UHY in 2015 Celebrating 90 years

UHY in 2015
Celebrating
90 years

How we got here
1920s
The early years
1924, Johnny Rubens and Mark Hacker qualify as accountants. 1925, rent an office
in Chancery Lane, London and establish Hacker Rubens & Co. Outgrew the office
in three years, moved to 23 Surrey Street, WC2.
1930s and ‘40s
A merger and moves
1930, merge with Horner, St Clair and Gotelee and move again to 329 High
Holborn, London. During the war, move to temporary accommodation in Upper
Regent Street. 1947, move to 18 Maddox Street and stay there until the early
1960s.
1950s and ‘60s
A change of faces and a
national network
Johnny retires, mid 1950s, but works with the firm until late 1960s. Mark retires in
1960. Firm taken over by Michael Phillips (trained with the firm), and Stuart Young,
brother of David Young (Lord Young of Graffham). 1961, name changes to
Hacker, Rubens, Phillips & Young. 1968, move to St Alphage House, Moorgate in
London. Mid 1960s, offices opened in Manchester and Nottingham to facilitate
audits for one of the firm’s largest clients; start of our national network - the
Hacker Young Group.
1970s
A new name
1970, merge again, with Summers Greenbury, headed by Edward Greenbury.
Stuart Young becomes senior partner. 1973, firm changes name to Hacker Young.
1980s
National and international
associations
1980, London firm merges with Farr Rose & Gay, adding three partners and eight
staff. 1982, Philip Oliver appointed partner in charge of Nottingham office.
Following Stuart Young’s sudden death in 1986, Frank Stansil, takes over as senior
partner. Urbach Hacker Young International, founded same year by Hacker Young
in the UK and Urbach Kahn & Werlin in US – start of our international network. End
of 1980s, Hacker Young Group has five offices and more than 30 partners, thanks
to addition of offices in Manchester (JC Allen & Co) and Brighton (Charmak & Co).
1990s
Continued growth
1992, new member firm in Chester and Wrexham, Haswell Brothers & Co. 1995,
Ladislav Hornan becomes managing partner of Hacker Young, having been an
insolvency partner in the firm. 1998, Hacker Young merges with five partners from
Leigh Carr, a West End firm. Hacker Young Group becomes one of the Top 25
groups of chartered accountants in the UK with fees of more than £15million.
1997, Howard Spencer is appointed as the Group’s first Chairman.
2000 - 2005
A new name and national
expansion
Three new member firms join UK Group; Calvert Smith & Co in York, Torgersens in
Sunderland and Newcastle and Winross in Birmingham. 2004, UK Group adopts the
UHY brand, all member firms prefix their names with UHY. UHY Hacker Young
Group becomes a Top 20 UK network; fee income exceeds £26million, over 400
staff and 60 partners.
2005 - 2010
Further national expansion
2006, we expand into Scotland with new member firm Campbell Dallas, adding 14
partners and five offices. Boost UK coverage to 16 offices in 2007 with new
Sheffield firm, Wingfield Slater. 2008, London office moves to impressive new
offices at St Katherine Docks, with views of Tower Bridge. Nottingham office
acquires Jackson Bly and Tower House Associates. 2009, Welsh accountancy firm,
Peacheys, joins the Group. 2010, part of Kent firm, Spain Brothers, also joins Group
taking us to 19 offices across the UK.
2010 - 2015
A Top 15 UK Group
New Group offices open in Bristol and Newcastle, three new offices in the East
through new member WKH Partnership, and further rebranding across the Group,
with 16 offices now branded as UHY Hacker Young. 2014, Jon Warsop succeeds
Howard Spencer as Chair of the Group, following Howard’s 17 year reign. 2015,
we become Top 15 UK Group of accountants, with £50million fee income, more
than 100 partners and over 600 staff working across our 24 UK offices.

FOREWORD FROM LADISLAV HORNAN
Our last anniversary celebrations were in 2000, when UHY Hacker Young - or Hacker Young
as it was then - turned 75 years. In the subsequent fifteen years, I have witnessed significant
growth and development within UHY; across our London and Nottingham firm, within the
UK Group and throughout our global network.
I have seen this evolution first-hand, having worked within UHY since 1974. I am proud to
have been the Managing Partner of the London and Nottingham partnership since 1995 and
also to have been Chairman of our UHY International network twice, once from 2002-2007
and again since 2012.
While we have achieved much in these last fifteen years, our appetite is for more growth
and evolution. We are ambitious and we know our clients are too — and we don’t intend to
stand still!
While we have
achieved much...
our appetite is
for growth and
evolution.
We are fortunate to have retained a strong reputation for integrity and reliability in the
financial communities and to enjoy good relationships with many long-standing clients, who
are, after all, both our past and our future.
With roots going back 90 years, but with an eye on the future needs of clients, UHY Hacker
Young combines traditional values with forward thinking.
We are proud of our history and wanted to share our achievements with you in this
publication; a profile of UHY Hacker Young today. I hope you enjoy the read, and that
it demonstrates our enthusiasm and commitment for continuing to work with growing
businesses and ambitious clients.
I thank you for sharing this journey with us, and helping us become the firm that we are
today.
Ladislav
Managing Partner, UHY Hacker Young LLP
Chairman, UHY International
CONTACT US
London
Phone: 020 7216 4600
Email: london@uhy-uk.com
Nottingham
Phone: 0115 959 0900
Email: nottingham@uhy-uk.com
Our other office locations include: Aberdeen, Abergavenny,
Birmingham, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Cambridge, Chester,
Glasgow, Jarrow, Letchworth, Manchester, Newcastle,
Newport, Perth, Royston, Sheffield, Sittingbourne, Stirling,
Sunderland, Winchester, Wrexham and York.
Alternatively, you can follow us online:
Website: www.uhy-uk.com
Twitter: @UHYHackerYoung
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/uhy-hacker-young
1
Helping you prosper

INTRODUCING UHY HACKER YOUNG
We are proud of
the growth and
development that
both our firm and
the UK Group
have achieved,
particularly over
the last 15 years.
The story of UHY Hacker Young began in London in 1925 with the founding of accountancy
firm Hacker, Rubens & Co. Two accountants, Johnny Rubens and Mark Hacker, came
together to provide audit and accountancy services, with a particular specialism in insolvency.
In the 90 years that have since passed, the firm has gone through significant growth, merger
and development to become the founding and largest member of the Top 15 network of UK
chartered accountants, the UHY Hacker Young Group.
While we are a network of independent firms we are seen by those that know us as “one
big firm” and we bring together the substantial experience of our 100 partners and 490
professional staff in 24 locations across the country for the benefit of our clients.
We are proud of the growth and development that both our firm and the UK Group have
achieved, particularly over the last 15 years, where we have seen a healthy increase in fee
income for the Group rising from £15.5 million in 2000 to £50 million in 2015.
Our teams in London and Nottingham, and across the wider Group offices, provide a suite of
accounting, tax and business advisory services to a range of clients. We have also established
specialisms in corporate finance, turnaround and recovery and VAT planning, as well as other
value added services such as financial planning advice.
As a Group we have responded to our clients’ commercial needs by establishing a number
of national sector groups, including academy schools, automotive, charity and not-for-profit,
legal and rural and agriculture. These groups enable us to share knowledge and our valuable
insight with clients and to build services tailored specifically to the needs of clients within
those sectors.
2000 2005 2010 2015
Total fees (£m) 15.5 26.2 45.4 50
Partners 49 63 92 102
Offices 6 12 19 24
Ranking 24 20 18 15
Our established and renowned London office
Since its inception, with just Johnny and Mark in the original Chancery Lane office, after
various office moves, through the arrival and huge contribution of Stuart Young from 1961,
moving on to our larger premises in Moorgate, and now to our current location in the
beautiful surroundings of St Katharine Docks, our London office has grown from strength to
strength, supported along the way by a substantial number of loyal clients.
Today, our 27 partners and directors and more than 200 professional staff serve a broad
variety of clients ranging from family and owner managed businesses to international
businesses with UK undertakings, from not-for-profit organisations to private individuals and
their families, and from SMEs to UK companies with overseas operations and many listed
companies.
Over our 90 year history, we have worked hard to build a reputation for integrity and
reliability, particularly within London’s financial community where we have established
relationships with many professional third parties.
2

Our well connected Nottingham office
During the mid-1960s, we expanded our presence by opening a new office in Nottingham.
Originally, this was to better serve one of our most significant and valued audit clients of
the time, and our link to the founding family continues through our London office to this
day.
Our ambitious plans provided the scope for further expansion and, as such, the
Nottingham office extended their service provision and took on new clients.
Today, their continually increasing client base is supported by a growing team of seven
partners and nearly 50 staff from offices based in the centre of the City. As well as
developing close working relationships with their clients, the partners and staff in
Nottingham also foster good connections with many highly respected members of the East
Midlands business community, further strengthening their professional offering.
Phil Oliver
Senior partner in charge of the
Nottingham office since 1982
Our ambitious
plans provided the
scope for further
expansion.
The foundation of our UK and international networks
The roots of the UK network stem from the
ambitious objective of the London office
to serve clients across the UK, in particular
those with nationwide interests. The
network developed year on year to achieve
this, with the addition of new member
firms in various locations throughout the
UK, including our other technical centres in
Manchester and Glasgow.
This extension beyond London has enhanced
our service to our clients, offering them
access to a larger pool of expertise and to
professionals who understand both local
needs and the national picture. Our clients
can benefit from the collaboration of our
network and our mechanisms for sharing
knowledge, industry insight and resources.
Read more about our UK Group on page 8.
Our UK Group and our UHY colleagues
in the US, then known as Urbach Kahn &
Werlin, with whom we had been working
on projects for some time, had the foresight
to recognise the significance of increasing
globalisation almost 30 years ago and,
between us, we founded UHY International
to help us support clients with international
interests. Today, our international network
allows us to work with clients from our
296 offices across 89 countries, with
representation in most major business
jurisdictions.
Even if a business does not have
international operations, it will have
suppliers, customers or competitors who
are based in or operate overseas. Whilst
the global marketplace presents many
opportunities, adapting to differing national
regulations, requirements, and customer
appetites can also be a challenge. Read
more about UHY International on page 10.
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A STRONG SECTOR FOCUS
Understanding your business
We have 90 years’
experience of working
with clients in some
of the UK’s most
substantial sectors.
We know that when you choose a firm of
advisers, as well as choosing someone you
can trust, you are looking to work with
someone who understands your business,
and will take the time to develop a deeper
knowledge and working relationship
with you. We have 90 years’ experience
of working with clients in some of the
UK’s most substantial sectors including:
manufacturing and retail; property and
construction; education; energy; professional
services; not for profit; healthcare and
financial services.
Through working with client businesses
and organisations we have developed an
enhanced understanding of their specialist
sectors. Recognising this, we sought to
improve upon our knowledge by forming a
number of sector groups, both locally across
London and Nottingham and also nationally,
that are dedicated to assisting businesses in
these industries.
Each of our sector groups comprises a
multi-disciplinary mix of partners and
managers, from some or all of our national
offices, who are committed to developing
their industry expertise and awareness for
the benefit of their clients. Our sector group
partners meet regularly with one another
to discuss the latest industry developments,
including the likely impact of any legislative
changes on clients, and developing our
service offering and communications in
response.
We have highlighted below a few examples
of both our London and Nottingham firm
sector specialisms and also our wider
national sector groups.
Property
The property industry has long been a
focus for UHY Hacker Young. Our clients
in London range from private individuals
with property investments, landlords and
architects to large property groups.
Our multi-disciplinary team stays in touch
with market trends in both the residential
and commercial sector to ensure that they
are well positioned to support their needs.
In addition to the general accountancy and
tax services we provide, we have developed a
range of services specifically tailored to meet
the needs of our property clients, including
maximising capital allowances on commercial
property; service charge audits on residential
properties; specialist VAT advice on property
related transactions and strategic planning
and restructuring.
Colin Jones and Marc Waterman are two
of the partners in London who provide
specialist services to the property sector.
Colin works with a long-standing
multi-million pound client of the firm,
providing audit, tax, company secretarial
and general advisory services to ensure
the client is able to effectively manage the
financial reporting of its corporate group
structure, comprising hundreds of separate
companies. Marc also works with a large
private company in the property sector, and
also has a particular specialism in working
with managing agents, providing service
charge audits.
Colin Jones
Partner and head of our
London audit department
Marc Waterman
Partner and head of our
London business advisory
services department
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Oil, gas and mining
The London team focuses mainly on
providing audit and IFRS financial reporting
advisory services to AIM and ISDX listed
oil, gas and mining companies and groups.
We are ranked 9th* in the UK for auditing
AIM listed oil and gas companies. We also
provide IPO and AIM admission services and
assist private oil, gas and mining companies
improve their financial reporting and adopt
IFRS prior to IPOs or AIM listing.
Our listed clients include exploration and
production groups across a range of oil and
gas, uranium, copper, zinc, gold, silver and
diamond companies.
Most of these clients have a UK head office
with operations located in producing areas
such as the US, Africa, South America,
Australia, Middle East and the Far East.
We have experience advising clients across
the supply chain, including owners and
operators, oil exploration and production
companies, contractors and subcontractors,
and equipment manufacturers and suppliers.
By maintaining close relationships with
longstanding clients, our London team have
developed a genuine understanding of the
issues affecting the oil, gas and mining
exploration and production sector.
* ARL Corporate Adviser Guide
The oil, gas and mining sector is a vital one for the UK economy,
both for the UK’s offshore oil and gas basin as well as for
companies listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market
and AIM. Well over a third of companies listed on AIM come from
the oil, gas and mining sector.
Our London team
have developed a
genuine understanding
of the issues
affecting the oil,
gas and mining
exploration and
production sector.
We act for both private and public companies in the sector by
providing audit, reporting accountant and financial reporting
services as well as tax planning and payroll assistance. Our UHY
International network firms around the world assist us in auditing
multi-national listed groups. We have active UHY International
Energy and Mining working groups comprising UHY member firms from
major energy and mining cities and countries, who meet regularly
and work together to provide a high level of service to clients with
international operations.
Our oil, gas and mining team in London also works closely when
required with a number of our London based international business
desks to provide the local expertise of our desk leaders in these
locations.
The oil, gas and mining sector is facing challenges from falling
commodity and oil prices, high costs, reduced drilling and
exploration activities and difficulties in raising equity and debt
finance. We can help support companies in addressing some of
these challenges through a combination of professional expertise
and technical understanding and an awareness of the commercial
parameters affecting the industry.
Colin Wright
A partner in the London office and
head of the oil, gas and mining group
in London
5

Our London team
acts as auditors
to two of the UK’s
largest endowed
grant-making
trusts.
Charity and not-for-profit
We have considerable experience in helping
charities and other not-for-profit entities
deal with the financial aspects of running
their organisations, from advising on the use
of trading subsidiaries and annual Charity
Commission submissions, to planning and
advising on the VAT position of property
and fundraising ventures. We recognise
that charity or not-for-profit organisations
operate within a dynamic, competitive and
highly regulated environment and there is a
need to manage tightly controlled finances
that are then transparently reported in the
public domain.
We provide external audit services to
charities and not-for-profit organisations of
varying size and complexity, covering a wide
range of activities and objectives.
Our London team acts as auditors to two
of the UK’s largest endowed grant-making
trusts, namely The Wolfson Foundation and
The Garfield Weston Foundation.
The national charity and not-for-profit
group is led by Subarna Banerjee, an audit
partner in our London office. The group
meets to discuss emerging sector issues and
to prepare technical updates and practical
recommendations for clients. Individual
members of the group participate in
professional special interest groups such as
the ICAEW Charity and Voluntary Sector
Group.
The charity sector in the UK forms a key part of the UK economy in
terms of manpower, procurement and the supply of services.
I chair the national charity and not-for-profit group (which
also includes the housing and education sectors). We have over
300 charity clients nationally which range in size from the largest
grant giving charities with endowments in the billions to much smaller
charities with modest incomes. We are able to offer independent
examination, audit, financial reporting, taxation and governance
advice to charities.
Key challenges for charities over the next few years will include
ensuring ever greater value for money for those charities delivering
services through contracts with local or central government,
particularly in light of a potentially fixed or reduced income in real
terms. Ensuring good governance will continue to be a focus given
recent high profile failures.
A new concern for trustees, following the proposal to increase the
audit threshold to £1m of revenue per year, will be assessing the
robustness of internal reporting systems, if they cannot use their
audited financial statements as a source of assurance over a
charity’s activities.
Subarna Banerjee
A partner in the London office and
Chair of national charities working group
6

Academies
This sector has become such a prominent
part of our service offering across our
offices that we have both national and
local sector groups. Our national academy
sector group comprises our education
specialists from across our UK offices who
meet regularly to discuss changes in the
financial and regulatory environment within
the sector, ensuring that these changes
are communicated to clients. We produce
regular sector updates and briefings on
topical issues and forthcoming deadlines,
including a regular Academy Schools Update
and an academy blog which is summarised
and circulated monthly to clients. We also
produce an annual national benchmarking
report, looking at patterns and trends within
academies’ finances and accounts, allowing
clients to benchmark their own school
accordingly. Our latest 2015 report was
issued at the start of February and has been
quoted in the national press.
We are regularly in communication with the
Education Funding Agency (EFA) and the
Department for Education (DfE), discussing
any clarifications needed within their
regulatory and guidance documentation.
We have seconded audit staff to work within
the EFA’s assurance department to assist
them with their academies assurance and
risk reviews. We are also currently in talks
with the New Schools Network, who are
looking for us to nominate partners to act as
non-executive directors on the boards of
multi-academy trusts and free schools, to
help the DfE’s aim of improving governance
in newly converted or formed schools.
Colin Wright, a partner in our London office,
heads the London office academy and free
schools team who are currently working with
36 schools across Greater London and the
surrounding counties. In Nottingham, the
academies team is led by Jon Warsop and Liz
Searby, who are working with 20 secondary
and primary academies and multi-academy
trusts in the area.
This sector has
become such a
prominent part of
our service offering
across our offices
that we have both
national and local
sector groups.
The academy sector has exploded since 2010, and I am delighted
that UHY has been at the forefront of this. Using our experience of
working with independent schools and other educational institutions,
and the not-for-profit sector generally, we have positioned ourselves
as one of the top auditors and advisers to academy schools in the
country, now working with more than 180 academies. Feedback on
our regular sector newsletters and blog articles from our academy
clients and contacts is that they find our publications and
communications extremely helpful; we often hear that our newsletters
are the best in the sector and have been described as “a lifeline”!
The next few years will be challenging for academies. Pressure on
budgets will intensify with reductions in funding arriving at the same
time as impending rises in staff costs through National Insurance
and pension cost increases. Academies will need to maintain, or
ideally improve, educational standards on these reduced budgets,
and so the role of the School Business Manager will become even more
important.
Allan Hickie
A partner in our Sittingbourne office
and Chair of UHY’s national academy
schools working group.
7

OUR NATIONAL STRUCTURE AND SERVICES
Our UHY Hacker Young offices support
businesses, organisations and families
throughout the UK. A strategy for growth
and service line development for the
benefit of clients across the UK has been
key to the development of the UHY UK
Group.
The network is now represented in most
major business centres with more than
100 partners and 490 professional staff
supporting clients in these locations.
Our intention is to continue to grow this
network as opportunities arise and where
business needs dictate.
Howard Spencer, London audit partner
and, until recently, the head of our
audit and business advisory services
departments, was appointed as the first
The benefits of working with our national network
of offices
Our cohesive network of offices allows us to share knowledge and solutions and maintain
high quality standards across the group. Every office supports its clients by providing a
range of audit, accounting and tax services, with our larger technical centres providing
additional specialist services to their clients, and to clients of the wider UK Group, where
required.
• Audit and accounting;
• Bookkeeping, budgeting and forecasting;
• Capital markets admission services;
• Company secretarial;
• Corporate finance;
• Corporate tax and compliance;
• FCA compliance;
• Financial planning;
• General business advice;
• International business services;
• International tax;
• Litigation support and forensic accounting;
• Outsourcing;
• Payroll administration;
• Personal insolvency;
• Personal tax, trusts and inheritance tax;
• Turnaround and recovery; and
• VAT advice and compliance.
In many cases we support a client’s business and personal needs,
providing a host of services from audit and general business advice
through to personal financial planning and personal tax advice.
Access to specialist technical advice
Chairman of the UK Group in 1997, as
it became clear that the network was
expanding.
Under his Chairmanship, the number of
UHY offices in the UK grew from 7 to 24,
with a corresponding increase in access to
specialist expertise and the ability to deliver
a broader range of services.
Jon Warsop took over the role of Chairman
from Howard on 1 December 2014. Jon
has been a partner in UHY Hacker Young’s
Nottingham office since 1997, following
a period of eight years as a partner in
another leading UK firm. Jon has a
particular expertise in the
not-for-profit sector, and more recently
with academies.
Clients benefit from our technical centres in the London, Manchester and Glasgow
offices, where some of the country’s top accounting and tax specialists are located.
Whether you are seeking international tax planning advice, assistance with a complex
VAT transaction, guidance through a fundraising process or support for an ailing
business, you will have access to high quality technical advice from our specialists.
I firmly believe that
our structure brings
real benefit to our
clients; we give best
advice because we
understand both
local needs and the
national picture.
Howard Spencer
Group Chairman, 1997-2014
8

INTRODUCING SOME OF OUR LONDON TEAM SPECIALISTS
Simon Newark
Simon heads the London
office VAT department
and is well known as a
national VAT expert. He is
a Council member of the
VAT Practitioners Group,
chairs the Indirect Tax Sub-Committee of the
Chartered Institute of Taxation and represents
the Kent Branch of the Chartered Institute of
Taxation on the Working Together Initiative
with HM Revenue & Customs.
Simon is a member of the UHY property sector
group. His expertise and knowledge of the
VAT world enables him to identify current
and forthcoming issues in the property and
constructions sectors, where VAT already has
a huge impact and is growing in complexity.
Simon is called upon to assist offices around
the UK and international UHY groups on VAT
matters affecting their clients.
Michael Avient
Michael heads the London
office tax investigations
team and is a partner within
the private client services
department, giving him
the dual role of assisting
clients build and retain their wealth whilst also
protecting them from HMRC tax enquiries
and investigations. In the quickly changing
environment it is more important to ensure
tax planning is both robust and defensible.
Michael is able to provide the full range of
services needed by individuals,
entrepreneurs, partnerships and trusts
regarding their accounting and tax needs.
Whether clients are just starting out or need
existing structures reviewed, Michael has
the skills and experience to provide practical
effective advice and solutions.
Working with the worldwide UHY network, he
is also able to provide global advice and assist
both clients arriving in and leaving the UK.
For UK tax purposes, being domiciled outside
of the UK remains one of the most beneficial
tax statuses, and Michael is able to assist in
determining domicile status and in advising
how to utilise this to maximum effect.
Laurence Sacker
Laurence is a partner in the
London corporate finance
department. He is able to
assist clients to raise equity
and debt finance for
business ventures, and
develop business plans and financial models.
He undertakes due diligence investigations
and advises companies on valuations,
mergers, acquisitions and disposals.
Laurence is a qualified member of the Institute
of Chartered Accountants in England and
Wales and was awarded the Corporate Finance
(CF) designation in 2006 in recognition of
his experience in the sector. He is also a
member of the Academy of Experts and he
continues to act as an expert by providing
independent reports to assist in the resolution
of commercial disputes, negligence, criminal
and personal injury cases.
Developing the people
within the Group
offices in order to
better equip them to
deliver the commercial
and sector specific
advice sought by
clients in our target
markets is an
important focus for
our Group.
Jon Warsop
Group Chairman, 2014-Present
...AND SOME OF OUR SPECIALISTS IN OUR OTHER TECHNICAL CENTRES
Ian Williams
Ian is Chairman and partner
of UHY’s Scottish member,
Campbell Dallas. He has
over 25 years’ experience in
the energy sector working
with renewable energy
businesses and advising a number of global
oil service companies both on their UK and
international operations. Ian heads the
firm’s expanding energy practice, including
renewables. The renewables team specialises
in supporting owner managed and operated
wind farms, hydro electric plants, biomass
plants and anaerobic digestion plants. Part
of the firm’s remit is to run the day-to-day
operations of Alba Energy Ltd, a specialist
umbrella organisation established to
represent the interests of over 30 Hydro
Electric plant operators throughout Scotland.
Matthew Hodgson
Matthew joined our
Manchester office as a
partner in 2013. Prior to
joining UHY, Matthew
spent two years as a partner
in a specialist automotive
practice advising major franchised and used
dealer groups throughout the UK, and before
that worked for 11 years within the Big Four
in Manchester and London. Matthew was
joined last year by two further automotive
specialist partners – David Kendrick,
corporate finance, and Paul Daly, audit and
transaction services – and between them
they are building a substantial client base,
through their vast contact network, along
with establishing UHY’s national automotive
working group.
In addition to his automotive specialism,
Matthew has a broad range of experience in
advising on tax aspects of company mergers
and acquisitions, corporate and shareholder
reorganisations, international cross-border
planning and advising UK privately owned
businesses. He has also been successful
in developing an in-house R&D and capital
allowances advisory department in the
Manchester office.
9

UHY INTERNATIONAL
The network for doing business
Almost 30 years ago, in 1986, we had the
foresight to form a strategic partnership
with US accountants, then Urbach, Kahn &
Werlin, in response to the increasing trend
for globalisation. Together we founded
UHY International, the start of our global
offering. Having worked together on many
projects for some time, this union enabled us
to provide our clients with a more cohesive
offering to better support their international
needs.
Our international development
By the Autumn of 1989 our international association had grown to include representation
in 16 countries and biannual meetings were being held in European cities, with an Annual
Meeting held in October each year. Ten years later, the number of countries covered had
increased to 36.
As the world economy has become increasingly globalised, UHY International has developed
and expanded its representation, and now has offices in 296 major business centres across 89
countries.
Key stats comparison
1999 2015
Countries 36 89
Offices 101 296
Partners & staff 2,506 7,669
Fee income USD 136 million USD 640 million
As the World
economy has become
increasingly globalised,
UHY International
has developed
and expanded its
representation.
European Regional Meeting, Marbella, May 1999
UHY Annual Meeting, Munich, October 2014
10

From our firms’ collective experience working on international client engagements, we have
developed solid working relationships among our member firms. We know each other
through meeting and working together regularly.
Our clients have noted that our structure and service commitment provide national
expertise where required by mid-market clients. When those clients, as well as established
multinationals, seek our services overseas we are able to provide unified, cross-border teams,
sharing clients’ aspirations and delivering customised and timely services to help them make
the right decisions over the short and long-term.
We believe that UHY offers a real alternative to the ‘Big four’ firms and to rapidly growing
middle-market companies that seek enhanced responsiveness at reasonable costs.
The fact that the UHY International network is expanding with still
greater vigour now is not by chance – it is a planned strategy to
enable our clients to take greater advantage of the world economic
recovery and renewed growth in international business. More and more
of our clients, particularly in the mid-market, are pursuing such
aspirations, supported on the ground by member firms across the UHY
network. Clients appreciate the day-to-day practical involvement
and expertise our member firms contribute, not just in their home
territories but in target cross-border jurisdictions too.
We believe that
UHY offers a real
alternative to
‘Big four’ firms.
Ladislav Hornan
UHY International Chairman
UHY Annual Board Meeting, Kazakhstan, January 2015
11

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DESKS IN THE UK
Currently, our desks
cover the US, China,
Malaysia, India,
Russia and the
CIS/CEE countries
and Israel.
In our London office, we have launched a number of successful international business
desks. These desks initially evolved organically but since 2011 we have taken a more formal
approach to the development of further in-country expertise. Currently, our desks cover the
US, China, Malaysia, India, Russia and the CIS/CEE countries, and Israel. We have particular
experience supporting large and small companies in these locations that are looking to
expand into the UK. We also assist UK companies in establishing their business within these
locations. We can support companies during expansion in any of these locations, walking
them through the internationalisation process and providing them with the benefit of our
cultural expertise, local territory insights and our language skills.
Our international desk partners regularly work together with colleagues from their
counterpart member firms within UHY and we can provide introductions to like-minded
in-country advisers who can provide ongoing advisory services for overseas operations, if
required.
We have highlighted some of our business desks, below.
China desk
The London office China desk provides
Chinese companies with a full range of
professional services to assist with the
set-up of UK business operations or raising
finance in the UK. Members of the team
are all fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.
They split their time between the UK and
China and are well versed in the economic
and cultural differences between the two
countries.
The team is led by Julie Wilson, an audit
partner, with five years’ banking experience,
who is both a qualified accountant and a
chartered tax adviser. Julie spends much of
her time in China and Hong Kong, advising
and supporting the firm’s Chinese clients and
UK companies with Chinese subsidiaries.
Julie Wilson
London audit partner and
head of our China desk
India desk
The team provides the full range of audit,
tax and advisory services to support
Indian companies and individuals that are
looking to move to the UK. The team also
works closely with our offices in India to
support UK companies and individuals with
business interests in India. They have a
considerable wealth of experience working
with Indian banks, financial institutions,
companies, and their UK subsidiaries, as
well as private individuals from both the UK
and India.
The India desk is headed by Vinod
Vadgama, a business advisory services
partner in London who acts for a large
number of Indian corporations and their
UK operations. Vinod regularly travels to
India on business and has specialist country
knowledge and an in-depth understanding
of the Indian business culture. The team
spends a great deal of time advising
and supporting UHY’s Indian clients and
works with our 11 UHY offices in India to
provide clients with a ‘one-stop shop’ for
their compliance requirements including
international expansion and relocation
plans.
Vinod Vadgama
London business advisory
services partner and head
of our India desk
12

US desk
Our US desk is a key priority of the London
office marketing and business development
plan. Transatlantic operations play an
important and prominent role for investors
wishing either to take advantage of the
largest consumer market in the world by
entering the US, or by using the UK as the
gateway to Europe and its diverse business
environment.
Both countries feature close to the top of
the world rankings in competitive indices.
The business environments are considered
to be sophisticated, well established
and open. The economic conditions are
supported by an established infrastructure,
skilled labour, high quality education
establishments and robust tax and
regulatory regimes.
The UK’s US desk was launched in 2000,
with Colin Jones, head of London audit,
currently leading and driving the success
of the desk. Colin works closely with
other partners and collectively they have a
wealth of experience in addressing the US
market. Successes have included the listing
of a number of US company clients on the
UK markets, in particular London’s junior
market, AIM.
We have developed a network of referrers
and advisers in key UK and US markets
to support our clients’ needs. However,
our main focus has been to work closely
with our UHY US member firm to raise our
profile within the US business arena and
with overseas businesses looking to expand
into the UK. A number of targeting efforts
have been jointly executed with the UHY
US offices.
Colin Jones
Head of London audit and
head of our US desk
Malaysia desk
The Malaysian desk was set up in the 1990s
by London partner, Dato’ John Lim, who
himself is Malaysian. He was looking to
develop a niche market following significant
investments from Malaysia into the UK that
were occurring at the time due to favourable
exchange rates and a soft property market.
With all inward investments into the UK,
the Malaysia desk team are able to offer
advice on local requirements and corporate
structuring to suit the circumstances of
Malaysian investors. In addition, we offer
a suite of services such as accounting,
company secretarial, auditing, taxation
and corporate finance, depending on the
Malaysian investor’s requirements.
There has been a trend in the last five years
for Malaysian companies to seek a listing
on the London Stock Exchange and the
Malaysian desk has been involved, together
with our corporate finance department, as
Reporting Accountants for the successful
listing of many Malaysian companies on
to AIM, followed by a continuing role as
auditors to the listed companies.
Our strength for our Malaysian clients, apart
from our expertise and professionalism,
is that we have a team with language
capability, if required, who are familiar with
the culture and mind sets of our Malaysian
clients.
The Malaysian desk works closely with the
UHY offices in Malaysia and other UHY
offices in the region, and also services
clients from areas, including Singapore and
Indonesia.
Dato’ John Lim
London business advisory
services partner and head
of our Malaysia desk
We have developed a
network of referrers
and advisers in key
UK and US markets
to support our
clients’ needs.
13

As a Group, we are
constantly seeking to
improve the services
we provide to our
clients.
The client relationship
Every client is unique
Our UHY teams truly understand that every
client is different, and we have developed our
services and our service philosophy to reflect
this. While we build on the experience within
particular sectors or situations that enable
us to hit the ground running and provide
valuable insight for clients, we do not take
anything for granted (90 years of experience
have taught us that!).
Working successfully with a new client
means really getting to know their business,
including: the way they work; staff and
customers; the market place and the
competition. However, the learning process
does not stop there ... it is an ongoing process,
as important for our longest-established client
as our newest.
We ensure that each new client is carefully
matched to the most suitable partner with the
most relevant experience. That partner will
take time to understand a client’s individual
requirements and objectives and will then
plan the project accordingly. Some of our
clients are looking for an accountant who
can get the job done without much contact.
Other clients prefer us to work in partnership
with them or in a hand-holding role with
regular, close contact and constant availability.
Keeping clients informed
Because we know our clients, and because
we stay ahead of changing economic and
regulatory conditions, we are often the first to
identify potential threats or opportunities.
We can then find ways to avoid potential
problems or suggest innovative ways to build
on success. The engagement team will be
available to discuss any emerging issues as we
like to think of ourselves as a ‘sounding board’
for clients, and are happy to support where we
can.
We produce a regular stream of insightful
publications and updates for clients — many
are specifically tailored to our clients’ industries
or to forthcoming regulatory changes that we
want to bring to clients’ attention. We also run
a series of events annually, which include our
successful FD Forums, held five times a year
for FDs and others with financial responsibility
within their organisation, covering a range of
topics from raising finance to New UK GAAP.
And as the digital world has evolved, and our
clients demand more immediate information,
we have adapted our methods of keeping in
touch. Clients can keep up-to-date with all
our latest news, events and communications
by following our UHY Hacker Young LinkedIn
account, following our @UHYHackerYoung
Twitter feed, or by viewing our regular
blog posts – which are updated daily - on
our website. Our social media channels
allow us to stream news and information,
in real time, to our clients, for example with
our live Budget commentary from our tax
specialists as the Chancellor is making his
announcement.
Client feedback
As a Group, we are constantly seeking to
improve the services we provide to our clients
and we recognise that to do so we need to
understand what they value and how we
can improve our services in the future. As a
result, we undertake regular client surveys
and reviews. Our most recent client survey
saw 252 clients respond, from a representative
sample of our clients who receive a range of
our services from all offices, with the following
results:
The strengths of the UHY Hacker Young
Group, as identified by our national
client survey:
• Understanding our clients’ businesses and
always willing to suggest different ideas
• Responsiveness to our clients’ needs
• Accessibility and experience.
Excellent advice over a wide area
• Reliability and continuity of partner contact
Quality of team 91%
Listening to you 91%
Quality of the service 88%
Understanding your 87%
business
14

Our 2020 Vision
During the recent economic uncertainty and times of recession we worked hard to support our
clients, often in their time of need, and to consistently preserve our service levels and position
within the local and national marketplace.
We have now emerged the other side of the recession in what has been referred to by many as a
‘new economy’ and we are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities that now exist, for
the benefit of our clients and for our own UHY people.
In response, we have already begun to adjust and build on our service offering, our sector
focus, the ways in which we can add value for our clients and our ability to utilise technological
developments to enhance our service delivery.
As a national Group, we have set objectives and goals for our UK team that are realistic and
achievable yet will challenge us over the next five year period to 2020. Our strategy looks at our
own growth and the methods for achieving sustainable progress, whilst meeting the
ever-evolving needs of our clients and developing our ability to better share our experience and
knowledge with our clients.
We look to build on our strengths
We recognise that we have a fantastic team of UHY people who strive to be trusted advisers
for all of our clients’ business and personal financial needs. We want to ensure that we keep
these people and that we attract others just like them.
We are looking to develop and share our specialist sector expertise across more industries
and markets, finding new and more efficient ways to share the benefit of our insight with our
clients in these sectors.
We want everyone to know about UHY International, our cohesive international network
comprising individuals from all regions who work together regularly and take time to know
each other. If you are already operating overseas, or you plan to do so in the future, we want
you to know that this is the network for international business.
We are looking to address the technological developments happening across ours and other
sectors, in order to offer our clients an even faster and more efficient delivery of service.
Ultimately, we want to combine all of these factors in order to deliver an exceptional level
of client service, with a dedicated partner to manage the client relationship and a team and
service that is tailored to each client’s needs and long-term objectives.
We have set
objectives and goals
for our UK team that
are realistic and
achievable yet will
challenge us over the
next five year period
to 2020.
We thank you for your continued support across our
90 year history and we look forward to working with you
into the distant future.
15

What our clients say about us...
UHY have provided a first
class service to Tangent for a
number of years. They are both
proactive and challenging in their
approach with a commercial view
always being taken.
Tangent’s relationship with UHY
has always been maintained in
a professional and supportive
way ensuring that the necessary
level of independence and challenge
that is vital between a client and
service provider is in place. That
leads to a high level of mutual
respect and a relationship of the
highest value and quality.
Kevin Cameron – Tangent Communications
plc, online printing and digital marketing
Our long established relationship
and good partner care has helped
us grow our business.
Howard Leigh, Cavendish Corporate Finance,
finance sector
UHY provides a high quality
service from experienced and
well trained staff. Their
communication is good and the
approach to planning is rigorous
but practical. I value their very
strong taxation advice and the
fact that the audit team are
always up-to-date with current
standards and legislation.
Mark Gibbs, The CDA Group, manufacturing
We have a strong relationship
with UHY on the tax side and we
regard the services as extremely
high quality. We get just the right
level of attention from the team,
including senior level staff, who
are always readily available to
respond quickly to any queries or
issues.
David Holliss, Ipsos MORI, market research
We were convinced that UHY
had the capability we needed.
They have vast experience in
the clothing sector and they
have supported other clients
with complicated international
operations projects. Their
solution to our needs was
reassuring and robust and their
people-focused approach to
every challenge was refreshing.
David Cook, MUSTO, clothing manufacture
and retail
UHY provide us with a proactive
and efficient service and help
us to meet the very tight group
reporting deadlines that we need
to adhere to. They are always
on the end of the phone to answer
any queries that we may have
throughout the year, not just
during the period of the audit.
Annabel Donne, blowUP media, outdoor
advertising agency
UHY have a genuine interest in
our business and a willingness to
work quickly and precisely and
on point. The international scale
of UHY has given us a one-stop
shop accountancy service, which
suits our global company very
well.
David Lewis, Sunseeker London, luxury yacht
distributor
16

THE LONDON AND NOTTINGHAM PARTNERS
Matthew Anderson
Andrew Andronikou
Michael Avient
Subarna Banerjee
Simon Browning
Mike Carney
Gregory Chong
Ian Cohen
Jack Easton
Mark Giddens
Ladislav Hornan
Colin Jones
Michael Kiely
Peter Kubik
Derek Levy
Dato’ John Lim
Richard Lloyd-Warne
Margot Madin
Roy Maugham
Simon Newark
Phil Oliver
Laurence Sacker
Liz Searby
James Simmonds
Howard Spencer
Vinod Vadgama
Jon Warsop
Marc Waterman
Julie Wilson
Colin Wright
UHY Hacker Young Associates is a UK company which is the organising body of the UHY Hacker Young Group, a group of independent UK accounting and consultancy firms. Any
services described herein are provided by the member firms and not by UHY Hacker Young Associates Limited. Each of the member firms is a separate and independent firm, a list
of which is available on our website. Neither UHY Hacker Young Associates Limited nor any of its member firms has any liability for services provided by other members.
A member of UHY International, a network of independent accounting and consulting firms.
This publication is intended for general guidance only.
No responsibility is accepted for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from actions as a result of any material in this publication.
© UHY Hacker Young 2015
17 Helping you prosper

The artwork on the front cover was commissioned by UHY Hacker Young from street artist, Pure Evil, whose gallery is based in East London. Coincidentally, Pure Evil
(Charles Uzzell-Edwards) is a descendant of Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor who was beheaded by King Henry VIII and whom the road, on which our current London
office is located, was named after.