Accountancy people moves: October 2024

Each month, Accountancy Age delivers a comprehensive update on the key people moves and promotions that have taken place among the UK accountancy market’s top 100 firms.

In November 2024, we unveil the final wave of activity among some of the largest firms and accounting bodies in the UK across October. Anna Anthony has been named as EY‘s next UK and Ireland regional managing partner, while Mark Shaw has taken the helm as managing partner at BDO UK, and Mark Koziel has been appointed as the next CEO of AICPA and CIMA.

A significant change in the public sector will see HMRC chief Jim Harra step down in spring 2024 after completing his tenure. Meanwhile, Blick Rothenberg has significantly bolstered its private client offering with John Bull appointed as head of private client, alongside three new Private Client Partners.

Mid-tier 

(Oct 1) Moore Kingston Smith has appointed Richard Blakeley and Thomas Dalby as two new partners. Blakeley is a partner and and Chartered Surveyor (MRICS), providing capital allowances advice to plant intensive businesses, property owners and occupiers on all types and sizes of projects and commercial buildings. He will launch and lead the firm’s capital allowances specialism. Dalby is a partner working with clients ranging from founders just starting their business journey to international listed groups. A barrister and specialist in employee share schemes, he advises on all aspects of employee reward.

(Oct 1) Saffery has expanded its corporate tax offering with the appointment of two partners to its London-based team. Zoe Thomas and Jonathan join the firm on 1 October, and each bring with them over 25 years’ experience providing corporate tax services to UK and international businesses.. Thomas joins from Evelyn Partners and has extensive experience in the provision of domestic and international corporate tax advice, fund structuring and M&A transactions, with a specific focus on the real estate and outsourcing sectors. Hornby joins the firm from Alvarez and Marsal. He works with multinational organisations across a wide range of industries, including retail, manufacturing, real estate, technology, management consultancy and utilities.

(Oct 1) James Cowper Kreston has announced the appointment of Alan Poole as the firm’s new chair, effective from 1 October 2024. Alan succeeds Sharon Bedford, who is stepping down following the completion of her four-year term.

(Oct 1) Mark Shaw has begun his role as the new managing partner at BDO UK. Shaw described the mid market as the ‘economic engine’ powering UK growth, Mark highlighted that mid-sized businesses are responsible for one in three UK private sector jobs and have revenues equivalent to half the value of UK GDP. His start also marks the commencement of a new Leadership Team at BDO. Announced this summer, the 11-strong team brings together new and existing Leadership Team members, combining continuity and stability with fresh and diverse perspectives. The firm will now operate across four core divisions: Audit; Tax; Deals; and Consulting, Risk & Outsourcing.

(Oct 1) Audit, tax, advisory and consulting firm Crowe has appointed Kate Stent and Matt Daniels as partners to its Corporate Audit team. Stent joins with 30 years of experience in Corporate Audit. Having worked on a wide variety of clients from smaller privately owned companies to large subsidiaries of overseas groups, she has a wealth of expertise in delivering corporate audits under UK GAAP and IFRS. Daniels joined the firm back in 2007 and over his tenure has gained extensive experience with both UK GAAP and IFRS clients. He has a wide array of experience working with owner-managed businesses, private equity backed businesses and large international groups.

(October 2) Chartered accountants and tax advisors Haysmacintyre has announced the promotion of Karen Allan to partner. She will also co-head the financial services team with the accounting and consulting firm.

(Oct 2) Oaklins Evelyn Partners has announced the appointment of Mark Brockway as a corporate finance partner in its London office. He joins Oaklins Evelyn Partners from Cooper Parry Corporate Finance where he spent two years as a Partner. Previously he worked in EY’s Corporate Finance team for more than 16 years, latterly Head of London Mid-Market M&A.  He focuses on the tech-enabled services sector and has considerable experience of transactions with Private Equity investors.

(Oct 2) Armstrong Watson has announced the appointment of Craig Reid, its new partner who will head up the accounting and business services team in Glasgow. Reid joins the firm’s Blythswood Square office after four years as a director at Mazars, where he led the Scottish SME team.

(Oct 4) Price Bailey has made five new senior level promotions in October. Two people have been promoted to Director and three to Senior Manager. Charlotte Anson and Jon Chambers from the firm’s Tax team become Directors, while Alan Becker in IT, Josh Mckeckney in Outsourcing and Judith Dott in the Business team become Senior Managers. The senior-level appointments follow four Senior Manager promotions made in April and come in the same year as the firm welcomed 40 new trainees.

(Oct 4) Forvis Mazars has announced the appointment of Jon Marchant to the role of dedicated office managing partner for the firm’s Bristol office. He takes on the role from Amy Reynolds, who remains in the firm but is stepping aside after four and a half years as OMP to focus on other responsibilities. He will be responsible for developing the firm’s business strategy in Bristol. A key focus for the team is continuing to grow its mid-market and public interest entity audit offering, as well as expanding its private client services.

(Oct 7) PM+M has appointed Simon Read as its new director in the audit, accounting and advisory team. Read joins the firm from Azets where he worked for 10 years. Prior to that he worked at Baker Tilly (RSM Tenon). He studied Economics and Finance at the University of Manchester, graduating in 2010.

(Oct 9) Sumer has made two senior hires in communications and talent acquisition, growing its people and culture team. Mairi McInnes joins as Internal Communications Lead. She will collaborate with regional Hubs and their leadership teams, McInnes has worked with world-class C-Suite leadership teams, across FTSE 100 businesses within finance, and technology and civil service. Emily McCollum joins as Talent Acquisition Sourcing Partner. With a proven track record of leading full-cycle recruitment for high-growth organisations, McCollum will be pivotal in helping Sumer Hubs grow, by crafting strategies to attract and retain colleagues, across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

(Oct 9) PKF Smith Cooper has appointed Nick Skidmore as manager to bolster the firm’s expanding transactions tax offering. Since starting his career in 2012, Skidmore has amassed a wealth of experience, gained primarily from advising private and family-owned businesses. His skillset will bring great benefits to a team which specialises in advising its clients on matters including business sales and acquisitions, employee incentives, corporate reconstructions and succession planning. 

(Oct 10) Grant Thornton has announced the appointment of two new partners, Nick Warth and Joe Groenen. They  join the firm’s Corporate and Multinational Tax Practice, which works closely with businesses to navigate the ever-changing corporate tax landscape, manage tax risk and ensure compliance with relevant tax laws and regulations.  Warth joins the growing team of Partners who specialise in transfer pricing, bringing over 15 years of experience in providing tax and transfer pricing advice to multinational corporations. Nick joins the firm from KPMG, where he led the Western Australian Transfer Pricing practice. Groenen also joins the Corporate and Multinational Tax practice as a Partner. Based in London, Joe joins from KPMG where he advised large corporate organisations on international and complex tax issues.

(Oct 10) Evelyn Partners has announced the appointment of Vanessa Lee, who brings more than 27 years of experience, to its Northern private client tax team. With more than 27 years’ experience, Lee has a focus on advising high net worth individuals, families, family offices and trustees on a wide range of complex tax and dispute planning. She has previously held senior positions at leading professional services firms including BDO and EY.

(Oct 10) Blick Rothenberg has appointed John Bull as the head of private client as well as recruiting three new Private Client Partners: Alex Foster, Travis Lee and Kelly Greig.

(Oct 11) BDO has strengthened its Southern private client services team, with Michael Flaherty and Lucy Saunders taking the helm across the across the entire region, leading 35 people across five offices covering the South East, Central South and the South West. Flaherty, who was previously head of private client services in the South East, with Saunders joining the firm as partner in January, will sit under the leadership of David Brookes, regional head of tax.

(Oct 11) UK accounting and advisory firm MHA has announced the appointment of Peter Carville as partner to its Financial Services team. With more than 30 years’ experience in the financial services sector, including a career at one of the Big Four accountancy firms, Carville brings a wealth of knowledge to the role. He is a corporate tax specialist but drives delivery for all services to his client base. He takes a hands-on approach to tax compliance and frequently collaborates with HMRC on disclosure and enquiry matters.

(Oct 11) Armstrong Watson has announced the appointment of Lindsey Cooper to the role of restructuring and insolvency partner. Cooper joins the firm after 22 years as a partner at RSM – where she headed up the North West and Northern Ireland Restructuring and Insolvency team – and brings with her more than 30 years’ experience in the field.

(Oct 14) Evelyn Partners has appointed senior hire Stuart Whitehead to help drive the continued growth of the firm’s cyber security practice. Whitehead has  more than 25 years’ experience providing cyber security and digital consulting services to clients across the UK, Europe and the US. He joins Evelyn Partners’ professional services business from Deloitte where he was a Partner and led the firm’s UK cyber digital transformation practice. Prior to that he was the Head of UK Cyber at EY.

(Oct 15) Forvis Mazars has announced the appointment of Jenn Hazlehurst as its latest audit partner and head of audit transformation. Hazlehurst will work within the industry and services sector and will be responsible for developing the team’s presence in the North West, whilst also helping to grow the firm’s Public Interest Entity audit offering in the region. She will also join the Audit Executive of Forvis Mazars in the UK as Head of Audit Transformation. In this role, she will be responsible for evolving the firm’s audit and assurance business, particularly through technology.

(Oct 17) Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO has appointed Gordon Whiley, David Reeves and Chi Ha as partners. Whiley joins BDO as an audit partner, specialising in working with large listed businesses in the natural resources and energy sector. He joins from Deloitte and will be based in BDO’s London office.  Reeves joins the firm as partner in the Financial Services audit team, bringing over 20 years’ experience to the firm with a focus on supporting businesses across the asset management sector. Reeves joins from EY and will be based in BDO’s Edinburgh office. Chi Ha joins BDO as partner in the financial services tax team. Chi will be based in the firm’s London office and joins from PwC.

(Oct 16) Carpenter Box has appointed two new senior managers to the firm’s expanding audit team. Annemarie Fern joins the Worthing office, while Emily Girling will oversee audits run by the Carpenter Box Portsmouth team. Fern brings more than 18 years’ professional experience to her new role, having qualified as ATT (Association of Taxation Technicians) before gaining ICAEW Chartered Accountant status in 2012. Girling joins the firm’s fast-growing Portsmouth office, which has doubled its headcount to 20 people in the last year.  She is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant with specialist knowledge of the not-for-profit and education sectors, and will oversee client audits as well as developing her own portfolio of clients in the Hampshire area.

(Oct 18) Forvis Mazars has announced the appointment of Ryan Crilley as an audit partner based across its Glasgow and Edinburgh offices. He will work with privately owned businesses, navigating clients through the complexities of financial reporting and regulatory compliance market and helping to establish Forvis Mazars as an audit leader in Scotland. He will also support the wider team with their learning and development.

(Oct 21) Bishop Fleming has announced its latest round of promotions as the firm continues to grow. In addition to appointing Freya Ronayne as a new Audit Director, the firm has announced nearly 30 other Senior Manager, Manager, and Assistant Manager roles across its four service lines as well as a larger group of junior promotions.

(Oct 22) Haysmacintyre has expanded its team of partners to 40, with the appointment of Andrew Barford. He joins haysmacintyre’s audit team, having spent most of his career working with mid-market groups in the Big 4. Barford brings a breadth of experience as an auditor and advisor; having also spent several years in corporate finance advising boards and owners on strategy, sales and acquisitions. His appointment bolsters the firm’s audit practice at a time of significant growth for the firm and transformation in the UK audit market.

(Oct 23) RSM UK has appointed Paul Bennett as a risk assurance director in the firm’s consulting team.  Bennett brings over 18  years of experience working with large corporates and owner managed businesses, with particular focus on helping UK and international businesses to understand, manage and govern risk to create value. He joins RSM UK from a prominent role in industry at TalkTalk where he led the audit and risk team. Prior to that he has worked at MBNA, JTI and PwC leading on internal audits.

(Oct 23) Crowe has announced the appointment of Michael Harvey as its latest corporate audit partner. Harvey joins the firm with over 30 years of auditing experience. Michael has worked with organisations of all sizes, from small start-ups to large global groups and listed entities. He has served clients in a variety of sectors, including financial services, manufacturing, retail, technology, leisure and hospitality.

(Oct 24) Cooper Parry has announced the appointment of Patrick Crookes as its latest tax partner in the Manchester office. With over 17 years of experience, Crookes is a highly respected fellow of the Association of Taxation Technicians. He’s also a member of the Chartered Institute of Tax’s Employment Tax Technical Committee. He also contributes to the Institute’s Qualification team. Before joining Cooper Parry, Patrick spent over a decade at a Big Four firm, where he successfully implemented cost-saving measures for clients.

(Oct 25) Forvis Mazars has announced the appointment of Sarah Mills as an accounting and outsourcing partner in its Sutton office. Mills will work within the Industry and Services sector and will be responsible for leading and expanding the firm’s Accounting and Outsourcing teams, as well as growing Forvis Mazars in the UK’s global compliance and reporting client base.  She will also have a significant focus on quality and efficiency, working across the business to identify ways to integrate the firm’s services to improve and streamline the experience of clients.

(Oct 25) MHA has announced the appointment of Rowan Porter as its new transaction services director.  Porter will spearhead MHA’s transaction services offering in the Liverpool City Region as well as supporting the wider North West and national corporate finance team. He joins the firm following a 26-year career in financial services, having trained at a Big 4 firm when he first came to Liverpool and subsequently spent more than 20 years at Grant Thornton, most recently as transaction advisory services associate director.

(Oct 28) Westcotts has announced that Beckie Cox and Emma Mills have been promoted to the role of director at it’s Plymouth Office. Mills joined the Westcotts family in 2023 as an audit manager. Since then, she has supported a range of large corporate clients with their associated audit, tax and accounts services, leveraging the broader expertise within the Westcotts family. Cox joined Westcotts over 7 years ago as a graduate. Her role involves supporting clients in sectors such as professional services, charities and academies. As part of her promotion to Director, she will now oversee a team that provides exceptional service to her portfolio of clients.

(Oct 28) RSM UK has appointed Alessandra Lupski Raja as a business transformation partner in its consulting practice. She joins RSM from  from PA Consulting where she built and led a team that specialised in end-to-end finance consulting for complex public sector programmes and advised government bodies, particularly across multi-entity and multi-disciplinary programmes. Prior to this, she qualified as an accountant with PwC, working across external audit and risk assurance.

(Oct 28) Azets has announced the appointment of Oliver Gale as its new regional business development director, with the task of growing its presence and revenues across London. Based at Azets’ London Bridge office, he has joined after seven years in a similar role at KMPG in the capital. Occupying a newly created position, Oliver will be out in the marketplace driving new business for the firm.

(Oct 29) Begbies Traynor has appointed insolvency specialist Kevin Mapstone as director based at its Edinburgh office. With over 25 years’ experience in financial services, Mapstone joins from an insolvency firm in Paisley where he spent almost four years as an insolvency practitioner, having previously worked for a number of other firms, including a period as an insolvency manager with Begbies Traynor.

Big Four

(Oct 1) EY has announced the appointment of Anna Anthony as its next UK and Ireland regional managing partner, effective from 1 January 2025. Anna will be responsible for leading EY’s UK & Ireland business of more than 20,000 people. Anthony has been an EY Partner for more than 16 years and has been the Managing Partner of UK Financial Services and a member of the EY UK LLP Board since 2021. In her current role, she is responsible for over £1bn of revenues, 250 Partners and 5,000 employees serving clients across the financial services sector, including some of the firm’s largest global clients.

(Oct 24) PwC has announced the appointment of Darren Ketteringham as its new UK leader of Industry for Financial Services. The role involves leadership responsibility for the thousands of people serving PwC’s clients at many of the world’s top organisations across the banking, insurance, asset and wealth management, and commercial real estate sectors.  Ketteringham has been a partner at PwC for 19 years after joining the firm in 1994.

(Oct 25) EY has announced the appointment of Dilek Çilingir as EY global forensic and integrity services leader. This appointment comes after the retirement of previous Leader, Andrew Gordon in June this year. Çilingir brings rich client service experience from a 30-year international career that has so far spanned leadership roles in forensics, assurance and consulting. She led EY Assurance services in Turkey for nine years and established a Forensics practice there and in nine other countries.

Tech & Industry Players

(Oct 4) HMRC chief Jim Harra has announced that he is stepping down from the role in the spring.  In a LinkedIn post, Harra said he was due to complete his tenure as First Permanent Secretary/Chief Executive in the spring, when he will be retiring from HMRC and the Civil Service

(Oct 9) Digital transformation expert Mike Bracken and tax specialist Bill Dodwell have joined the HMRC board as non-executive directors. Bracken has led digital operations and transformations in large-scale public and private sector organisations in the UK and Europe. He was the founder and executive director of the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) and the UK’s first Government Chief Data Officer. Dodwell was Tax Director of the Office of Tax Simplification having been head of tax policy at Deloitte. He has law degrees from King’s College London and Queens’ College Cambridge and is a chartered accountant and chartered tax adviser.

(Oct 17) AICPA and CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, have appointed Mark Koziel as the organisation’s next CEO. Koziel will succeed Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, who will retire at the end of 2024. Koziel is currently president and CEO of Allinial Global, an association of independent accounting and advisory firms with $6 billion in collective revenue and 268 member firms worldwide. He will begin the role in January following a handover period.

(Oct 21) Dext, the bookkeeping automation platform provider, has announced the appointment of Grant Picknell as its new general manager for its UK and Ireland operations. In a statement on LinkedIn, Dext CEO said Picknell would be joining at a “core time for Dext as we continue the development and rollout of our enhanced platform, whilst expanding our product offerings and global presence.”