Grant Thornton strengthens VAT team

THE Birmingham office of Grant Thornton has recruited two specialists to strengthen its VAT team. The additions of Henry Cairns-Terry and Gregg Pearman make the team one of the largest in the Midlands.

New senior manager Cairns-Terry has spent around 20 years working with the region’s leading businesses. His extensive experience includes advising complex national and international businesses in manufacturing, distribution, property and construction as well as the not-for-profit sector.

His new role will capitalise on that expertise to support Grant Thornton’s growing portfolio of private businesses, large corporates and public sector clients as well as developing the firm’s Midlands’ VAT practice.

Manager Pearman specialises in advising not-for-profit businesses, with an emphasis on the education sector. His experience over the last 12 years also includes the use of sophisticated data interrogation techniques in risk management, a role he will continue within Grant Thornton nationally.

Mike Sheppard, partner and head of Grant Thornton’s Midlands’ Indirect Tax practice, said: “In Henry and Gregg we have recruited two top quality and very well-respected specialists in the VAT arena, adding breadth and depth to delivering value-added indirect tax advice to Grant Thornton’s clients.”

Baker Tilly appoints new Audit Partner

BAKER Tilly has strengthened its Stoke office with the appointment of Jonathan Lowe as Audit Partner.

Lowe, an audit specialist, moves from Baker Tilly’s London office where he specialised in the audit requirement of larger corporates, often in the manufacturing, property, media and technology sectors.

In his new role, he will work closely with Baker Tilly’s audit team within the growing Stoke office to support existing clients and further develop the audit business in the Midlands and North West region.

James White, Office Managing Partner for Baker Tilly’s office in Stoke, said: “Jonathan’s arrival is a further positive for the Stoke office which has developed substantially in recent years. The experience he has gained will be of great benefit to clients. He is well known throughout Baker Tilly as an outstanding professional, and I am delighted that he will now be working closely with our team.”

Seven Up for Transcend Corporate

TRANSCEND Corporate has recruited Neil Smith as the seventh member of its team. Smith joins from Deloitte’s Birmingham office, where he trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.  

Smith has joined the Transcend team as an Executive, and will be wholly focused on lead advisory work.

Transcend Corporate is a growing corporate finance advisor, with its head office located in the heart of Birmingham’s business district in Colmore Row, and with branches in the Thames Valley and Bristol.  

The business specialises in three main sectors, Business Services, Industrial Products, and TMT, focusing particularly on advising on transactions in the £2m-£15m range and supporting entrepreneurial and privately owned businesses.

Ian Curtis, a director at Transcend Corporate, said: “We are delighted to be able to attract a new recruit of Neil’s calibre and we wish him a long and successful career with us.”

He joins at a time when the firm has a number of transactions in process, three of which are in legals with completion imminent.  

The appointment comes just a few months after Transcend Corporate appointed its third director, Phil Rouse, whose background is Big 4 corporate finance advisory, although more recently he was responsible for establishing a successful Acquisitions Finance unit in the South West for Barclays Bank.