Peter Townsend is retiring as chairman of East Midlands firm Duncan & Toplis 47 years after he first joined the Grantham office as a school leaver. Townsend, who was the firm’s managing partner for eight years from 2004, will continue in his role as managing director of sister company Castlegate Financial Management.
Grant Thornton UK LLP has appointed Craig Scarr as partner and chairman of UK insurance. The new role, which forms part of the firm's financial services group senior leadership team, will see Scarr overseeing GT's services to the UK insurance sector, along with informing the firm's wider financial services market strategy. Scarr previously spent 28 years at Mazars, where he led the firm's UK offerings to the insurance sector.
Duncan Groves joins GT from Baker Tilly as a director in the employer solutions team and will be focused on expanding the firm’s audit and advisory services to the public sector.
Andy Capes has been appointed office managing partner at Baker Tilly in Hull. Capes has been a partner at the firm since 2007 and takes over from Andrew Mould, who steps down after eight years in the role to concentrate on client work. Adam King has been made head of tax for Baker Tilly’s Milton Keynes office, which he joined in 1999. King is qualified as a chartered accountant and chartered tax adviser.
Henderson Loggie has appointed Gavin Black as a partner in its audit team. Previously a director with Baker Tilly, he will be based in the Dundee office and part of his remit will see him involved in developing the audit business across the firm’s four offices in Scotland, in addition to advising a portfolio of clients.
Saffery Champness has announced two new appointments in its London office. Jamie Cassell joins the business advisory group as partner from Blick Rothenberg with significant experience in advising entrepreneurs and owner-managed businesses. Niraj Patel who was previously a director in the firm’s corporate finance team, has been promoted to partner.
Andrew Levene and Martyn Krantz have joined BKL Tax, the tax consultancy division of North London accountants Berg Kaprow Lewis, and will be primarily supporting the property and real estate group. Both are dual-qualified as accountants and as chartered tax advisers and come to BKL following partnership in top 20 accountancy firms.
Weybridge-based chartered accountancy firm Midgley Snelling LLP has promoted Tracey Wickens to partner. She joined the firm in 2009 from a top 20 practice as an associate partner specialising in audit and assurance.
John Cox has rejoined KPMG as partner, having spent a period at Deloitte, focused on the private equity area of the business. Justin Blackburn, previously a director at Macquarie with responsibility for EMEA tax reporting, joins as a director in KPMG’s tax management consulting team, along with Chris Davidson who was previously with HMRC. Iain Butler joins from Deloitte as a director in the R&D team. Kathryn Harding and Mike Nagle have rejoined KPMG from PwC, with Harding becoming a director leading KPMGs international executive services practice in the north while Nagle is an associate partner leading the employment taxes practice in the south.
Liverpool accountancy firm Duncan Sheard Glass has appointed Andrew Davies as an associate director in its forensic team. Davies joins from Bennett Brooks.
PKF Littlejohn has two senior appointments in its corporate tax team. Tom Gareze joins as a corporate tax partner, bringing over 25 years’ experience, and Catherine Heyes takes the role of senior corporate tax manager.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has appointed Josephine Jackson as technical advisor to Marek Grabowski, FRC director of audit policy. Jackson joins from Grant Thornton where she was assurance director responsible for the management and operation of the firm’s national audit technical and risk management team. She will support Grabowski in his work on the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and in the development of UK audit policy.
