AAB has appointed Derek Mair as head of office in Aberdeen, succeeding Graeme Allan from 1 April 2025. Mair has been with the firm for 18 years and specialises in audit, assurance and advisory services for businesses ranging from start-ups to large international groups. In his new role, Mair will continue advising his audit clients while also working closely with heads of offices across the country. Allan will become a non-executive director and remains on the AAB board.

EY has strengthened its private team in the Midlands appointing Olivia Prew as an associate partner and head of private in the Midlands and Hannah Al-Anazi as associate director for private and mid-market. Prew has nearly two decades of experience, working with private businesses, entrepreneurs and mid-market private equity clients. Previously she was a senior director and head of business development at private equity firm Clearwater. Al-Anazi has experience in executive search and leadership advisory, and was previously an associate director at Drax, a strategic leadership consultancy.

Old Mill has promoted Willem Puddy to partner in the rural team, an achievement that reflects his exceptional contribution and rapid career progression. Since joining the firm in 2018, the chartered accountant and adviser has demonstrated outstanding technical expertise, deep rural sector knowledge and an innate ability to build trusted relationships with clients, and he has played a key role in driving the growth of the rural team.

Simmons Gainsford has appointed Andrew Hill as a partner and audit responsible individual to further strengthen its audit team. Previously a senior audit partner at PwC, Hill brings a wealth of experience in financial services, retail businesses, controls assessments, IFRS, FRS 102, and both group and standalone entity audits. His expertise will be instrumental in enhancing the firm’s London-based audit practice.

Forvis Mazars has appointed Steve Abbott as office managing partner (OMP) at the Manchester office. He takes on the role from Dave Hilton after four years, who remains in the firm stepping into a new role leading the national corporate finance team. As OMP, Abbott will be responsible for developing the firm’s business strategy in Manchester and expanding Forvis Mazars’ presence in the region, and will oversee the growing local team which now consists of 350 professionals and 18 partners. Abbott joined the firm as a tax partner in 2020 from KPMG where he was tax director and has over 25 years’ experience. He currently leads the tax team in Manchester.

RCK Partners has strengthened its defence offering with the appointment of Andrew Carwardine as defence senior partner. He brings nearly four decades of experience in defence, including as an officer in the British Army and advisor to the Ministry of Defence. In his role at the R&D tax consultancy, Carwardine will work alongside RCK’s non-executive director and former defence secretary, Lord Philip Hammond, to help drive R&D innovation in UK defence.

Barrons has appointed David Fletcher as managing director of its corporate finance team. A seasoned chartered accountant he brings extensive corporate finance and strategy experience to Barrons. He joins from Jerroms Corporate Finance, where he was also managing director. He will work closely alongside Gary Raven, Barrons’ managing director, to expand the firm’s service offerings to clients across Essex, East Anglia, and the southeast.

Evelyn Partners has appointed Lachlan Dorrity as director, David Ramsey as assistant manager, and Katherina Zeal as assistant manager in the debt advisory practice based in London. Dorrity has over 10 years of experience in the debt advisory market and joins the firm from Clearwater where he spent seven years as a director. In his new role, he will focus on sponsor-backed mid-market transactions, navigating fund raising in complex financial markets. Ramsey joins from the audit team at Blick Rothenburg where he worked with regulated venture capital and private equity firms. Zeal spent four years at KPMG in the banking and financial services audit team working on the audits of financial services companies.

BDO has appointed Jonathan (Jono) Szoke as a director in its ESG due diligence practice. Szoke will lead the ESG due diligence team in the deal advisory stream, providing ESG support on potential transactions and listings on public markets. He brings over 20 years of experience working in the ESG sector, most recently as an associate director at KPMG.

Lawrence Stephens has appointed Leigh Sayliss as a director to head up a brand-new tax practice at the firm. Sayliss joins from Memery Crystal where he was a partner in the tax department. He is a chartered tax advisor and chartered engineer with particular expertise in property, corporate and employment taxes, advising on the tax aspects of a wide range of property and corporate transactions. Sayliss is also chair of the CIOT property taxes committee and a member of HMRC working groups on stamp duty land tax and construction matters.

Langtons has expanded the audit team with the appointments of Hannah Medcalf, Devi Suresh, Liam Lo Cicero and Will McDermott, while Lisa Lewis joins as personal tax manager having previously been with BWN Chartered Accountants. Medcalf joins from V&R Accountancy Services, also based in Liverpool, while Suresh joins as an audit semi senior from Robson Laidler where he was a semi senior auditor.

The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) has appointed four new board members, including Mike Metcalf, former partner at KPMG who led the technical accounting group at the firm before retiring in 2020 after a near 34-year career, and equity analyst and investment banker, Peter Reilly. Both have been appointed for three-year terms, effective from 15 March. Cynthia Alers, non-executive board member at Natural England, audit, risk committee chair and a member of the governance committee at Orwell Housing Association, will join the board in September, as will Mark Gregory. Four members will step down this year, Liz Murrall, Giles Mullins, Katherine Coates and Robin Cohen.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has promoted Helen Miller to director and head of the IFS, taking over from current director Paul Johnson, who is leaving in July 2025 after 14 years at the influential thinktank. Miller joined the IFS in 2007 and has been head of the tax team since 2016 and deputy director since 2019. She has over 17 years of experience analysing UK fiscal policy and providing trusted advice to policymakers, and is an excellent and experienced media commentator. She has served as a trustee to the Royal Economic Society. Johnson is leaving to become provost of Queen’s College Oxford.