Moore Kingston Smith has acquired Reading-based Luminex, a specialist technical accounting and financial reporting firm with 22 consultants and two partners, for an undisclosed fee, a deal that matters broadly because it builds a specialist hub for businesses with complex reporting needs, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because the first year-ends under revised FRS 102 are approaching, raising demand for technical accounting support.

Moore Kingston Smith is a London-headquartered advisory, tax and audit firm, part of the Moore Global network, which is due to rebrand as Auren in March 2027.

Luminex Consulting is a specialist technical accounting advisory firm just outside Reading, serving fast-growth SMEs, private equity-backed businesses, AIM-listed companies and multinational groups with outsourced group and subsidiary accounts, technical accounting papers, IFRS conversions and accounting valuations. It has no separate public website.

Transcend Corporate advised the shareholders of Luminex, Andrew Wigmore and Joe Hill, on the sale.

Matt Meadows, managing partner at Moore Kingston Smith, said Luminex brings experience that will help clients manage the complexity of year-end reporting, while Andrew Wigmore, managing partner at Luminex, said the team can now draw on a wider range of expertise while keeping the specialist approach its clients value.

The timing follows a major standards change. FRS 102 amendments apply to periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026, bringing most leases onto lessee balance sheets and introducing a five-step revenue model, and the FRC estimates that 3.4 million businesses will be affected.

FRS 102 is the standard for the UK and Republic of Ireland, and the revised sections on leases, revenue and fair value measurement align proportionately with IFRS 16, IFRS 15 and IFRS 13, so calendar-year companies on both sides of the border face their first full-year application at 31 December 2026.

Luminex’s valuations and technical papers suit that workload, because purchase price allocations, financial instruments and share-based payments depend on judgement.

The group context matters too. Moore Kingston Smith is rebranding as Auren to bring together partner firms across six countries, so the reporting team can be offered across a wider network.

For the sector, the acquisition shows firms buying technical reporting capacity ahead of a standards change that touches millions of businesses.

Source: Consultancy.uk / ACCA / Financial Reporting Council / Moore Kingston Smith