Interviews

After 29 years at William Duncan, Graeme Bryson is now tasked with making a new name familiar across Scotland. William Duncan and Company is a heritage accountancy firm more than 100 years old, based in Ayr. It was acquired by a Birmingham-based accountancy firm, Dains. Since the takeover, William D

A financial planner has claimed the profession is struggling to attract younger earners and people who earn a lot but are not yet rich. Sam Patterson, head of proposition at Equilibrium Financial Planning, discussed the challenge the profession faces in attracting HENRYs, high earners, not rich yet,

The chair of Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust has called on retail investors to turn out in force to vote at next month's annual general meeting, warning that a low turnout could see Saba Capital Management take control of the trust. Tom Burnet told Scottish Financial News that retail investors are t

Financial planners have the knowledge to help clients understand their goals and protect their interests. “Rightly or wrongly,” most clients are high-net-worth individuals who are retired and have more time to think about what they want to save or how to use their assets.

Sandy Begbie has a message for anyone convinced artificial intelligence is about to wipe out entry-level jobs in Scottish financial services: it isn't happening, not yet, and not the way the debate suggests. "No one is saying to us that there's any major job losses," the Scottish Financial Enterpris

Scottish Financial News speaks to Tom Faichnie, co-founder of Quantify Advisors, about eschewing the traditional path of big financial services to build an agile, relationship-driven corporate finance firm. In an era when multinational advisory practices can often feel process-driven and detached fr

Scottish Financial Enterprise chief executive Sandy Begbie has urged the new Scottish Government to put economic growth at the heart of its agenda. In a wide-ranging interview with Daily Business ahead of the new parliamentary term, Mr Begbie warns that Scotland cannot afford another five years of t

Stephen McGee, the chief executive of Scottish Friendly, is steering one of the UK’s oldest mutuals into its most transformative chapter in decades. To say that recent and planned developments are seismic would be to state – or rather understate – the obvious. Under his stewardship

Scottish Financial News speaks to Karen Scholes, the new president of ICAS, about bringing her experience from a family firm in Orkney to the role and her ambitions to modernise the accountancy profession for a new generation. It would be easy for many not involved directly with ICAS (the Institute

If there’s a phrase that neatly encapsulates the Scottish Building Society’s modus operandi it could well be “ambition underpinned by tradition”. The world’s oldest remaining building society, founded in Edinburgh in 1848 as the Edinburgh Friendly Property Investment Co

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly moves from a futuristic concept to a practical tool within the accountancy profession, firms across Scotland are grappling with its potential, integrating AI to enhance efficiency while navigating the risks and ethical considerations. Leading Scottish accounta

When accountancy and business advisory firm Johnston Carmichael further augmented its team of partners and directors team last summer, it was evident that nurturing new talent from the outset continues to prove valuable. Gillian McColgan was promoted to tax partner based in Aberdeen and Ryan Milne t

The statistics in Scotland’s fintech sector are impressive. The industry has only realised its significant potential since the 2010s with the advent of mobile technology, cloud computing and the big data revolution – but is now a part of our lives through daily engagement with open banki

One of Albert Einstein’s many quotable axioms is that "The measure of intelligence is the ability to change". With the imperative to accelerate progress accentuated both by recent social and economic events and new customer demands, accountants and advisers CT (formerly Chiene + Tait) this sum

It should come as no surprise that the founder of a design company with the word ‘glass’ in its name has an interest in the use of natural light, but for Indeglås’ Jeanette MacIntyre, her love of light runs deep. “Right from an early age, I had a natural appreciation of