Member Article

UNW ends the year on a high note

UNW, one of the region’s top chartered accountants and business advisers, has made 13 new staff appointments in the last quarter of 2012.

The firm will also start 2013 with a new suite of meeting rooms at its Citygate office base in Newcastle, providing an additional 50 per cent more space – essential to its continued and planned programme of growth. Against a background of redundancies and generally stagnant growth in the professional services sector, UNW emerges as a firm that is definitely bucking the trend.

The appointment of 13 new team members ranging from school leavers and graduates to highly respected business advisers, is a clear indication of commitment to further growth in the region. This continued investment in the team and offices also demonstrates a firm belief that the growth achieved in recent years is sustainable going forward and a reflection of recent success.

Commenting on this convincing end to the year, partner, Andrew Wilson, says: “The two key pillars of our business are our clients and our team.

“We have been winning new work in the market place across all service offerings and the quality of our team is the key contributor to these wins. Our clients buy into experience, expertise and service excellence - therefore, investing in the team is critically important.

“In the last year, we’ve made experienced hires in the areas of financial modelling, forensics, VAT and turnaround. Of equal importance however is the next generation and we have also been recruiting school leavers, graduates and recently qualified accountants who have demonstrated the capabilities required to succeed in our profession.”

The audit and assurance team benefits from the majority of new appointments including Katharine Matthews who joins as manager; audit seniors Michael McCulloch and Michael Robinson; audit assistant Sam Praszczalek; graduate trainees Sahil Nayyar, Ashley Wright, Nicola Bullock and Rebecca Scott in addition to Aaron Jowsey and Hayley Robertson who have been awarded apprenticeships as accounting technicians.

The appointment of highly experienced turnaround specialist, Bob Morton, completes the current phase of appointments. His expertise will add further strength to the audit and assurance team. During the course of 2012, UNW’s younger members of staff have successfully represented both the firm and the region in the finals of national competitions which, coupled with its Investors in People Gold Standard award, add weight to Wilson’s claim that UNW can justifiably claim to be a great place to work. He adds:

“UNW is experiencing solid and consistent demand for its support across all four business sectors. So are we confident about what 2013 might hold? Most definitely. We are looking forward to the year ahead with eager anticipation.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Leigh Chelton .