Darrell Barlow has joined and Alice Pearson has been promoted at Mercer & Hole. Barlow joins the firm in the role of senior tax manager in the corporate and business tax team. He joins from Rouse Partners having spent the previous 20 years working for Grant Thornton. He is a chartered tax adviser and certified accountant with experience in advising owner-managers on both tax compliance and advisory matters. Pearson has been promoted from tax manager to senior tax manager. She provides tax advisory and compliance services to UK and non UK domiciled clients. She joined the firm in 2015 from Rawlinson Hunter.

Tax and accountancy support assistant Valerie Howard is retiring from Clemence Hoar Cummings after a long career with the firm. She started her time in the profession with James Train in London in 1971, which later merged with Angus Scott, becoming Train Scott, which subsequently merged again to become Gane Jackson Scott. Then in 2001 Gane Jackson Scott merged one last time with Clemence Hoar Cummings and Howard has remained with the firm ever since. This means that apart from a two year break to raise her family, she has been continually employed since she was 18.

EY has appointed Patrick Bossert to head its infrastructure asset intelligence practice. He joins the firm from Network Rails where he spent six years leading their asset information and digital workforce transformation. He will lead on asset intelligence strategy and digital business transformation across the UK covering central government, transport and infrastructure. His main focus will be on helping regional and central government get better returns from transport and social infrastructure investment.

Mitchells Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers has appointed Alex Frain to its corporate team. She joins from a leading national business advisory firm’s graduate programme where she specialised in audit work. She will continue working towards her ACA under Mitchells, working alongside its corporate team to deliver services to SMEs throughout the region.

RSM has promoted 13 partners across the firm. There will be five promotions in the firm’s audit faculty. They are Kelly Adams in Glasgow, Hugh Fairclough in Leeds, Keith Ward in Birmingham, Lucy Robson in Newcastle and Karen Tasker who will be based in Gatwick. Four new partners are being appointed within the firm’s tax practice including Ryan Broomfield in London, Richard Urron in Newcastle, Jo Gibbons in Basingstoke and Peter Graham in Stoke. Sukhi Johal is to become a partner in the firm’s corporate finance practice in Birmingham, with Neil Sharples being appointed as a technology consulting partner in London. Neil Hindley in Newcastle and Stuart McCallum, currently head of the firm’s food and drink sector group in Glasgow, will both be promoted within the firm’s accounting and business advisory practice.

Sophie Colby has joined Dow Schofield Watts as a partner in Leeds. Colby started her career at Arthur Andersen and worked with Centrica before joining EY. She will join the firm’s transaction services team and has experience advising on a wide range of industries and deal types with a particular focus on helping businesses to prepare for a sale.

Haysmacintyre has appointed Trevor D’Sa and James Rolfe to its tax team. D’SA joins the firm from SRLV as a private client and Rolfe joins from BDO to take the role of senior business tax manager. D’Sa has over 30 years’ experience providing tax advice across all disciplines, including as a tax partner at a niche media firm, and more recently as head of private client tax at SRLV. Rolfe specialises in advising corporates, focusing specifically on making research and development claims for companies in the creative, media and technology sector. At BDO he was a corporate tax manager.