Johnston Carmichael has appointed Matt Kaye as an audit partner in the Edinburgh office. He has nearly two decades of extensive experience advising large owner managed business clients across a variety of sectors and leading key client accounts. His experience includes three years of working in Australia and his hire comes as the firm’s audit team continues to expand under the leadership of Graham Marjoribanks. He joined from PwC where he was an assurance director.

RSM UK has appointed two business transformation partners, Mohi Khan and Ashley Barlow, to grow and strengthen its consulting team. Khan has more than 25 years’ experience as a strategic business transformation adviser, with previous roles at PwC, EY and PA Consulting. He helps clients build and transform their European and global business operating models. Barlow has 25 years’ experience as a chief information officer and chief technology officer, with previous roles at PA Consulting; and over a decade at EY.

HWB has promoted Nick Whitemore to associate director, a little over a year after he joined the practice as a senior business advisor. He will work closely with clients on accounts, advice and tax services including individuals, owner-managed businesses and SMEs. He is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and has more than a decade of post-qualification experience. He joined the firm from Azets in October 2022.

DSG Chartered Accountants has hired Sam Evans as audit manager at the Liverpool-based firm. He will lead the dedicated audit and accounts team, which focuses on commercial awareness and sector specific knowledge. His appointment will provide increased audit expertise for a range of clients, from owner-managed SMEs to large corporates. This is Evans’ second stint at the firm where he worked for five years, initially as audit senior through to audit manager before moving to KPMG as audit assistant manager in March 2023.

Prime Accountants Group has announced that long-serving partner John Osborne is planning to retire after working as an accountant for nearly 50 years serving the Solihull business community. He started out in the industry in 1977 aged 19 after being educated at Great Yarmouth Grammar School. After joining Raftery & Co in 1981, the Norfolk native became a partner in 1993 and remained with the business when it became Prime Accountants Group in 2007 after merging with Pilley and Florsham. Osborne said he had witnessed huge changes in the professional landscape in the 46 years since he started work, when accountancy firms weren’t even allowed to advertise and computers were so rare they had to be booked for hour slots.

Azets has appointed Melanie Richards CBE as chair replacing Gordon Hurst, who stepped down in December after three years in the role. A former deputy chair of KPMG until 2020, Richards has extensive management, board, and advisory expertise, with over 40 years of corporate finance and capital markets experience. Richards is a non-executive director of Morgan Stanley International and consultancy firm HKA, and a member of the boards of the Royal National Theatre and Invictus Games Foundation, and chair of The Eve Appeal.

Moore Kingston Smith has appointed Matt Meadows as managing partner following a partner vote. He will take over from Maureen Penfold who is retiring at the end of April after eight years in the role. Meadows joined the firm in 1998 as a trainee and was made a partner 10 years later. He has extensive experience across multiple disciplines including audit and corporate finance. He was also instrumental in the recent acquisition of Irish firm Moore, which expanded the firm’s global presence and ability to support clients with international interests.

The Charity Commission has appointed David Holdsworth as the next chief executive and he will take up the role from 1 July. He will replace Helen Stephenson, whose term comes to an end this summer after seven years in the role. Holdsworth has been CEO of the Animal and Plant Health Agency since 2022 and previously was deputy CEO of the Intellectual Property Office. He also spent four years at the Charity Commission as deputy CEO and also chief operating officer from 2015 to 2019. His appointment followed a rigorous recruitment process which saw a record 65 applications for the role.