Robert Carpenter, who was an associate member of CIMA, ran his own firm called Accountancy Services and was also the sole director of Voicethrower Ltd, set up to market his invention.

His firm handled the accounts of many businesses in the Barnstaple, Bideford, Okehampton and South Molton areas of Devon. Carpenter created false invoices to claim VAT repayments when the two firms were hit by the economic downturn in 2007 and carried on the fraud until he was caught as a result of an HMRC investigation in 2012.

Investigators became suspicious after carrying out an audit on one of the firms he had prepared accounts for and went on to check his own books, Exeter Crown Court heard.