and taxation service for a reasonable cost. This practice has continued since then and Anne continues to run the office, which is now based in Elstead.
Anne has a wealth of experience and knowledge having dealt with a very varied portfolio of clients over the years and tries to ensure that all the firm’s clients receive the best possible financial and business advice and support.

Helen qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 2000, having trained with a medium sized accountancy practice in Alton. She then decided to branch out and use her newly found skills in industry and commerce for the next seven years before seeing the light and returning to practice with Coakley & Co which she joined in October 2007.
Helen now acts as our Manager dealing with the day to day support of many of our clients in relation to statutory and management accounts, VAT, Corporation Tax and various accounting matters. She also prepares tax returns for individuals and partnerships.

Dermot is a founding partner of Coakley & Co, having set up the firm with Anne in 1989. Dermot qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1982 and then specialised in business recovery, becoming a licensed insolvency practitioner in 1989, shortly before the firm was formed.
These days he is a consulting partner to the firm, having his main business as co-founder and owner of MBI Coakley Ltd, a specialist business restructuring and insolvency practice based in Guildford, and having formerly been a restructuring partner in a top ten firm. Thankfully, Dermot has not had to advise more than a handful of clients of Coakley & Co facing financial difficulty in the intervening years.
Dermot also deals with solvent liquidations to release value to shareholders in a tax efficient way following business sales, retirements and so forth, and provides ad hoc advice to the firm’s clients on other unusual or challenging situations, such a shareholder disputes and demergers, that crop up from time to time, drawing on his extensive experience of dealing with a wide range of different businesses and individuals.