RSM has appointed Chris Hardy as a partner in its restructuring advisory practice. He joins the firm from Close Brothers Invoice Finance where he was a regional director responsible for invoice finance and asset based lending teams across London, the South East and East Anglia. Prior to that he held positions at Bibby Financial Services and Enterprise Finance Europe. The firm has also appointed Laragh Jeanroy as managing partner of it Bury St Edmunds office. Outgoing managing partner, Stephen Duffy, steps down after 15 years in the post but will continue to be an RSM partner until 31 December. Laragh has been an RSM partner since January, having joined from Cambridge-based firm PEM.

BDO has appointed two partners in its tax and corporate finance team. Ed Nevens joins BDO’s London tax group following four years at EY where he developed and led its UK private equity fund tax offering. HE specialises in advising private equity funds and their investors on matters including fund structuring, carried interest and investor tax reporting. Rory McPherson joins BDO’s Scotland corporate finance team following five years in structured finance with Royal Bank of Scotland. He specialises in M&A and has over 15 years’ experience advising entrepreneurs and private equity-backed businesses.

Paul Underwood joins Mazars as an accounting and outsourcing partner in its Birmingham office. He joins the firm from RSM where he was the national consulting service lead within finance and performance improvement. At Mazars, he will focus on growing the firm’s financial outsourcing offering to entrepreneurial business and SME clients in Birmingham and Milton Keynes.

Newby Castleman has appointed Jacquelyn Kimber as a business tax partner, based in its Leicester office. She was formerly a business tax partner with Moore Stephens in London and has many years’ experience of advising owner managed businesses on their tax affairs. Her areas of expertise include business restructuring, for example through demergers, succession planning and the tax efficient extraction of profits.

Luke Pedley has been appointed as a corporate finance associate in Dow Schofield Watts’ Yorkshire and North East corporate office. He joins from RSM Corporate Finance where he spent four years working in the firm’s London and Manchester offices. There he worked on a wide range of transactions including trade sales, acquisitions, debt and private equity refinancings and IPOs.

Nick Jacques has joined Smith and Williamson as an assurance and accounting partner. He joins the firm’s London office from EY where he spent 17 years working with mid-market, fast growth and international companies.

By the end of September, 16 new recruits, including 11 graduates, would have joined Smith Cooper. The firm has hired graduates from universities including Newcastle University, Nottingham Trent and Loughborough University to work in the audit team across its offices in Birmingham, Derby and Nottingham. The Derby office has appointed four senior professionals - Angela Bradley joins the team as an account manager. Ryan Fayers joins as an account senior, moving from HSKS where he has worked since July 2014. Andrew Stevens joined the firm as insolvency director over summer, and most recently Martin Gadsby joined as a business services partner.

Andrew Neuman has been appointed as an associate director in the tax services group at MHA Carpenter Box. He started his accounting career in 2004 at Baker Tilly (now RSM) where he led their corporate tax team. He will work from the Gatwick office and will help to lead the tax advisory function, helping both business and personal clients to be as tax-efficient as possible.