KPMG UK has promoted 42 of its partners and 132 directors. The majority of promotions (24%) were made in its consulting practice followed by 23% in audit, 18% in tax and deal advisory and 17% in sales and business services functions. Out of those promoted to director, 33% were female and 29% of those promoted to partner were women.

Alison Watts has been appointed as head of Thomas Westcott’s new corporate finance service. She joins as director of corporate finance after spending 20 years building a team and similar service offering at a firm of accountants in the North of England. Watts also has previous experience working for EY.

Adam Kaucher and Victoria Zivkovic have joined Manchester-based Irwin Mitchell as corporate partners. Kaucher joins from Addleshaw Goddar, having previously spent several years in central Asia as regional head of legal for KPMG and in a global law firm. He has a wealth of cross border and domestic transactional experience, including public and private M&A, private equity and venture capital investments, joint ventures, banking and IPOs. Zivkovic joins from PwC legal where she headed up the corporate team and has led and advised on a number of high profile M&A projects and international restructuring projects.

Thorne Widgery has recruited Rachael Davis as a people development manager to assist companies with organisational design. In her role she will help with internal HR and staff development, as well as offering external consultation. Davis has more than 13 years’ experience helping organisations across a wide range of sectors leading key HR and organisational design and development projects.

Guy Jubb has been appointed as an independent non-executive to Mazar’s UK public interest committee, which applies oversight to decision making, quality and risk across the audit business. Jubb is an honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh Business School and is also the former global head of governance & stewardship at Standard Life Investments.

Morgan McKinley has appointed Ian Barker as director of professional services and Kathryn Swan as UK lead for accountancy practices. He joins from Hays where he was director for professional services and Hays Insurance. Swan also joins from Hays where she was a director.

The British Business Bank has appointed Piers Linney and Amanda Rendle as non-executive directors. Linney is chairman and an investor in Soulmate food and also sits on the boards of Nesta and the Aleto Foundation. He has also appeared on television show Dragons’ Den as an investor. Prior to this he has worked as a private equity lawyer and had a role in investment banking at Credit Suisse. Rendle is currently director of Jaren Consulting and previously been a non-executive director for Government Communications Services Ministerial Board, The Royal Mint, Tesco Bank and Keep Britain Tidy. Prior to this she spent 16 years at HSBC where she was global head of marketing.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB), International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) and International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) have issued a call for nominations for qualified individuals to join these standard-setting boards. Nominations for the 22 open volunteer positions can come from all stakeholders, interested parties, and the general public.