New Director Appointments at PKF Francis Clark Exeter

Regional chartered accountants PKF Francis Clark has appointed two new Directors at their Exeter office. Rob Gear becomes a Corporate Finance Director and Sonia Fisher becomes Business Services Director.

The news comes as the firm has announced the promotion of two new Partners and five new Directors. These promotions take place in the Truro, Plymouth, Taunton, Exeter and Torquay offices and bring the total partnership to 55 with the firm now employing over 700 staff across the South and South West.

Rob, from North Devon qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2005, after studying Business Economics and Finance at Loughborough University. He has a wealth of experience; having worked at a Global Investment Bank in the City, spent seven years at a ‘Big 4' accountancy firm and more recently has been with the PKF Francis Clark corporate finance team for four years. Rob has also worked in industry as group financial controller of a £400m turnover business, so is able to understand the day to day managerial issues many of his clients face and is able to provide practical advice as part of transactional advisory work both before and post completion.  

Sonia joined PKF Francis Clark in 2001 straight from university where she studied Maths with Accountancy. She went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant in 2003 and then as a Chartered Tax Adviser, working for 13 years in the corporate department in Torquay. Sonia is now based in Exeter and enjoys advising her clients on all aspects of running their business, as well as advising owner-managed businesses and the legal sector.

PKF Francis Clark Managing Partner Andrew Richards commented: "The firm has grown rapidly in recent years, there have been a number of significant mergers and in 2016, the firm joined the PKF International Network of professional firms. These substantial developments have been reflected in rising staff numbers, investment in new sectors, new clients of all sizes and increased turnover.

"To sustain our upward trajectory and to remain competitive, we must recruit and reward the very best talent available. I would like to congratulate Rob and Sonia, on their well-deserved promotions which confirm our ambitions and ability to deliver the very best client focussed solutions for businesses of all sizes".