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 April, we unpack the wave of activity in the industry’s mid-market as well as the latest moves across the big four, regulators, and trade bodies.
Big Four
(April 15) From June 1, Richard Andrews will head up KPMG’s ESG team, succeeding John McCalla-Leacy, who was appointed the firm’s global head of ESG in October. Andrews has been at the big four firm for over 25 years and is the chair of the FS faculty board at the ICAEW.
Mid-Tier
(April 3) Haysmacintyre has announced the promotion of Danielle Ford, Jake Pearlman, Jane Askew and Mark Baycroft to Partner. Ford has been a part of the firm for over 20 years specialising in tax disputes and resolutions. Former 35 under 35 listee, Pearlman, co-leads the firm’s property team. Askew has been at Haysmacintyre since 2008 and heads up the arts and culture team, and Baycroft has been in the industry for over 20 years, previously working at BDO and Moore Stephens.
(April 3) Six directors from Saffery Champness’ offices in Bristol, Bournemouth, London, and Inverness have been promoted to partner in 2023. The newly promoted individuals are Casidhe Baleri, Seb Cartwright, Hilary Clelland, Sarah Donaghay, Kathy Johnson, and Sean Watts.
(April 3) RSM UK has announced 13 new partners across its UK network of offices, with the firm’s national office promoting five of its employees to partner. The firms risk advisory team and audit team both saw three promotions within their teams.
(April 4) SRLV has appointed Jai Vora as a new tax partner and to head up its film and TV division. Vora joins the firm from EY where he was the big four firms’ director of creative industries.
(April 4) Crowe UK has announced Paul Cox, who serves as Director of the corporate tax team, and Kieran Smith, the Director in charge of VAT and customs duty, will be elevated to partner. Cox has served at the firm for six of his 20 years in the industry while Smith has worked in the accountancy space for 23 years, including three years at HMRC as a VAT inspector.
(April 4) Evelyn Partners has bolstered its Forensic Services team by appointing Nicholas Good as a partner in the disputes team. Good joins the firm from KPMG where he was the UK head of dispute advisory services, and he will bring seven of his colleagues from KPMG to his new team at Evelyn Partners.
(April 4) Ros Jones has been promoted to Partner within Dow Schofield Watts’ transaction services team in the North West. It is the third promotion the specialist in telecoms and legal sectors has received since joining the firm as a manager back in 2015,
(April 5) Duncan Arthur has been appointed as Evelyn Partner’s financial planning director at its Edinburgh office. Arthur joins the firm after spending over five years at Blackadder’s Wealth Management in Dundee where he was a director of financial planning.
(April 5) Magma Chartered Accountants has announced seven promotions across its Audit, Tax and Business Services divisions. In Audit, Ryan Parkin, Matt Norris, and Rebecca Pallett all become Senior Managers and George Wake is promoted to Manager. In the Accounts & Business Services team, Fiona Porter is promoted to Manager and in Business Tax Liam Meade and Danika Bhakta are promoted to Senior Manager and Assistant Manager respectively.
(April 13) Finlay Lamont has been promoted to partner within the RSM UK audit team. Lamont has 11 years of experience within the audit industry, joining RSM as an audit assistant in 2012.
(April 17) Associate partner level employees Ben Bradley and James Thompson, who respectively work in HURST’s corporate finance and tax teams, have been promoted. Bradley joined Hurst in 2011 as a graduate trainee following a successful 12-month university placement at the firm. In 2015, Thompson was hired by the firm, and he has accumulated over 20 years’ experience in the industry, spending time at Grant Thornton and Corinthian Tax LLP.
(April 20) PKF Littlejohn has appointed Satya Beekarry as a partner in its financial services team in London. Beekarry has spent over 20 years in the audit and financial reporting industry, most recently at PWC.
(April 20) Matt Melksham has been appointed as director for Westcotts to head up its Crediton office. With over 20 years’ experience, Melksham will lead a team of four.
(April 24) Armstrong Watson has made three new appointments in its Leeds Restructuring and Insolvency (R&I) team, including a new R&I director, Ed Connell. Connell brings a wealth of experience to the team having spent periods at PWC and Deloitte.
(April 28) BDO has announced the hiring of Steve Salisbury as a partner in its specialist technical risk assurance (TRA) team within its audit department. Salisbury joins the firm from PWC and has over 20 years’ experience in the audit industry.
(April 28) Graham Handy has joined BDO as partner with the firm’s insurance industry team. With almost three decades of senior line management and consultancy expertise, Handy has a specialisation in corporate M&A, board advisory, and risk management projects.
Trade bodies and regulators
(April 27) R3 has appointed Nicky Fisher, a partner at Herron Fisher as President of the insolvency and restructuring trade body. Fisher, as the President, will collaborate with R3’s CEO and senior management team to shape and execute the company’s strategy for the next 12 months while also providing assistance with its day-to-day operations.
(April 27) The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has announced Ellen Milner as its new director of public policy, taking over the position from John Cullinane who is retiring after seven years in the role. Milner joins from HMRC where she was involved in areas such as tax policy, compliance, and training.
If your firm has made any acquisitions or appointments that you think should feature in one of our updates, email Greg.Noble@contentive.com