Grant Thornton UK LLP’s south west and Wales corporate finance team has announced a number of promotions and new hires across their Bristol and Cardiff offices. Jamie Roberts has been appointed as a corporate finance partner, Adam Hughes has been promoted to director debt advisory, while James Smart and Tom Bew are promoted to directors, corporate finance. In addition, an assistant manager has been recruited to join the team in April.

Gravitate Accounting has appointed Martin Dean as director of corporate finance to lead and build its newly-established corporate finance department. He will be a shareholder at the firm and brings a wealth of senior experience to the role having joined from Shorts Accountants, where he worked for 11 years, most recently as senior corporate finance manager. Dean has extensive experience supporting businesses with mergers and acquisitions, fundraising, valuations, exits, forecasting, modelling and trustee services.

Carpenter Box has promoted Kristina Perry and Alex Chidwick from associate to client service director. Perry will have responsibility for overseeing audits, while leading a technical team focused on accounting and auditing standards. She manages a portfolio of clients in a variety of sectors including the retail, manufacturing, construction and not-for-profit sectors, and will split her time between the firm’s Worthing and Crawley offices. Chidwick will oversee group financial reporting, including audit work for international clients, with a focus on healthcare, manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, retail, and creative and media.

Dow Scofield Watts (DSW) has promoted a key team member and added three recruits to its corporate finance and transaction services teams based at the new Covent Garden office in London. Phil Hodgson has been promoted to associate director after five years in the corporate finance team where he has been instrumental in supporting the delivery of transactions and growth in the business. Alex Bull and Peter Sexton have been hired as transaction services executives, and Chris Dougan as a corporate finance executive. Hodgson has been with. Sexton joins from Deloitte in Birmingham where he was an assistant manager in audit. Previously Bull was an audit trainee at BDO in the consumer market division. Dougan joined from PwC where he was an external auditor in the asset wealth management department focusing on investment platforms, infrastructure, private equity and real estate funds. 

SyersMcGill Accountants has appointed Dave Syers as a director to strengthen the leadership team at the Yorkshire based accountancy firm. He brings expertise in managing business growth across the SME market, and joins from Leeds based Charles Stewart & Co Ltd. He will focus on supporting business growth and strengthen the accountancy service offering. Syers spent six seasons as a professional footballer until 2016 playing for several Yorkshire based clubs, including Bradford City, Doncaster Rovers and Scunthorpe United. He then changed direction, and started studying before going on to qualify as a chartered accountant.

Interpath has hired Jayshree (Jay) Shah as managing director in the value creation team and as firmwide healthcare & life sciences lead. She joins from FTI where she was the EMEA healthcare & life sciences sector lead in the corporate finance & restructuring practice. Shah has over 20 years of experience in working with both corporate and private equity clients. Her experience covers a range of advisory services, including value creation, commercial and operational pre-deal diligence, business transformation, accelerated operational cost reduction, carve-outs and post-deal integration.

Quantuma has strengthened its team in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) with the appointment of Merish Gujadhur as an associate director, focusing on cross-border restructuring work. He is a chartered accountant with a legal background and is an associate of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Previously he was a senior manager at PwC in Mauritius where he spent almost a decade working in the business recovery services & forensics team.

Mercer & Hole has appointed Tania Phillips as associate director in the corporate finance team. She will be primarily focused on working with SMEs and owner-managed businesses across a range of industries including software, media, automotive, real estate, leisure, manufacturing, and distribution. One of her strengths lies in her genuine passion for understanding her clients, their businesses, and providing tailored approach to help them achieve their objectives. Previously Phillips was a transaction services manager at BDO.

Kingswood, the wealth management group, has appointed Vinoy Nursiah as chief financial officer (CFO) and Bryan Parkinson as managing director, head of wealth planning. Nursiah specialises in working with rapidly growing, private equity backed businesses, and leading transformational change. He was most recently CFO at CSC Global Financial Markets, where he built a new global finance team, operating model and platform. Parkinson has significant experience in leading financial advisory businesses and will set up a new team of regional directors, wealth planning. Previously he was managing director of financial planning at Punter Southall Aspire.

CFW Chartered Accountants has promoted Leanne Revie to associate partner after training with the firm 20 years ago. After various roles at regional accountancy firms, Revie rejoined CFW in 2019 as an accountant at the Corby firm. In her new role she will focus on offering tax and financial reporting services, ensuring businesses and individuals meet their compliance needs.

The Trustees of the IFRS Foundation have reappointed Erkki Liikanen to serve a third term as chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, ensuring continuity and stability in the organisation’s leadership as it institutionalises the International Sustainability Standards’ (ISSB) work and strengthens the IASB’s IFRS accounting standards. Liikanen has served as chair since October 2018. He was previously governor of the Finnish Central Bank and has also served as a European Commissioner.