Samantha George, formerly of Grant Thornton, is joining Moore Stephens as a director. George spent five years at Grant Thornton as head of global compliance and outsourcing services, where she supported clients in financial services, retail and technology sectors. She will join Moore Stephen’s Reading office and will be providing outsourced accounting services to UK and international companies and groups.

Phyllis Han has been appointed as a tax director at RDP Newmans. She has expertise in a wide range of matters, including inheritance tax, corporation tax, VAT, Stamp Duty Land Tax and non-domiciled tax-related issues. Having worked with small to medium-sized owner-managed businesses for a number of years, she is able to provide commercially relevant tax advice on a number of reliefs and tax planning opportunities.

Independent tax has appointed Nick Davies as a tax specialist. Davies joins the firm from BHP Chartered Accountants. He began his career with HMRC, where he worked for 12 years, initially as a tax collector and later as a tax investigator. The remainder of his career has been spent working at a senior level for a number of high-profile accountancy practices, including in director roles. His particular expertise is in employment tax, including expenses and benefits, handling HMRC enquiries and company car taxation.

Zaya Wickman has joined the team at Needle MacKenzie Spencer. Wickman has gained valuable work experience in London with the internal audit department at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.  She has also worked as a tax assistant at KPMG, followed by a role as a client accountant in an offshore trust company.

Julie Webster has been appointed as an associate in Mitchell Charlesworth’s Manchester office. She joins the firm from RPG Business Recovery and has nineteen years’ experience in restructuring and insolvency across a variety of sectors including retail, leisure and construction. Webster qualified as an insolvency practitioner with BDO and has undertaken secondments with Royal Bank of Scotland and the Co-operative Bank, working in their debt recovery teams.

David Williams, a member of the board and executive committee at KPMG, has been named as ICAEW vice president for 2018/19. Williams joined KPMG after graduating from London School of Economics in 1982 and was made partner in 1996. Previously during his career at KPMG, David has held a range of positions, including head of audit for KPMG’s Consumer and industrial Markets group, head of accounting advisory services and head of KPMG’s drinks sector. He joined ICAEW Council in 2010, and has previously served on the Institute’s Professional Standards Board as well as, currently, the Board of the ICAEW and Chair of its Technical Strategy Board.

FRP Advisory has appointed Adrian Alexander as a partner in its corporate finance team. He joins after 24 years at Mazars where he was a corporate finance partner handling a range of mid-market sales and acquisitions. Alexander set up and grew Mazars’ corporate finance department in Brighton, making it one of the most respected corporate finance teams in the south-east. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants corporate finance faculty and has extensive experience in exit strategies, buying and selling companies, management buyouts, raising finance and deal support services, including valuations, with particular expertise in IT, telecoms, waste and renewable energy.

Arkle finance, an asset finance specialist, has appointed Daniel Bailey as managing director. Bailey has worked his way up through the ranks at Arkle, having previously served as a director and as an associate director during a 12-year career at the company. He succeeds Stephen Bassett, who is leaving in December after piloting Arkle through a sustained growth phase since 2009.