KPMG has appointed Adrian Stone as UK head of audit. He succeeds Tony Cates, who now leads KPMG’s international markets and government practice. Stone has been an audit partner since 1997 and has previously held a number of senior roles in KPMG’s audit practice including head of audit for the North of England and Scotland, chief operating officer for the UK audit practice, head of internal audit and head of KPMG’s department of professional practice. 

Hans Hoogervorst has been reappointed as chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) for a second, five-year term with effect from 1 July 2016. Ian Mackintosh is to retire as IASB vice-chairman when his first term ends on 30 June 2016. Hoogervorst is a former chairman of the executive board, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and a former chairman of the IOSCO technical committee. He has also held a number of positions in the Dutch government, including minister of finance.

PwC Legal has announced two senior hires. David Farmer joins from DLA Piper, where he was a partner for the last three years. He began his legal career as a barrister before re-qualifying as a solicitor and has specialised in pension law since 1998. Thomas Colmer joins from Osborne Clarke, bringing over 16 years of experience, leading on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity, growth and venture capital, joint ventures, and equity capital markets transactions.

Investment firm Fitzgerald & Law has appointed Carla Graves, Keeley Stock and Louise Morriss as directors. Graves, who joined the firm from PKF in 2009, will handle the UK tax affairs of the group’s corporate and personal clients. Stock, who is an ICAEW associate, has been responsible for the international financial outsourcing team since 2008, when she joined the firm from PKF. A fellow of the ACCA, Morriss oversees the audit affairs of the firm’s client portfolio, many of which are high profile multinationals with operations in the UK.

Grant Thornton UK LLP has appointed Alex Ellerton and David Morrey as partners in its financial services advisory team. Ellerton brings over 15 years' experience providing regulatory advisory services to financial services firms, with a particular focus on the retail market. Morrey is a regulatory subject matter expert in a wide range of conduct matters, both wholesale market issues within the securities and investment management sectors, and retail issues within the wealth management, advisory and lending sectors.

Mike Sturgess is to retire from SWAT UK after more than three decades with the training and consultancy firm.  The departure marks the end of a succession plan which saw Sturgess move from managing director to chairman in 2011, Adrian Gibbons become managing director and David Norris training director. Sturgess has already taken on the role of chairman of Truro Diocesan Board of Finance, and will retain his roles with St Martin’s Church in Liskeard.

East Anglia-based JDC Corporate Finance has appointed Tony Longman as its new director of tax. He joins from Grant Thornton, bringing with him over 30 years’ experience in providing tax advice to both entrepreneurs and companies. Longman began his career with HMRC, and was part of KPMG’s team in Norwich until it transferred in its entirety to Grant Thornton in 2000.

KPMG Ireland has signed a sponsorship agreement with Irish professional golfer Paul Dunne to be a brand ambassador alongside Phil Mickelson and Stacy Lewis. Dunne shot to prominence last summer when he became the first amateur in 88 years to lead the Open Championship after 54 holes, teeing off alongside Louis Oosthuizen in the final group. He will display the KPMG logo on the front of his cap as he competes in Ireland and around the world. 

London accountants CBW has appointed Lawrence Adair as tax consultant. Adair has over 20 years’ experience with particular expertise in IHT and CGT planning and dealing with SDLT issues. He worked in a number of Edinburgh-based accountancy firms, including Springfords and Mazars before moving to London in 2013 to join Gabelle.

General insurer RSA has named Dave Howell as chief auditor for the UK and western Europe. Since joining RSA in 2001, Howell has held a variety of senior roles, most recently as group insurance risk director with responsibility for modernising the insurance risk function and establishing and implementing a new technical assurance model across the group.

Former Financial Conduct Authority head Nick Bayley has joined Duff & Phelps as a managing director in its compliance and regulatory consultancy practice in London. Bayley was head of department in the FCA's markets policy and international division, senior markets adviser and responsible for the regulator's MiFID II Policy Project.  Prior to the FCA, he was head of regulation at the London Stock Exchange for almost a decade, and has worked in the forensic consulting division of a Big Four firm and for HMRC.

EY has appointed Richard Goold as a partner in its UK legal services business to lead and grow a legal tech team. He is currently co-chair of tech at Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co and was previously head of the firm’s US sales team.