Mercer & Hole has promoted Lynsey Lord to partner in the private client team advising individuals and their families on complex domestic and international tax affairs. She is one of Mercer & Hole’s home-grown partners, joining the firm in 2008 as a graduate trainee. Her career has seen her work both in the UK and the US building a strong transatlantic client following who turn to her for practical and comprehensible advice. Her promotion brings the total number of partners in the private client team to eight at the 23-partner firm.

Crowe has appointed Emma Reynolds to partner. With more than 17 years’ experience, Reynolds has been with Crowe since 2016 and specialises in corporate tax compliance and planning issues, based in the Kent office. Supporting a range of sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, technology and renewables, Reynolds assists high-growth owner-managed businesses and mid-sized corporates with their compliance and business and shareholder tax planning. She is also part of the national tax team working on advisory projects across the wider firm. On top of her client work, Reynolds is a champion for equity, diversity and inclusion, acting as an ambassador for Crowe’s Women’s Empowerment Programme (WEP).

RSM UK has appointed Helen Brocklebank as office managing partner in Birmingham. She will succeed Mark Taylor, who has held the position for over seven years and remains regional managing partner in the Midlands. Having spent over 16 years at the firm, Brocklebank is a prime example of RSM’s commitment to investing in and developing its people; joining the M&A team in 2007 as an associate, she has since progressed through the ranks to become partner. She leads the M&A team in the west Midlands, as well as being the co-head of industrials and manufacturing.

KPMG has appointed Karim Haji as global head of financial services and has more than three decades of experience, including working in the UK, Switzerland, India and the US. He joined KPMG in the UK in 1995 as a banking audit graduate, becoming head of financial services in the UK in 2019, and later taking on an expanded role leading KPMG’s financial services offering across the EMA region in 2021. He will remain as UK head of financial services, in addition to the global role. He takes over from Judd Caplain, who has retired from the firm.

Cowgills has appointed Paul Hammond as its first indirect tax partner. In his role, Hammond will work closely with Lisa Wilson, partner and head of tax, leading the team and developing Cowgills VAT, environmental tax and duty offerings, as part of the firm’s plans to enhance its tax services. Previously he was a director at PwC and lead the northwest indirect tax team at PwC. The appointment continues an exciting period of growth at Cowgills with the appointment of four partners in just 12 months taking its partner count to 24.

BDO has appointed partner Derek Neil as head of transaction services. He has 25 years’ experience of advising on transactions, predominantly in the tech sector, supporting entrepreneurs, private equity investors and corporates, and also spent a year at a London private equity house. Neil originally joined the firm in 2004 and will take over from Chris Grove, who will continue with his role on the firm’s leadership team. BDO’s 150-strong transaction services team provides tailored and focused due diligence services to help clients make the right decisions when completing transactions.

 Prime Accountants Group has appointed Emma Clewes as head of tax advisory responsible for integrating tax matters into the company’s service offerings. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in the in tax advisory work and was previously a director at Crowe and a tax manager at MHA MacIntyre Hudson, and also has Big Four experience after six years at KPMG. The Midlands-based firm has offices in Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry.

Simpson Wood has appointed Danny McAllister as managing director, taking over from Mark Fielding who is stepping down after nine years at the helm and will stay at the firm focusing on his client portfolio. McAllister joined the firm 26 years ago as an accountancy graduate trainee, and progressed through the ranks becoming one of the youngest ever partners aged 27. Founded in 1880, Simpon Wood has offices in Huddersfield and Leeds.

MHA Moore and Smalley has promoted Natalie Taylor and Ben Harrison to directors. Taylor becomes a director in the professional practices team which advises solicitors, barristers’ chambers, architectural practices and surveyors, while Harrison is in the financial planning team and will continue to advise individuals, professionals, charities, care providers and organisations that support vulnerable clients.

Magma Chartered Accountants has appointed Paul Pownall as head of operations. He recently completed a spell managing a Rushcliffe Golf Club and has now returned to a professional services role. Pownall will be responsible for managing the firm’s HR, IT, finance and marketing professionals as well as helping to deliver further improvements in client service and operational efficiencies. Previously he was an associate director in mergers and acquisitions at Mazars.

Azets Wealth Management has hired seven senior team members and made a number of senior positions to further scale its business. Alex Bolton, Carl Stacey and David Tait join as financial planners covering the Midlands and northeast. With over 30 years’ experience, David Pinner is hired as employee benefits consultant and Charles Appleby as continuous improvement manager. Meantime, Graeme Dreghorn and Will Bleasdale have been appointed as directors to support the development of a fully integrated wealth and financial planning service across Scotland. Sarah Gilby has been promoted to head of operations, Katherine Finch to head of compliance and Leonard Bernie to head of employee benefits.

Forbes Dawson has hired two graduates Tom Stockton and Matt Parker as trainee tax advisors, in the Altrincham-based tax team. Stockton joins after securing a first-class degree in mathematics at Lancaster University, while Parker studied economics at the University of Manchester. The pair will study for chartered tax advisor qualifications, covering personal and corporate tax as part of their training.

Aston University has appointed three experts to its business school’s accounting department. These appointments will significantly add to its current research base including auditing, financial reporting and management accounting. Professor Kemi Yekini and Dr Galina Goncharenko will join in October 2023, with professor Teerooven Soobaroyen arriving in January 2024. Yekini is a distinguished scholar and academic with 17 years of professional practice with KPMG and Deloitte, Goncharenko’s research focuses on social accounting, accountability at work and workplace democracy, and Soobaroyen’s work examines the implementation and consequences of corporate governance codes, and how organisations engage with social, environmental and governance (ESG) disclosure requirements.

Dow Schofield Watts has launched a corporate finance team based in Cardiff, led by partners Koo Aseeley and Michael Dunn who will support businesses in Wales and the southwest. Both partners have 10 years’ experience in financial services and most recently worked at Gambit Corporate Finance, specialising in high profile M&A and fundraising transactions. The team will advise on transactions such as mergers, acquisitions and fundraising, and provide a wider service helping businesses to achieve growth and maximise value. Their arrival comes just weeks after DSW launched a corporate finance team in the East Midlands.

HMRC has confirmed the appointment of Susie Warran-Smith CBE DL as a non-executive director. She founded the award-winning tax company, Breakthrough Funding, which was sold to EY in 2020 and remained at the firm as an executive director (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa) until her retirement in 2022. In 2022 she became a Commander of the British Empire for services to small business in Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year Honours list. For six years she was a non-executive member of the audit and risk committee at the Department for Communities and Local Government (now DLUC) and has been a trustee of Lantra Sector Skills Council.

The IFRS Foundation has appointed of five new trustees to broaden the trustees’ expertise on accounting and sustainability, and reflect the restructured dual board. The five trustees are Bertrand Badré, Rudolf Bless, Morgan Després, Chong-Tee Ong and Richard Sexton, who will take up their roles from 1 January 2024. The new UK-based trustee, Richard Sexton is a member of the board and the audit committee chair for Northumbrian Water and a trustee and audit and risk committee chair of Our Future Health. He was also co-chair of the former Value Reporting Foundation. Sexton retired from PwC in June 2018 having held a number of senior leadership roles latterly vice-chair, global assurance and a member of the global leadership team. Badré is managing partner and founder of investment fund Blue Like an Orange Sustainable Capital, and was previously group CFO for the World Bank. Bless has been chief accounting officer for Bank of America since 2014 and has served on the boards of the SASB Foundation and Value Reporting Foundation. Després is executive director for international climate finance, land use and net zero macroeconomy at the European Climate Foundation (ECF). Ong is chairman of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority in Singapore. Four current trustees have also been re-appointed for a second term: Masamichi Kono, Robert Pozen, Kenneth Robinson and Erhard Schipporeit. Vice-chair Teresa Ko will remain for a further year to provide continuity during the establishment of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). There is still one vacancy for a board trustee.