Forvis Mazars has appointed Craig Maxwell as the first dedicated office managing partner in Glasgow. He will be responsible for developing the firm’s business strategy in Glasgow and oversee its local team of 96 professionals. Maxwell joined the firm as an audit partner in 2016 and has over 25 years of experience in the industry. He works with privately owned mid-market and international businesses, supporting them as part of Forvis Mazars’ multi-service offering. He has a deep understanding of the local market having spent the last eight years working in the region, as well as beginning his career with Campbell Dallas.

Evelyn Partners has appointed Jennifer Tragner as a partner in its research & development (R&D) tax team in the Bristol office. She has almost 20 years’ experience advising clients in R&D tax incentives and joins the firm from ForrestBrown where she was a director and head of policy. Prior to that she spent over a decade working for KPMG. As an attest to her profile in the sector, Tragner was a key spokesperson at the House of Lords Finance Bill Sub-Committee’s inquiry on reforms to R&D tax relief.

Grant Thornton has bolstered its technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) M&A offering with the appointment of Nathan Reay as partner. He is an investment banker and former C-suite executive with over 20 years’ experience in global strategy and M&A, during which time he has been based in Hong Kong, Sydney and London, most recently as managing partner of Modus Partners. In his role at Grant Thornton, Reay will focus on expanding the firm’s TMT capabilities in the UK and globally, combining his extensive advisory background alongside experience as a technology focused VC investor.

Prime Accountants Group has named Morgan Davies as managing director to succeed the long-serving Kevin Johns, who has been MD since 2015. Davies was one of the four original founding partners of Prime in 2007 and he will continue to work with his portfolio of clients and remains on the senior leadership team. He is also Solihull BID chairman and vice-president of the Solihull Chamber of Commerce, as well as spearheading Prime’s charity work. Johns will remain with the firm and will work with his portfolio of clients as well as being a member of the senior leadership team.

George Hay Chartered Accountants has promoted Caroline Hicks, Emma Wilsher and Samantha Green to partner. The trio were previously promoted to associate partners in 2022 and have now stepped up to manage a diverse portfolios of clients alongside supporting junior members of the team. The move recognises the southeast based firm’s internal talent and adds new skills to the existing leadership team.

Champion Accountants has appointed two audit professionals, Fahim Ashraf and Jake Edwards, adding further depth to the team’s audit function. Ashraf joins the firm’s Manchester HQ as audit and accounts senior from EKW Group where he was an audit and accounts semi senior. Edwards joins as audit and accounts semi-senior from UHY Hacker Young.

Azets has promoted business consultancy and accounting specialist Lyndsey Camilleri to partner, while on maternity leave. Based in the group’s Newbury office, when she returns to work in December she will be responsible for client relationships and services, generating new business and for leading the next generation of accountants. She has been with Azets for more than three years and has 16 years’ financial industry experience after opting to begin her career as an apprentice in 2008 rather than take the university route.

AMS Group has set up a specialist indirect tax and VAT team to support its existing 70-strong tax advisory division. Tajinder Bhalla, Stephen Fennell and Charmaine Richards have been recruited to lead the team and develop its full-service portfolio, including support for clients on VAT advisory, customs duty and property related tax issues.  Bhalla, a tax barrister and chartered tax adviser, joins AMS Group as tax partner in its Canary Wharf office. He was previously a partner at HW Fisher. Fennell joins as a VAT partner based in Leeds after a career with HMRC, customs at ports and airports, group indirect tax manager at Morrisons and Safeway, and 15 years running his own tax and VAT consultancy. Richards also joins the Leeds office as a VAT manager after 15 years with HMRC, working in the large business team and the fraud investigation service.

Kilsby Williams has made four appointments to its audit and accountancy team, Stephanie Pingue, Channa Wijesekera, Ryan Jeffs and Alex Manton. Manager Stephanie Pingue is an ACCA qualified business services manager with years of experience working in practice, most recently at UHY Hacker Young. Jeffs, Wijesekera and Manton join as audit seniors. The trio will be responsible for providing accounts preparation services, including financial statements, year-end accounts, management accounts and VAT returns for a range of clients.

Alvarez & Marsal has appointed Will Rhode as a managing director to lead its new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practice in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The practice works closely with A&M’s core offerings and senior sector specialists to provide clients with an integrated, comprehensive and competitive ESG service. Rhode has more than 15 years of experience as a consultant covering ESG advisory, strategy, business and portfolio review, due diligence, and value creation support. Previously he was a partner at EY in the financial services strategy & transactions team, and the global private equity ESG leader.

Albert Goodman has appointed Neil Wyatt to the newly created role of business development and marketing manager at the B-Corp certified firm. With over 15 years of professional services experience, he will divide his time between supporting the firm’s expanding financial planning team, and fostering regional growth through business development. Previously he was head of marketing at Higos Insurance Services.

Maples and Calder, the Maples Group’s law firm, has strengthened its international trusts and private client expertise with the hire of senior lawyer Nick Holland. He will join as the head of the trusts & private client team in the group's London office in September 2024 before moving to the Cayman Islands later in the year. He has a well-established practice, with clients in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, and extensive experience of advising institutional trustees, private clients and other market advisers on complex, multi-jurisdictional matters.

Dow Schofield Watts has strengthened its Cardiff corporate finance team with the appointment of Ben Nix. He joins the team as a senior analyst and will work across Wales and the south west. His last role was an associate at Advantage Accountancy & Advisory. His experience includes corporate finance advisory, market research and audit. He was previously a market underwriter at Zurich Insurance where he was part of the business development and commercial risk team.

Azets has hired 201 graduates and school leavers across its UK business who will be joining the firm this autumn. The school leaver route is a six-year programme which includes two apprenticeship streams leading to AAT qualifications, before moving towards a chartered accountancy qualification (ACA, ACCA, CTA or ICAS). Graduates join a three- or four-year programme studying for chartered accountancy qualifications. In total, the group will have 817 trainees.

Larking Gowen has hired a cohort of 29 trainees starting on their professional qualifications at the East Anglia firm. This diverse group of students includes school leavers, university graduates and placement year undergraduates who will be based across offices in Norfolk, Suffolk and north Essex, working towards a variety of qualifications in accountancy and taxation. The new intake reflects the firm’s commitment to nurturing future talent.

PKF Smith Cooper has hired its largest ever cohort of trainees with 21 graduates joining the Midlands-based firm. The audit division gains 13 graduates, while the business services, corporate finance and corporate tax teams has two each, and the employment tax and VAT teams will have one graduate each. The learning and development team will work closely with the new starters to support their training and development needs on their journeys to becoming qualified accountants. Qais Hussain has been appointed as a learning and development executive. The ACCA qualified accountant was previously an audit manager at DJH and is a freelance marker at Kaplan UK.

Mars has appointed Gabriel Millan as chief financial officer (CFO) for their pet health, services, and nutrition business. He will join the business in December and will lead the global finance function for the $30bn petcare business, reporting to Loïc Moutault, president of Mars Petcare. He has over 25 years’ experience in corporate finance, most recently as senior vice president and CFO commercial at GSK, and was previously CFO for the north American business of Reckitt. He has led global finance organisations with a track record of driving transformation and accelerating talent and diversity within the function.

JE Consulting has hired Callum Macrae, a marketing specialist in the professional services sector, as marketing director. A strategic and creative marketer with 15 years of experience, he joins from IRIS Software Group, where he was accountancy marketing lead. He is also a recognised public speaker at industry events, where he has shared his expertise on the latest marketing trends and strategies.