The two will continue to operate under the Steedman & Company name.

Scotia director Mark McLeod will join as director of Steedman & Company bringing his team and business into the new group. The new group will be led by managing director Jason Steedman.

At the same time, Steedman’s operations manager, Kirstin Strachan, will step up to the position of operations director, overseeing internal operations, cloud & tech strategy, business development and HR consulting.

With 35 years presence in Edinburgh, Central Scotland and the North East of England, Steedman’s have established themselves in the SME entrepreneurial market, working with many companies in the renewables, sustainability, software, blockchain and medical sectors, among others.

After partnering with Scotia Accounting on a couple of projects we found natural synergies and a common sense of purpose and enthusiasm and natural partnership was formed.

Mark McLeod said: “I am very excited about this decision to join Jason, Kirstin and their fantastic team at Steedman & Company. We hold the same business values and outlook as to where we want to take the business.

“This will complement the professional and modern style of service we offer our clients. Scotia Accounting has been a fantastic journey, building it up over the years as a successful chartered practice and I now feel this merge with Steedman & Company has come at the right time and is the next natural step to take.

“I am very much looking forward to working alongside my new team, helping new clients and continuing to offer the pro-active and professional service my current clients have become accustomed to.”

Jason Steedman added: “I’m absolutely delighted that Mark and his team are joining us. The addition of their skills and experience will bolster our tech and cloud services offerings while adding strength in depth to our client service, staff development and young apprenticeship program. Our objectives for the near future are primarily to continue to assist our clients in their post-COVID recovery phase and to add real value to the local start-up scene by helping entrepreneurs to launch and develop their companies and ideas.

“Kirstin’s promotion to Operations Director will see the unusual step of a non-accountant joining the board and is a reflection of the changing landscape of the accountancy practice sector, fulfilling essential entrepreneurial advisory requirements in cloud, tech, HR consulting and R&D.”