S&W has appointed Simon Hart as a partner in the business tax practice, with a focus on financial services. He is an asset management tax specialist with nearly 20 years’ experience advising clients on a wide range of structures, transactions, investments and business tax matters. His client base has included traditional and alternative investment funds, asset managers, institutional investors and wealth managers. Previously spent 15 years at KPMG, most recently as a partner in the alternative funds tax team, where he focused on private credit.

MHA has strengthened its corporate tax team with the promotion of David Stone to partner. Stone leads the national post-transactional tax and ESG advisory services, and also advises mid-market and international businesses on a broad range of corporate tax matters. He is based at the firm’s integrated Milton Keynes and Northampton offices, the firm’s tax hub for central England, and is a qualified chartered tax adviser and chartered accountant. He joined MHA as a director in 2023, following a 15-year career in corporate tax at Grant Thornton and EY. Pictured: Rachel Nutt, tax partner and David Stone

Grant Thornton has appointed Fred Brown as its new south west England & Wales location leader. He takes over from Lauren Carlyle who moves into a new national role as head of UK pensions, replacing Neil Knights, who will remain with the firm and continue to support its audit offering and wider strategic priorities. Together, the appointments underline the firm’s focus on leadership continuity while investing in specialist and regional capability. Brown will head up a regional team of 300 across the Bristol and Cardiff offices. He has been with the firm for 25 years and is a partner in the national forensic and investigation services practice. Carlylye will lead on pensions audit work, in the face of increasing regulatory scrutiny, evolving accounting requirements and heightened expectations around governance and quality.

Azets has appointed Nicola MacAulay as a private client tax partner operating in a Kent-wide role as business demand continues to grow. She is based in the Maidstone office and will have a strategic role with a remit covering the whole of the county. MacAulay provides advisory and compliance services, and advises on all areas of personal taxation, including income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax. Previously she was a private client director role at S&W, following a long stint at Creaseys in Tunbridge Wells.

Duncan & Toplis, part of Kinbrook Group, has appointed Charles Burrell as head of manufacturing. He is currently assurance director at the Derby office and brings almost 20 years of audit and assurance experience to the role, working with owner-managed businesses, complex groups and specialist sectors across the East Midlands. In his new role, he will lead the manufacturing proposition while continuing to strengthen the firm’s presence across Derby and the wider Midlands region. Burrell succeeds Julie Chapman, who is stepping down from the leadership role after two years leading the manufacturing sector team. She will continue to support clients and remain an important part of the business.

KR8 has expanded its London-based team with the appointment of Andrew Livingstone and Harris Waseem as managing directors. They both bring over 20 years of experience in restructuring and advisory. Livingstone is a licensed insolvency practitioner and has extensive experience in financial restructuring, contingency planning and operational wind-downs. He joins from Alix Partners, where he was a director. Waseem is a chartered accountant and restructuring specialist with expertise across both solvent and distressed situations. Previously he was restructuring advisory director at Forvis Mazars, and started his career at PwC.

RCK Partners has appointed Rufus Meakin as senior advisor for the R&D tax credits firm. He brings more than 20 years’ experience advising innovation-led businesses and over 2,000 R&D tax claims completed across his career. Meakin will be advising technology-driven companies on R&D tax incentives and will be working with RCK to support the firm’s work with businesses undertaking significant technological development. He joins from MSC R&D, where he was tax credit strategic partnership manager.

Sage has appointed Krish Vitaldevara as chief product officer and Anand Swaminathan as chief strategy officer, and they will join the executive leadership team, based in the US. Vitaldevara will be responsible for global product and platform strategy, the innovation roadmap and delivery. Swaminathan will lead the corporate strategy, growth priorities and long-term value creation agenda at the accounting and financial software provider.