BDO Midlands strengthens audit team with senior hire

By Nicky Godding

17 November 2021

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Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP has appointed former Holland & Barrett’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Greg Watts, as audit partner.

Greg, who will be based in the Midlands, previously spent 30 years at KPMG, working across audit, transaction services and internal audit, latterly leading the Markets team in the Midlands.

At BDO, he will support large, corporate, and listed businesses on a national and regional basis.

Richard Rose, partner at BDO and Head of the Midlands, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Greg to the BDO team. He brings considerable experience in the audit field, having worked alongside a large number of listed and private businesses across multiple industries and geographies.

“With significant expertise in supporting and advising some of the region’s most prominent businesses, he is perfectly positioned to help strengthen our proposition across our audit team.”

Greg’s appointment follows the promotion of more than 100 people across its team in the region, including one promotion to partner. Last month, the firm also welcomed Michelle Wilson to the Midlands team as tax partner. She will be responsible for leading the firm's tax accounting and tax audit offering in the UK.

In his spare time, Greg is Chairman of his former rugby club, Dixonians RFC, and coaches the under-9s team. He commented: “Having spent 15 months as CFO, helping to lead the successful turnaround of Holland & Barrett through a business-wide transformation project, I’m delighted to be back in practice, joining a dynamic and talented audit team.

“I’m eager to harness my experience working alongside senior international executive groups and boards of directors, as BDO increasingly looks to work with large UK corporates across the audit spectrum.”

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.