People practice - Accountancy Age

Who’s not Who?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:21:00 GMT

IT SEEMS Deloitte's CEO David Sproul has been left in the shadows by colleague Louise Brittain. The TS desk happened upon a copy of the latest Who's Who which lists Deloitte head and partner of contentious insolvency Brittain is a prominent figure in the world of accountancy and insolvency. According to her biography she's been a partner at Baker Tilly and head of special investigations and a non-exec on the Insolvency...

KPMG announces apprentice scheme for fraud investigators

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:05:57 GMT

Accountancy Age

KPMG has announced a new apprenticeship scheme within its fast-growing "risk consulting" division. Canary Wharf offices in London, within its Risk Consulting practice. There will initially be 20 places on the three-year scheme, which will start in October and be based in the Big Four accountant's Canary Wharf office in London. Apprentices can chose between working and study towards an accounting qualification with the Association of Accountant Technicians or...

ICAEW vice president elected

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:50:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

ARTHUR Bailey has been elected as ICAEW's next vice president and will formally take office on 13 June 2012. A consultant with Begbies Traynor, Kingston Smith and a non-executive director, Bailey (pictured) has served on ICAEW's council for 14 years, including three years as chairman, and is currently a member of its board. He beat competition from fellow council members Ian Davies, Nick Parker and Nathan Steinberg. "We must...

Next ICAEW vice president elected

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:50:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

ARTHUR Bailey has been elected as ICAEW's next vice president and will formally take office on 13 June 2012. A consultant with Begbies Traynor, Kingston Smith and a non-executive director, Bailey has served on ICAEW's council for 14 years, including three years as chairman, and is currently a member of the ICAEW's board. He beat competition from fellow council members Ian Davies, Nick Parker and Nathan Steinberg. "We must...

Baker Tilly partner named as BIS red tape champion

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:47:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

BAKER TILLY partner Danielle Stewart has been appointed by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to review suggestions to streamline company law. Stewart (pictured) has been named as a champion of BIS' review of red tape, which gives the public an opportunity to comment on the regulations applying to specific sectors of business. "I have often seen smaller businesses in particular struggle with the weight and complexity of bureaucracy...

Deloitte hire World Bank telecoms expert

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:10:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

MARK WILLIAMS has left the World Bank to become a partner in Deloitte's economic consulting practice. Williams will focus on telecoms clients in his new job at the Big Four accounting firm. Williams was at the World Bank for five years and previously Frontier Economics for six years. At the World Bank he led the team designing the bank's strategy for African broadband infrastructure.

The benefits and pitfalls of partnership status

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:24:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

PARTNER RIGHTS as an employee have been reinforced following a high court case which claimed they have employment rights including the right not to be unfairly dismissed. But it raises the issue that there are advantages and disadvantages in adopting a partnership structure for a business. Being a partnership, the business owners share the profits, the liabilities and the decision making, which can be a huge advantage, especially where the partners...

The benefits and pitfalls to partnership status

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:24:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

PARTNER RIGHTS as an employee have been reinforced following a high court case which claimed they have employment rights including, the right not to be unfairly dismissed. But it raises the issue that there are advantages and disadvantages in adopting a partnership structure for a business. Being a partnership, the business owners share the profits, the liabilities and the decision making, which can be a huge advantage, especially where the partners...

Bankruptcy tourism - it's not a holiday

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:14:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE RECENT INSOLVENCY STATS revealed a fall in the number of personal insolvencies in Q4 2011 compared to Q4 2010. The number of bankruptcies for the fourth quarter stood at 28,973, a decrease of 5.6% on the same period a year ago. However, while the number of people being declared bankrupt is falling, "bankruptcy tourism" appears to be on the rise. Bankruptcy Tourism – where a foreign national relocates here to benefit from...

When is a partner an employee?

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:56:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE LATEST CHALLENGE to the status of a fixed share partner has been quashed by the courts. The primary danger in fixed share partners, whether they are partners in a partnership or members in an LLP, being found to be employees is that they can claim employment protection rights, including the right not to be unfairly dismissed. A change in status could also complicate the tax position for both the firm and the...

The Practitioner: Don't rate some clients...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:25:27 GMT

Accountancy Age

OK. SO THAT'S IT. The deadline has passed. The hard work is over. It's now time to do the things on your list that you have kept putting off until after January. That time is now. Since the middle of November I have used the ‘it's a busy time of year for us' as an excuse to not do lots of things; 1. Not make appointments with companies trying...

Clarke takes partner role at Larking Gowen

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:22:34 GMT

Accountancy Age

ADAM CLARKE is promoted to business recovery at Larking Gowen. Clarke passed his JIEB insolvency exams in 2010 and has taken appointment since April 2011. Prior to joining Larking Gowen he worked in a number of firms' insolvency teams. Bob Rose, Larking Gowen's managing partner, said: "We are looking forward to Adam joining us, and his appointment is an important development for the firm, boosting our resources as we...

Streets ties up with Poppleton & Appleby

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:40:40 GMT

Accountancy Age

TOP 50 FIRM Streets has brought in insolvency specialist SPW Poppleton & Appleby. The deal boosts Streets' insolvency expertise, and will enable them to leverage their forensic and tax service lines across Streets' nationwide offices. The corporate recovery business has been renamed Streets SPW PLC. "Following the tie up with SPW Poppleton & Appleby we will now be able to offer an insolvency and corporate recovery service with one of the...

ICAEW charity appoints ambassadors

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:06:21 GMT

Accountancy Age

THE CHARTERED Accountants' Benevolent Association has appointed three "ambassadors" to help accountants with financial, health and emotional problems. The ambassadors are Patrick St Leger, who is a support volunteer at CABA; Andrew Campbell-Hart, a CABA debt volunteer; and Carol McLachlan, who also works as a CABA trainer. The ambassadors, who all come from an accountancy background, are part of a move to make CABA as accessible as possible to chartered accountants....

Cairn Energy FD elected ICAS junior vice president

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:05:44 GMT

Accountancy Age

Jann Brown , finance director and managing director of Cairn Energy, the FTSE 100 oil company, has been elected junior vice president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). She will succeed current vice presidents Sir David Tweedie and Brendan Nelson to become ICAS President in April 2014. Brown - one of only a handful of female finance directors at FTSE 100 companies - worked for KPMG and Deloitte before...

Izza and the ICAEW: Five years on

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:49:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

'ONE MAN, ten threats, 130,000 problems' was Accountancy Age's headline in our magazine on 26 October 2006. The story referred to the impending appointment of chief operating officer Michael Izza to CEO of the ICAEW, replacing the institute's first-ever chief Eric Anstee. The 130,000 problems equated to the institute's membership. Rather than ask them all individually if they had a beef with the ICAEW, Accountancy Age instead ran through ten key...

No merger for ICAEW/CIPFA

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:31:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

THERE ARE no plans for a merger between the ICAEW and CIPFA, according to Michael Izza. In a wide-ranging interview with Accountancy Age taking in his five-year anniversary as chief executive, Izza said there was no chance of revisiting the proposed merger with CIPFA, which was narrowly voted down in 2005. "There are no formal merger plans in the short, medium or long term," Izza told Accountancy Age. He...

KPMG makes new appointments to transfer pricing team

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:57:15 GMT

Accountancy Age

KPMG has appointed Matt Whipp, formerly head of business risk and transfer pricing at Diageo, as a director in its UK transfer pricing practice. In his role at Diageo, Whipp was responsible for leading the business risk and transfer pricing for the group including establishing and managing its global transfer pricing policy, processes and documentation. Komal Dhall, a partner from KPMG's US transfer pricing practice, also joins the team. ...

Praxity revenues up 11.8% in 2011

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:46:54 GMT

Accountancy Age

PRAXITY, a global alliance of accounting firms, said that its members' revenues increased by 11.8% increase in 2011. The alliance - whose members include Mazars, IFM Trust in Jersey, the Channel Islands, and MNP, a top-10 Canadian firm - said that its collective revenue increased from $3.3bn (£2.11bn) in 2010 to US $3.7bn (£2.37bn) in 2011. Member firms' audit and accountancy revenue rose by 16.1% and tax services 9.6%. Corporate recovery...

Chantrey Vellacott snaps up Target's Reading office

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:51:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

CHANTREY VELLACOTT has acquired and merged Target's former Reading office into its fold. Vellacott will see its Reading office double in size to more than 50 staff members, with a fee income of £5m. Around 25 former Target staff will relocate to Vellacott's Queens Road office. Former Target directors Richard Frett and Mike McAllister become partners of the firm. Negotiations between the businesses have taken place since...

Raynor steps down as RSM Tenon warns of loss

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:00:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

ANDY RAYNOR, chief executive of RSM Tenon, has stepped down from the company after it announced that it expects to report a loss for the six months to 31 December 2011. In a trading update, RSM Tenon said it expects to report that revenue will be around 10% lower than in the corresponding period in the previous year. Bob Morton has also resigned as chairman. Adrian Martin has been promoted to...

GT strengthens transactions team

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:47:58 GMT

Accountancy Age

GRANT THORNTON has beefed up its transactions team with two senior appointments. Alan Dale joins as a partner and head of its operational deal services team, and Hemal Shah is promoted to corporate finance director within the transaction advisory services team. Dale has more than 20 years' experience in corporate finance and industry. He spent nine years at PwC and 12 years with Rolls-Royce. Shah specialises in financial due...

Business advisers set up accounting firm

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:01:22 GMT

Accountancy Age

TWO BUSINESS ADVISERS in the North West of England have set up an accounting firm for valuing companies. David Houghton, the former head of corporate finance at law firm Brabners Chaffe Street, and ex-Alliance Fund Managers chief executive Mark Fuller have established Bridge Houghton LLP. The new practice, based in Chester, will provide corporate valuation services to support accountancy, legal and private equity firms as well as business owners. ...

High Court judge warns against bankruptcy proposals

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:04:00 GMT

Accountancy Age

A HIGH COURT insolvency judge has warned that government proposals to introduce a new adjudication system for bankruptcies will fail as a cost-cutting exercise and will strip away the independent judgments that would have been made by the courts. In an opinion article for Accountancy Age, chief bankruptcy registrar of the High Court Stephen Baister said that proposals to place more responsibility on creditors to warn debtors that they could be made insolvent,...

Insolvency reform - don't cut out the courts

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:48:44 GMT

Accountancy Age

Nick Howard (Accountancy Age 18 January 2012) writes attractively about the Insolvency Service's proposals to reform the process for dealing with bankruptcy and winding up petitions. What he says sounds fine. However, if one reads the full consultation document (it can be found here) one quickly spots that what is proposed is fundamentally flawed in a number of serious respects. Let us begin with what is actually being proposed. Briefly, the proposal is...