PwC has strengthened its restructuring and insolvency team with the appointment of Sarah O’Toole as a partner, to lead the restructuring team in the northwest, based out of the Manchester office. She is a restructuring and insolvency specialist with more than 20 years’ experience advising companies in the northwest of England needing turnaround and restructuring advice. Previously O’Toole was a partner at Grant Thornton for seven years.

Grant Thornton has hired Varun Dewan as a partner and Erica King as a director to strengthen its international business process solutions practice. Collaborating with Grant Thornton member firms internationally, they will support clients with implementing digitally enabled onshore and offshore outsourcing solutions. Dewan has over 20 years’ experience specialising in advising clients on managed services and implementing process outsourcing solutions in the UK and Indian markets. King also has 20 years’ professional services experience, most recently as founder of Beholder Beauty, and previously was a director of business development at RSM, working on business process improvement, change management and outsourcing implementation projects.

BKL has appointed Neill Ryder as chief financial officer and a member of the senior leadership team. He has over two decades of experience in finance, most recently as CFO at Away Resorts, where he helped to lead the business’ multisite growth through mergers and acquisitions, product innovation and private equity investment. He will be working closely with BKL’s senior leadership team to help drive the firm’s strategic, financial and cultural growth.

Dow Schofield Watts has expanded its northwest corporate finance team with the appointment of Jack Keoghan as a corporate finance executive. He joins from Deloitte in Liverpool where he has spent the last six years in its audit team, most recently as a manager working across the retail, finance and hospitality sectors. He is an ACA qualified accountant, and will focus on domestic and international clients to facilitate their growth and exit strategies.

MHA Moore and Smalley has strengthened its tax advisory team in Liverpool with the appointment of Andy Disley as a senior manager and Paul Clough as a tax consultant. Disley will specialise in international tax for owner-managed businesses and larger corporates. He brings significant experience in the property and sports industries, having joined from City Football Group (owners of Manchester City FC) where he was a senior tax manager. Clough, a former rugby league player for St Helens, joins from Merseyside-based Tailored Financial Planning, where he worked as an independent financial adviser. He will specialise in advising corporate and private clients on inheritance tax mitigation, profit extraction, and retirement and estate planning.

MHA has hired three independent non-executives, in a first for the firm. The appointments include Dianne Azoor Hughes, Mark Goodey and Tim Davies, who take up their responsibilities with immediate effect, and will attend the MHA oversight committee, public interest committee, and audit quality board which has direct responsibility for overseeing the audit practice and ensuring its quality and independence. Previously Hughes was a partner at audit firm Pitcher Partners based in Melbourne and is an expert on governance, risk and audit. Goodey was a partner at Deloitte UK for more than 30 years and was chair of Deloitte’s audit quality remuneration committee. Davies runs Belbeze Consulting, advising professional services firms on strategy, M&A, and restructuring, and until 2023 was a partner and head of tax at haysmacintyre, after spending over 13 years at Mazars, including as an executive board member at Mazars.

Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) has appointed Bill Butler CPFA, CSyP as chair, replacing Steve Freer from 1 April. Butler brings a wealth of experience to PSAA including in his current role as chair of Propertymark and as a non-executive director and chair of audit at Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board. His previous experience includes being a non-executive director and chair of the finance and investment committee at The Law Society and NED and chair of the audit committee at Gangmaster. He has also previously worked for the Audit Commission before it was disbanded in 2015.