Forvis Mazars has appointed Jennifer Allison as office managing partner in Edinburgh, taking over from Laura Clarkson who is stepping aside after seven years. Allison will be responsible for developing the firm’s business strategy in Edinburgh and heading up a team of 100 professionals. She currently leads the national corporate tax compliance team and has a particular focus on entrepreneurial privately owned businesses. She joined Forvis Mazars more than a decade ago having begun her career at RSM.

Bishop Fleming has appointed Stephen Patey as a partner in the fast growing audit practice based out of the Plymouth office. He brings more than 30 years’ experience, delivering audits to a range of clients including multinationals, owner managed businesses and private equity backed companies, with a particular focus on manufacturing and retail. Patey joins from PwC where he was a director in the south west audit team.

Carpenter Box has appointed two partners, Kristina Perry and Nick Tebb, who both joined the firm as trainees. Perry, a University of Brighton accountancy graduate, started her traineeship in 2012, achieved her ACCA qualification and worked her way up to client service director for the assurance & advisory team in 2023. Tebb joined as a trainee in 2014 after De Montfort University and progressed through various roles to client service director at StarBox, the firm’s accountancy and financial advice service for new media clients.

EY has appointed Hilary Heap as leader of EY North and Manchester office managing partner. She takes over from Stephen Church, who has led the northern business since 2020. Heap is strategy and transactions leader for the North of England, and is a partner with 30 years of experience in professional services, and a wealth of North market connections having worked with a range of major clients in the region. Heap joined EY in 2016, before being promoted to partner in the summer of 2017. Church has been appointed as EY’s new UK&I private and mid-market leader.

Grant Thornton UK LLP has appointed three new partners, Adam Bunch, Andrew Frame and external hire Amo Anim-Addo to its deals, advisory and consulting (DAC) leadership team. Bunch will focus on leading and growing the firm’s tech, media and telecoms capabilities. He is a specialist in tech and media sectors, with extensive private equity experience both as an advisor and investor. Frame has been promoted to partner and head of education sector M&A. He joined Grant Thornton as a graduate in 2011 and he works nationally with business owners across the education and training sector. Anim-Addo has been appointed private equity coverage partner. In this role he will work with mid-market private equity funds. Previously he was a partner at Liberty Corporate Finance.

PKF Littlejohn Advisory has appointed Paul Williams as a partner to strengthen the firm’s restructuring and insolvency capabilities as a managing director in the London office and part of the global restructuring advisory practice. He joins from Kroll where he was a managing director for the last three years and brings more than 30 years’ experience across corporate restructuring, recovery and advisory. He is a chartered accountant and licensed insolvency practitioner.

TC Group has appointed Stephen Watts as chief operating officer to lead the development of the firm’s long-term strategic plans working with the senior leadership team. He is currently managing partner and succeeds Grant Bartholomew who becomes executive chairman. Watts joined the firm in July 2023 after spearheading the transaction that led to his accountancy firm, Fortus, the largest practice in the group, joining TC Group. He has since played a key role in the expansion of TC Group’s advisory capabilities.

Evelyn Partners has appointed Victoria Kiddy as an audit director in the east of England arm of the firm, based in Cambridge. She joins from EY where she was a senior manager in the audit division. The firm’s leading partners in the east of England, Stephen Drew and Mark Prince, have focused on building the audit client portfolio and have added substantially to headcount at the Cambridge office in the last year, including four graduate programme associates.

MHA has appointed James Smith as head of global mobility, responsible for leading teams in delivering multidisciplinary projects on the wider aspects of having an international workforce including tax compliance, employment law, rewards and benefits. CIOT and ATT qualified, Smith has nearly two decades of experience and joins from RSM UK where he was a director.

Leonard Curtis has promoted David Brown to chief operating officer, and Paul Birks to chief financial officer, strengthening the restructuring firm’s leadership team as it focuses on three-year growth plan. Brown joined the firm in July 2023 as chief operations and financial officer, and has experience in audit, M&A and industry. The chartered accountant trained at Deloitte and was previously finance director at Recycling Lives. Before turning to a finance career, he was a professional cricketer and played for Gloucestershire and Glamorgan. Birks steps up from his role as group financial director for the last two years, having previously worked as CEO and finance director at John Munro Group, and spent nine years in practice at Baker Tilly and UHY.

Quantuma has appointed restructuring expert, Tom Parish as a managing director in the restructuring and insolvency team, based in London. He will also provide support to the firm’s international practice, with a focus on the Caribbean. Parish is a JIEB qualified chartered accountant with over 15 years’ experience in restructuring and insolvency, specialising in cross-border and contentious insolvency. He joins from EY where he was a restructuring and insolvency director.

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that chief accountant Paul Munter plans to retire from federal service effective on 24 January after five years at the US watchdog. Before joining SEC, Munter spent six years in academia as a professor at University of Colorada Boulder, after 17 years at KPMG, where he was lead technical partner for the US firm’s international accounting and IFRS activities and member of KPMG’s international IFRS panel.

Tirupati Graphite plc has appointed Peter Thomas as interim chief financial officer based in London at the specialist flake graphite and energy transition company. He is non-executive director and audit committee chair of KCA Deutag and previously he was CFO of Neptune Energy Group and North Sea operator TAQA. Thomas is a chartered accountant with decades of experience in corporate finance and funding, management of international operations and capital projects and M&A in the energy and oil sectors.

Baker Tilly International has named Chakib Zaari as regional chair for Middle East and Africa (MEA) and he will join the network’s international board. He will work closely with the recently appointed regional director for MEA to drive international business growth and develop the network’s services and capabilities across the region. Zaari is founder of Baker Tilly in Morocco, where he has played a pivotal role in its rapid growth and integration into the Baker Tilly network.