Finance
Sector Focus
Businesses still facing uncertainty
From left: Jaden Reynolds, Laurel Windsor, James Hamilton, Martin Chapman, Neil Rudd and Heidi Webster Demand sparks appointments
A leading professional services firm is expanding its Birmingham- based forensic accounting team to satisfy growing demand. Baldwins has appointed Heidi
Webster, Neil Rudd and Laurel Windsor from top 10 UK accountancy firms. They will be based at the firm’s
Bank House office on Cherry Street, Birmingham, which has seen consistent monthly growth for forensic services over the past six months. Heidi, with more than 25 years of
accounting experience, joins from KPMG as associate director, while
Neil and Laurel arrive from BDO and Mazars respectively. The new appointments join
partner Martin Chapman and an assistant, Jaden Reynolds, who launched Baldwins’ forensic accounting service in Birmingham last March. Since March, the team has worked
on a number of forensic accounting cases, covering a range of matters including loss of profit, fraud investigations, business valuations, and other commercial disputes. Mr Chapman said: “I’m absolutely
delighted with the start we have made and the great response to
Baldwins entering the Birmingham forensic market which has resulted in a number of external referrals. “With our latest recruitments we
now have a team with strong forensic accounting pedigree in place to develop this momentum further. “While we have a significant
client base in the Midlands, our expertise also means we are supporting Baldwins’ expanding network across the UK – which is particularly pertinent at a time when commercial disputes are common and internal and external fraud is on the rise.”
Business confidence in the West Midlands rose nine points during October, according to the latest ‘Business Barometer’ from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. Although companies in the West Midlands reported slightly lower confidence in their business prospects at 24 per cent, higher economic optimism at 10 per cent together gives an overall confidence of 16 per cent, according to the report. Businesses in the West Midlands
showed the most confidence, at 16 per cent, ahead of the South West at 15 per cent, and East Midlands at 13 per cent. Across the West Midlands, five
per cent of businesses said they felt that the UK’s exit from the European Union was having a negative impact on their expectations for business activity, up 21 points on a month ago. Amanda Dorel, regional director
for West Midlands at Lloyds, said: “Despite the ongoing uncertainty that businesses are facing, it’s really encouraging to see business confidence in the West Midlands coming top of regions across the country, demonstrating their ambitions for future growth.”
December 2019/January 2020 CHAMBERLINK 73
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