Mercer & Hole has appointed Debbie Jakeman [above] as audit and business advisory partner, based in the Milton Keynes office. Jakeman brings a wealth of experience and knowledge, having worked with a wide range of clients, from small sole traders to FTSE 100-listed companies, including PE-backed, owner-managed, and family-owned businesses. More recently, she has focused on working with UK subsidiaries of overseas groups and UK based and international groups. Jakeman joins from Grant Thornton where she was an audit director, and has also spent several years working in industry as a group finance manager at IG Design Group, after originally training at PwC.

Begbies Traynor Group has announced that Mark Fry, currently an executive director and head of restructuring and advisory services, as group chief executive officer (CEO), a newly created role on the group board. This follows a leadership restructure after the firm has grown significantly over the last 10 years, trebling revenues. In his new role, Fry will be responsible for the day-to-day leadership of the group, and will drive the ongoing implementation of the growth strategy, with responsibility for overall business performance. He will also continue to act as a senior fee earning partner. He joined the group in 2005 following the acquisition of his practice, and was appointed to the board in 2011. Ric Traynor remains executive chairman while Nick Taylor continues in his role as CFO.

Andersen LLP has appointed of Rehana Earle as a partner and Poonam Parmar as a director in the global mobility practice. Earle will lead the UK global mobility practice and brings more than two decades of experience advising multinationals and high-gorwth companies on global mobility, including 17 years at PwC and Vialto Partners. Prior to Andersen, she was a partner at Blick Rothenberg and led the global mobility practice. Parmar brings over a decade of specialist experience, previously as a global mobility consultant at Vialto and also at PwC. She has worked with clients across multiple sectors and has particular expertise in the sports and entertainment industry.

Sapphire has appointed Mark Connor as CEO from his current MD role, and promoted Alex Moore to chief sales officer, joining the leadership team. Connor joined 12 years ago as a graduate new business manager and has been a driving force behind the growth of the North West contracting and accounting firm, leading the business through a management buyout in 2017 and then to employee ownership in 2021. Moore has over 17 years of experience in the contracting and payroll industry, and in her new role, she will head up sales and focus driving growth across all service lines, including the payroll and accountancy services, and the Quartz SaaS offering.

PKF Littlejohn has appointed Mike Lee as a director in the advisory & restructuring team in Manchester. With more than 30 years’ experience as a corporate advisory and turnaround specialist in the North West, he will be responsible for providing strategic advice to clients facing creditor issues, refinancing and contingency planning. He is a chartered certified accountant and previously ran his own eponymous firm, Mike Lee & Co, after a lengthy career at Duff & Phelps, now Kroll, and Leonard Curtis.

Carpenter Box, part of Sumer Group, has welcomed 12 trainees, bringing the total number at the firm to 57, making up 20% of staff. The new starters are based across offices in Worthing, Gatwick, Brighton, Chichester and Portsmouth, joining a range of specialist teams including audit, tax, business services, outsourced finance and StarBox, a dedicated service for digital entrepreneurs and content creators. Carpenter Box offers a range of professional qualification pathways for trainees, including the ACA, ACCA, CIMA and CTA.

HURST has welcomed six trainees, including five graduates and a sixth-form college leaver, plus four students on one-year placements. The graduate trainees are Alyssa Broughton, Benjamin Harrison-Mirfield, Liam Lloyd and Simone Soni in the business services team to train towards chartered accountants, and Lewie Ridgway in the tax department studying for ATT. School leaver Emily Combs has joined the outsourcing team HOST.

TXP has appointed Nick Southwell as group CFO at the private equity backed tech consulting and resourcing firm. He brings vast experience of M&A and private equity, and will support the ongoing build and buy growth strategy. Previously, he was CFO at Tenzing-backed Activpayroll, a global payroll and mobility specialist, helping the company to significantly increase sales and profitability over a period of four years.

The IFRS Foundation Trustees have reappointed Sue Lloyd as vice-chair of the membership of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) for a second term. Elizabeth Seeger and Hiroshi Komori have also been reappointed as board members. Michael Jantzi and Tae-Young Paik are stepping down as ISSB members when their terms ends on 30 September, with Paik becoming a senior advisor to ISSB chair Emmanuel Faber for one year.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has appointed Thomas Müller-Marqués Berger as chair, succeeding Ian Carruthers, who steps down after 10 years of service. Berger was selected through a rigorous selection process and has over 30 years of experience in public sector accounting and financial management. He is global head of international public sector accounting standards (IPSASs) for Ernst & Young in Germany.