A second member of the Mercer & Hole audit and assurance team is celebrating the awarding of the prestigious new Diploma in Charity Accounting from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) – the new charity sector qualification. Wendy Bambrick, like Louise Giles before her, has successfully completed the diploma via the study route and has become one of a select few to have achieved this new charity sector qualification.
This high level qualification has been specifically designed by the Institute for Chartered Accountants for professionals working in the Charity and Voluntary Sector. The diploma is being promoted to recognise the work carried out by employees, supporters and professional advisers to charities. Wendy will now be eligible to use the letters DChA after her name, denoting her understanding of the implications of charity accounting.
Wendy, who is a manager within the firm’s busy audit and assurance department said of her achievement: “I am very pleased to have been awarded the diploma, especially given that the Charity sector is an important part of Mercer & Hole’s work. It is a particularly enjoyable sector to work in as you feel a real sense of service to the community – gaining the qualification is an excellent way of demonstrating formal recognition of this.”
The majority of our clients will have received our latest version of the Bulletin. However, if you have not received your copy and were expecting to, then please let us know. Alternately, download an electronic pdf version today here.
Mercer & Hole is delighted to announce the promotion of Julian Dobbin to Transaction Services Partner, effective from 1 October 2008.
Julian, who only last year was promoted to Director, has rapidly progressed through the Mercer & Hole ranks, having joined the firm in 1999. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has a degree in Accounting & Financial Management and previously worked in the accounting department for a UK subsidiary of a listed multi-national.
Julian has an extensive technical knowledge on company acquisitions, and spends the majority of his time undertaking Financial Due Diligence. He is also involved in company valuations and the preparation of financial projections and writes articles on the SME transactions market in the local business press.
Commenting on his promotion, Julian said: “I’ve worked with Mercer & Hole for nine years and the working environment is very supportive to both the firm’s clients and its team members, which is important to me. I am looking forward to this exciting, new challenge and the opportunity to continue providing our clients with exceptional service and solutions”.
Howard Wilkinson, Senior Partner at Mercer & Hole comments: “Julian’s promotion rewards his strong contribution to Mercer & Hole, as his expertise and experience have been instrumental in raising the reputation of our Transaction Services offering. His promotion is well deserved and we wish him every success as a partner within our firm”.
Mercer & Hole’s Restructuring & Insolvency department has changed its name from Rescue, Recovery & Insolvency to emphasis the nature of the work it undertakes.
Specialising in corporate restructuring and insolvency, the department is known for saving businesses, reputations and livelihoods. This has never been more pertinent than during the current period of economic downturn when having the necessary business restructuring and turnaround skills has become even more important.
Steve Smith, Partner, Restructuring & Insolvency, comments: “We always review how we present ourselves in the market place and felt that the rebrand was necessary to enable us to clearly define our position and the services we offer within the market”.
Commenting further he states: “We have built up a strong reputation as a trusted name in the business turnaround and insolvency sectors. Implicit in this is a continuing commitment to delivering advice of the highest quality and maintaining and developing our existing business relationships and strategic partnerships with our many professional contacts”.
Restructuring & Insolvency is just one of the service areas offered by Mercer & Hole. The firm also provides audit and accountancy, taxation, transaction services and a wide range of niche services to businesses and private clients.
Mercer & Hole are delighted to announce its second acquisition of the year.
Effective from 8 September 2008, two partner practice Steward & Pellant will become part of Mercer & Hole’s London office.
Based in Croydon, south-east London, Steward & Pellant have been established for over 40 years and provide a wide range of services far exceeding the normal audit and tax compliance work including trusts and specialist advisory work on a wide variety of matters.
As part of the merger their Croydon office will close and both Steward & Pellant partners will join the Mercer & Hole team. Helen Cain will be joining as a partner and Keith Hubbard-Brown will remain available to the firm as a consultant.
Speaking of the acquisition Howard Wilkinson, Senior Partner at Mercer & Hole comments: “We are delighted to be merging with a firm that shares our commitment to client service. We look forward to welcoming Helen Cain and Keith Hubbard-Brown to our team and know they bring a wealth of experience with them which will only strengthen the service we offer to our clients.”
In association with the Northamptonshire Chamber, Mercer & Hole Chartered Accountants will be hosting a business seminar on Wednesday 18 June 2008.
The seminar ‘Capital Gains Tax (CGT) – A New Era Begins’ will be presented by Robert Jamieson a partner at Mercer & Hole and past president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and will take place at The Heroes Suite, Northampton Saints, Franklin’s Gardens, Weedon Road, Northampton NN5 5BG at 17.15.
BOOKING INFORMATION – CAPITAL GAINS TAX A NEW ERA BEGINS:
Wednesday, 18 June 2008 @ 17:15 – 19:30 (followed by drinks and light snacks)
The Heroes Suite, Northampton Saints, Franklin’s Gardens, Weedon Road, Northampton NN5 5BG
If you would like to book your free space, please send an e-mail including your name, company name and contact details to Palak Patel at marketing@mercerhole.co.uk.
Mercer & Hole are celebrating the awarding of a prestigious diploma to Louise Giles. Louise was recently awarded the new Diploma in Charity Accounting from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) – the new charity sector qualification. She successfully completed the diploma via the study route and has become one of only 175 people to have achieved this new charity sector qualification via this method of study.
The Diploma in Charity Accounting is a leading qualification in the charity finance field and will become a benchmark for success in charity accounting. The diploma is being promoted to recognise the work carried out by employees, supporters and professional advisers to charities and Louise will now be eligible to use the letters DChA after her name, denoting her understanding of the implications of charity accounting
Louise, who works in the busy audit and assurance department of Mercer & Hole and has been with the firm for 8 years said of her achievement: “I had to write seven essays, each covering a different topic, detailing my work with a charity, the advice I had given them and how I had helped them.”
Offering further comment she added: “I’m personally very happy to have achieved the diploma as it’s satisfying to have recognition for the specialist knowledge that I have acquired but also it’s a way too give our charity clients confidence in Mercer & Hole’s ability to be able to advise them.”
Howard Wilkinson, comments: “The diploma is a top award in the charity accounting sector and we are delighted for Louise and know her achievement is the result of a lot of hard work. This award means that any charity or not-for-profit organisation will now know that we are qualified and have the knowledge and expertise to provide services of the highest standard.”
In conjunction with the MK Chamber, Mercer & Hole Chartered Accountants hosted a business seminar for their professional contacts and MK Chamber members last Monday evening (07/04/08).
The seminar ‘Capital Gains Tax (CGT) – A New Era Begins’ was presented by Robert Jamieson a Partner at Mercer & Hole and past president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and took place at the De Vere Venues, Harben House, Milton Keynes.
Robert’s presentation touched upon the key issues relating to CGT, which were amplified by the Chancellor’s announcement in October’s pre-Budget report where he abolished taper relief and indexation for capital gains tax purposes and brought in a flat rate of 18%. After much lobbying he subsequently acceded to demands for a relief to ameliorate some of the worst effects by announcing the introduction of the new “Entrepreneurs’ Relief”.
These changes have necessitated a radical re-think of tax planning strategies for the disposal of family and owner-managed businesses in particular. Robert’s presentation explained the ramifications of the proposals introduced by the Finance Bill 2008 and provided a number of tips and techniques to mitigate the impact of the new regime.
Mercer & Hole are delighted to announce the purchase of financial services business Nightingale Associates based in south-east London. The firm has acquired the bulk of the business which is currently run by Michael Lockyer. Mercer & Hole will form a limited liability partnership (M&H LLP), which will trade as Nightingale Associates.
This purchase will significantly expand and improve the financial services department at Mercer & Hole. Mercer & Hole’s existing financial services team in Milton Keynes will work alongside Michael’s current office staff in Bromley. Michael will maintain a minority stake in the LLP and be its Managing Partner, responsible for day-to-day operations.
Mercer & Hole is delighted to announce the promotion of Helen McKie to Private Client Partner.
Helen, who was promoted to Director of Mercer & Hole Trustees Limited (the firm’s Trust Corporation) in 2007, has rapidly progressed through the Mercer & Hole ranks, having joined the firm’s graduate training programme in July 2003. Her areas of specialism include private client work, with particular emphasis on high net worth individuals, their families, and dealing with the taxation, administration and accounting of their trusts.
Helen became a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation in July 2006, having achieved the highest mark in the specialist paper on the taxation of individuals, trusts and estates and was awarded the prestigious Institute’s Spofforth Medal, for the May 2006 sitting. Helen also has an Economics & Statistics degree from Exeter University.
Howard Wilkinson, Senior Partner at Mercer & Hole comments: “Helen’s rapid progression from graduate trainee to partner is testimony to the firm’s commitment to developing and nurturing talent from within and demonstrates the significant achievements Helen has made since joining us.”
For details of all the partners of Mercer & Hole please click here.
Chancellor Alistair Darling delivered his first Budget on Wednesday 12 March 2008. An overview of the key measures announced are available in our Tax Plus – Budget 2008 special.
To find out more, please click here.
The Pre-Budget Report on 9 October 2007 made reference to changes to the remittance basis of taxation for non-UK domiciled individuals who are resident in the UK, and also to a change in the way that the days test for determining an individual’s residence status in the UK would be applied. Although an outline of the new provisions was set out in press notices at the time, we have only now received the specific detail.
To find out more, please click here.
You may recall that back in November we blogged on Chris Laughton’s interviews with BBC Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live regarding Northern Rock. We are delighted to report that Accountancy Age have also tapped into Chris’s knowledge of insolvency issues and have added comment from him in their article titled: ‘Retailers protected from impact of trident ruling’.
Accountancy Age approached Chris having read his recent blog titled: ‘Will retail insolvencies start the year – again?’
To find out more about Insolvency Blog visit www.insolvencyblog.com where you can subscribe free!
Mercer & Hole is delighted to announce that it has added Transaction Services to its portfolio of business services offerings. The Transaction Services team will be lead by Mercer & Hole Director, Julian Dobbin.
The world of business transactions (sometimes referred to as Corporate Finance) is a fast paced, stressful and often mysterious environment. Our aim is to ensure you receive the best possible advice and that each transaction is processed quickly and efficiently.
For further information regarding Mercer & Hole’s Transaction Services, please visit our website.
We talked about Northern Rock in September on our insolvency blog (Northern Rock – illiquid or insolvent?).
Chris Laughton, the Mercer & Hole insolvency partner who wrote the blog post, will be speaking about Northern Rock on BBC Radio Five Live’s Breakfast programme at 7.45am tomorrow, 20 November 2007.
Listen in to find out more – or visit www.insolvencyblog.com tomorrow!
Mercer & Hole is delighted to announce the arrival of a new corporate tax partner, David Mansell.
Based principally in the Northampton office, David will work closely with fellow corporate tax partner, Cathy Corns and the business tax specialists within Mercer & Hole’s tax department.
David is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, who specialises in working closely with business owners and managers and their companies and in finding tax efficient solutions to the issues facing them. He has a broad range of experience in advising on such matters as succession planning, employee retention and incentivisation, business acquisitions and disposals, business structuring, and company and group re-organisations.
Mercer & Hole is a modern firm but with roots established in 1905 by the founding partner, William Mercer.
The firm started by providing accountancy and tax services to a small client base but over time it has changed and developed as the client base has grown. Now with a broad portfolio of business clients spread across a range of industries and a strong base of private clients including over 600 trusts, Mercer & Hole has the expertise to address many varied aspects of a client’s financial affairs. The firm offers, for example, specialist Audit and Assurance services, Business Development, Corporation Tax and Due Diligence services, Taxation and Trust services, Financial Services and Recovery & Insolvency services.
For details of all the partners of Mercer & Hole please click here.
...end stop press.
Mercer & Hole’s golf final’s day once again proved to be a massive hit as they hosted some of the leading businesses in the area, with local bank HBOS eventually swinging their way to victory in this year’s finals.
The Golf Finals day took place on Friday 5 October 2007 at Harpenden Golf Club, Hammonds End, Hertfordshire. Eight teams of passionate golfers from top banks and solicitors could not resist the chance to demonstrate their golfing prowess. A challenging but thoroughly enjoyable day was topped off with a 3 course dinner in the clubhouse.
Competing against 7 other teams of banks and solicitors from Milton Keynes, Northampton, St Albans and London, the St Albans based arm of HBOS took home the coveted Mercer & Hole trophy for 2007.
Robert Kerr and Richard Gann at HBOS said: “We had a great time at the Mercer & Hole Golf Finals Day and winning a prize was just an added bonus to what turned out to be a very enjoyable day.”
Howard Wilkinson, Senior Partner at Mercer & Hole comments: ‘We always enjoy hosting this event and unlike last year the weather was fantastic. Although there were a few stray balls here and there, a successful day’s golfing was had by all in the usual friendly yet competitive fashion. The Golf Tournament is a great way for Mercer & Hole to get to know key firms from the local business community and is a great opportunity to forge lasting business partnerships.”
Alistair Darling delivered his eagerly awaited first Pre Budget Report on Tuesday 9 October 2007. Amongst the highlights the Chancellor announced that growth forecasts would be cut, as would inheritance tax for couples and that there would be a crackdown on the non-domiciled rich.
To find out in more about how the Chancellor’s decisions might affect you, please here.
On October 9th 2007, Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, revealed his first term of office Pre-Budget Report 2007 and Comprehensive Spending review.
Sweeping changes became apparent from the outset and whilst some were to be expected, others caught the attention of the city and the business world alike.
Issues covered in the Pre-Budget Report 2007 included:-
Please click on any of the highlighted links above to take you directly to the latest reports.
Continued coverage can be maintained by subscribing to the relevant blogs here, both email and RSS feeds are available for your convenience.
We are delighted to announce that Jane Stacey joined the Mercer & Hole VAT team on 17 September 2007. Jane has taken up the position of Senior VAT Manager within Mercer & Hole’s, St Albans office.
Jane brings a wealth of VAT experience spanning over 17 years. Her career started with HM Revenue & Customs, followed by moves to Touche Ross & Co and Coopers & Lybrand, and latterly working for Deloitte at both their London and St Albans offices. Jane holds the Chartered Taxation Advisor (CTA) qualification via the VAT route and has an MA in French from Glasgow University.
Jane will be working closely with Mercer & Hole’s other VAT expert Roger Bell and will be assisting clients on a wide range of VAT issues, including VAT planning, transaction support, VAT compliance and ad hoc advice on a wide range of issues including partial exemption, property transactions, and international supplies of goods and services.
We are delighted to announce that the new Mercer & Hole firm brochure is now available and can be viewed online. The brochure offers a fresh new look which we believe will effectively communicate our message and services over the coming years.
Moreover, we have updated our partner profiles offering a brief synopsis of their areas of expertise and background, as well as highlighting their interests outside of the firm.
To download our pdf version (2mb) click here.
Breaking News
Earlier than expected the House of Lords decided in favour of the taxpayer in this monumental case of Jones v. Garnett (Arctic Systems Ltd).
Mercer & Hole’s Tax Partner, Cathy Corns has already provided this report on her SME Plus Blog for further reading and include links to the decision reports and industry comment.
end. News Flash
The latest top 50 survey from Accountancy Age magazine puts Mercer & Hole at the top of the female partner league tables with almost a quarter of it’s partners being female compared to the UK firm average of 9.7%.
The Accountancy Age Top 50 and Accountancy magazine Top 60 survey also saw us move up the general league tables to positions 44 and 45 respectively as well as featuring in the Accountancy Age fastest growing mid-tier firms for Tax, Corporate Finance and Insolvency. So good news all round!
Overall the surveys show the accountancy industry as a whole to be in good health although firms are falling short in the quest for diversity. To find out how Mercer & Hole have fared in all areas of the surveys visit the sites linked above.
So what’s in store for us in 2008?
Well watch this space and maybe next year’s results will include even more good news.
Today we welcome Simon Tremblett as our new Private Client Partner. Simon will be based in our London office and he brings a wealth of specialist knowledge to the firm’s private client team.
Mercer & Hole is a modern firm but with roots established in 1905 by the founding partner, William Mercer.
The firm started by providing accountancy and tax services to a small client base but over time it has changed and developed as the client base has grown. Now with a broad portfolio of business clients spread across a range of industries and a strong base of private clients including over 600 trusts, Mercer & Hole has the expertise to address many varied aspects of a client’s financial affairs. The firm offers, for example, specialist Audit and Assurance services, Business Development, Corporation Tax and Due Diligence services, Taxation and Trust services, Financial Services and Recovery & Insolvency services.
For details of all the partners of Mercer & Hole please click here.
...end stop press.
The majority of our clients will have received their personal copy of our latest version of Tax Plus in the last few days. However, if you have not received your copy and were expecting this please let us know. Alternately, download an electronic pdf version today here.
If you currently do not receive our free business publications then please take this opportunity to sign up here today and be the first on the list everytime.
In April we produced our ever-popular Spring Bulletin. This is a long established publication and from the feedback we get it is well received by our clients and professional contacts.
This latest edition included articles on:
The Budget 2007 and
Our international Network – TIAG
It is our intenton for all future newsletters and bulletins to be sent direct to your inbox rather than by post. If you are not already on our mailing list and you would like to continue to read the latest news from Mercer & Hole either contact us at webmaster@mercerhole.co.uk or subscribe by email below.
Subscribe
Subscribe by email or RSS Feed
