NHS hunts new FD.

The Accountancy Foundation this week confirmed the appointment of Colin Reeves, finance chief of the National Health Service, to the position of director of its Review Board – while speculation is mounting over who will replace him at the NHS.

Reeves will leave in the new year, before taking responsibility for conducting the monitoring process of key bodies in the profession’s new regulatory regime, and advising the Review Board on the outcome of this work.

The Review Board’s responsibilities include monitoring the activities of the reshaped Auditing Practices Board, the new Ethics Standards Board and the new Investigation and Discipline Board. It also has the authority to shape the manner in which the six affiliated accountancy bodies discharge their respective regulatory duties.

Reeves told Accountancy Age: ‘I have spent 27 years working in the public sector, and seven years as finance chief of the NHS, twice as long as any of my predecessors.

‘The opportunity to head the Review Board presented an exciting challenge, which I did not want to miss out on.’

His departure comes as the NHS finance staff face major changes driven by the introduction of shared services and new technology.

The news comes just weeks after new NHS chief executive Nigel Crisp, a close friend of Reeves, took up office.

With no obvious successor to Reeves, concerns have been raised that the job could go to a career civil servant or someone from the private sector.

Possible candidates include John Bacon, regional finance director and acting director of the Executive’s London regional office, Stephen Day, former regional finance director at West Midlands region and now its director, Neil Chapman, finance director at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and David Flory, chief executive of Newcastle and North Tyneside Health Authority and a former regional finance director.