BDO LLP has strengthened its audit practice with the appointment of Stuart Diack as a partner in the firm’s audit quality directorate to lead the audit quality improvement team. He has spent over 27 years leading the improvement of audit quality, working in a number of senior leadership positions. His experience spans several regulated environments, including the UK, Switzerland, Europe and Southeast Asia. At BDO, he will focus on driving consistent high quality and continuous improvement throughout the firm’s growing audit practice. He joins from Deloitte and will be based in London.

London and Midlands based accountants Cottons has promoted Will Smart to managing partner taking over from Nick Warne. Smart originally trained with the firm in the 1990s then pursued a career outside the practice, before returning as a partner in 2017. The firm has also promoted Ollie Warne and Callum Veasey to partners, and Enamul Khan, Sarah Kite, James Melvin, Sarah Randall and Aneta Sheridan are promoted to director level.