S&W has appointed Zoe Johnston as a partner in its business outsourcing services team, based at its Beaconsfield office, a hire that matters broadly because it adds senior capacity to a service line built around outsourced finance, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because it shows firms competing for outsourcing specialists as clients look to control costs and fill talent gaps.

S&W is a UK top ten accountancy and advisory firm, backed by private equity firm Apax Partners, with offices across the UK, Ireland and France.

Forvis Mazars is an international audit, tax and advisory firm, where Johnston was a director in the accounting and outsourcing practice before joining S&W.

Johnston is a Chartered Certified Accountant with more than ten years of experience advising mid-market businesses and financial services clients, including insurance, asset management and financial advisory firms, across outsourced finance and accounting, interim and outsourced CFO support, financial statements and statutory reporting.

Donna Bulmer, head of business outsourcing services at S&W, said Johnston’s experience supporting ambitious businesses, particularly in financial services, equips her to help clients through an increasingly complex operating environment, and that rising demand for outsourced finance solutions strengthens the case for the hire. Johnston said businesses are turning to outsourcing to address rising costs, talent challenges and evolving finance needs.

The hire follows Lucy Saunders’ appointment as a partner in private client tax earlier this month, so partner additions are spreading across service lines.

The client case for outsourcing rests on demand for more than compliance. Only 33 per cent of UK businesses that work with an accountant saw them as a genuine strategic partner, while 92 per cent said they would pay more for a broader advisory service, according to research commissioned by Ravical.

Staffing pressure is the other driver. Spencer Clarke Group reported that 58 per cent of accountants were weighing a new job in 2026, which makes experienced directors who move between firms valuable.

For the sector, a partner hire from a rival firm into outsourcing shows that finance outsourcing is now a service line firms recruit senior talent to build.

Source: International Accounting Bulletin / AcoBloom