Grant Thornton UK LLP has bolstered its public sector offering with the appointment of Richard Thomas in the newly created role of head of public sector financial reporting and accounting support services. He will lead the development and delivery of a new service offering for the firm, to support public sector finance functions with complex accounting and finance challenges. Thomas joins the firm from PwC where he was a director and has over 22 years’ experience supporting organisations across the public sector. Meantime, Martin Verrall has been appointed as practice lead for Gatwick. He will be responsible for leading and growing the 120-strong team based at the Crawley office. He replaces John O’Mahony, who is stepping down from the role after four years to focus on other responsibilities. Verrall will continue as head of the sell side transaction tax practice and will be responsible for upskilling and enhancing the firm’s local business.

BDO LLP has appointed Viral Desai and Steve Round as partners. Desai joins as a partner in the valuation services team and specialises in financial services, with a particularly focus on banking, fintech and investment management. He joins from KPMG and will be based in BDO’s London office. Round rejoins the firm as a tax partner in the Midlands. He specialises in transaction tax and will manage a portfolio of owner-managed and private equity-backed businesses in his role. He will be based in the firm’s Nottingham office and joins from Cooper Parry, having previously worked at BDO between 2011 to 2018.  

EY has appointed partner Mark Clephan as UK&I corporate finance leader. He joined the firm in 2001 and is an M&A partner based in the Manchester office, where he also leads the north corporate finance team. He brings 25 years’ experience, having worked with a wide variety of private equity houses, listed and private companies as well as many entrepreneurs. Clephan takes over from Fraser Greenshields who led the corporate finance team for seven years. Greenshields will be returning full-time to his client facing role as a partner focusing on the real estate, hospitality, and construction sectors.  

AAB has promoted four staff to partner, including Amanda Ollason to corporate tax partner, Graeme Penman, audit partner and Stuart Rose, audit partner, who all joined the business in 2008 through the AAB Group graduate programme. Linda Kelly has been promoted to payroll partner. She joined French Duncan in 2001, before the firm was acquired by AAB in April 2023. Six team members have also been promoted to the role of director: Aveen McShane and Sarah-Jane Murphy to business advisory director, Caroline Butler and Gregor McCallan to corporate tax director, Jenny Buchanan to virtual finance function director, and Claire Walker is made a director at AAB People.

Alexander & Co has hired Michael Rigby as a partner in the audit and accounts division, having previously held the position of partner at regional practice, Leonherman. He has over 20 years’ experience in the profession providing audit and accounting services to clients as well as working closely with entrepreneurial businesses. He has extensive knowledge and experience across a range of sectors including tech and fintech, property and construction, and digital.

Azets has appointed Chris Jenkins as a partner in the accounts and business advisory services team, based in the Swansea office. He brings a wealth of experience, having managed and run several international businesses and provided advisory services to inward investing companies. Most recently he was managing director of Argip Technologies, and director of Pier Energy Solutions and Oakwell Pro. He is dual qualified, first with ACCA in 2009 and then later trained for ACA through ICAEW.

Champion Accountants has appointed Lucy Panchal as a partner in its Hesketh Bank practice. With more than 20 years’ experience, she is an expert adviser to SMEs and entrepreneurs specialising in management accounts, financial performance and delivering critical support to businesses in distress. Panchal began her career in Kent, where she accrued a selection of northern clients and set up a Manchester division for a south east based accountant. She joins from Xeinadin Group, where she was a director at KJG.

Sedulo Group has appointed Logan Rowan as national head of transaction services in a move that will fuel huge growth in the division. He joins the firm from KPMG, where he was a partner, leading relationships with private equity and corporate clients, and advising on cross-border deals. During his 20 years at KPMG, Rowan led work on a number of high-profile transactions including Advent International Corporation’s acquisition of Cobham and Ultra Electronics, plus the acquisition of Elysium Healthcare by BC Partners.

Alvarez & Marsal has appointed Stockholm-based Annika Melin Jakobsson and New York-based Patricia Alonso de la Fuente as global transaction advisory group managing directors within its capital markets & accounting advisory (CMAA) practice. Jakobsson will focus on the Nordics and EMEA, while Alonso de la Fuente will support the US, Spain and Latin American expansion.

Gravitate Accounting has expanded the outsourced services team with the appointment of Adam Betts as client financial controller, bringing more than seven years of accounting experience. Previously he was at Brown McLeod Chartered Accountants in Sheffield. He is AAT qualified and will soon complete his ACCA qualifications. This follows a spate of hires including client finance director Daniel Morris, client financial controller Aaron Clarke, digital accountant Stacy Shaw, assistant digital accountant Kallum Dickinson and executive assistant Becci Woolhouse.

Birkett Long has expanded the insolvency team with the addition of solicitor Charlotte Burkert to the dispute resolution department, to focus on contentious and non-contentious insolvency matters. Based in the Colchester office, Burkert will work alongside partner and head of the insolvency team, Kevin Sullivan.

The Low Pay Commission has appointed Baroness Philippa Stroud as chair to replace Bryan Sanderson, who has held the post since 2019. Nigel Cotgrove and Andrew Goodacre have also been announced as commissioners. The LPC is an independent body that advises the government about the national living wage and the national minimum wage.

Tide has promoted Rebecca Marriott to chief risk officer (CRO) to handle global oversight of all risk classes, compliance, quality control, and enterprise risk management. She is also Tide’s money laundering reporting officer. Before joining the fintech company in 2018, Marriott held roles in security, intelligence, and anti-financial crime, including at consultancy Fintrail. She also worked at HSBC’s financial intelligence unit.