PwC has promoted 31 equity partners, with effect from 1 July 2017, in addition to the 21 equity partners recruited externally over the last 12 months. The partners have been promoted in priority growth areas such as technology, deals and private business. Of those promoted, 27% are female.

Smith & Williamson has promoted 13 partners, with five across the investment management business and three in the firm’s private client tax department.

Jonathan Fox has been appointed as non-executive advisor at Mazars, commencing 1 September. He brings extensive expertise in the professional services and retail sectors, with an impressive track record of strategic business transformation.

Johnston Carmichael has appointed Andrew Holloway to head the entrepreneurial taxes team. Priro to joining, Holloway spent nearly eight years at Grant Thornton where he gained significant corporate experience; working with businesses ranging from young start-ups seeking their first seed funding to large privately owned companies. At Johnston Carmichael he will advise clients on the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).

Needle Mackenzie Spencer has appointed Matt Milnes as an associate. He has previously worked for a number of large independent accountancy firms and in the corporate team at Lloyds Bank. He has worked on multiple transactions, including on the buy and sell side, management buy outs and supporting clients with general and distressed funding and business support.

Martin Coyne, former senior partner of Poppleton & Appleby, has joined Quantuma as a consultant. His career in accountancy and as a licensed insolvency practitioner began in 1976 at Dafferns in Coventry. He previously worked at KPMG for 11 years before joining Poppleton & Appleby where he rose to senior partner before stepping down in April this year.

Tom Lacey has joined Wilkins Kennedy to head a new specialist SDLT offering at the firm. He has joined Wilkins Kennedy from a leading law firm and specialises in SDLT to help clients reclaim payments, carry out compliance checking and taxation status for investors in UK property whether they are resident in the UK or overseas.

Alex Armstrong, who is an audit executive, will be working at McLean Delmo Bentleys Chartered Accountants in Australia from July to October, thanks to Kreston International, of which Bishop Fleming is a member.

FRP Advisory has promoted Mark Hodgett and Greg Carr to directors. Both have been with FRP Advisory’s Leeds office since its creation four years ago. Hodgett advises both companies and lenders on a range of corporate restructuring assignments and has 19 years of business recovery, insolvency and financial advisory experience with a recent focus on the industrial, retail, real estate and care home sectors. He joined FRP Advisory in 2013 after nine years at the Leeds office of a national mid-market restructuring firm. Carr has 17 years’ experience in corporate restructuring and financial advisory work. His sector experience includes manufacturing, leisure, motor, retail, professional services and agriculture. He joined FRP Advisory in 2013 after 13 years at the Leeds office of a mid-sized UK accountancy firm where he qualified as a chartered accountant.

FTI Consulting has appointed David Eastwood as a senior managing director in the firm’s economic and financial consulting practice. Eastwood’s areas of expertise include software and technology licensing, the development and implementation of contract compliance programmes, revenue recovery and the enforcement of intellectual property rights, the licensing of brands and digital content, royalty audits and software asset management.

Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, CPA, CGMA, has been named chairman of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, a global accounting organisation formed in 2017 by members of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).  Ellison-Taylor brings extensive experience to the role, which she will hold for a one-year term. She currently works as global accounting strategy director for Oracle America and also serves as chairman of the AICPA.

Andy Burns, the incoming President of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and the Director of Finance and Resources for Staffordshire County Council, has been confirmed as chairman of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB). He takes over the role from Hilary Lindsey, the immediate past President of ICAEW.