Southampton: New head for Baker Tilly’s pensions centre of excellence

Accounting and business advisory firm Baker Tilly has appointed a new head for its pensions centre of excellence in Southampton, to enhance its offering to its pension scheme clients in the south.

Karen Tasker, a director at Baker Tilly, has relocated to the Southampton office to lead the team which provides audit and assurance services to schemes across the region.

In addition to audit, her team of six will also offer other services such as risk management reviews, covenant assessments and trustee training.

Tasker said: "We took the decision to enhance our centre of excellence in Southampton as we already have significant market share here and an established presence in the city. There are also good communication links to our target markets across the South Coast.

"The coming year is going to be a busy one for everyone working in the pensions sector. Clearly many more people are being enrolled into defined contribution pensions and the Government is tightening up on the governance of these schemes as a result. Many trustees across the region will therefore have to get to grips with the new governance rules coming into force later this year, as well as coping with the new pensions accounting standards."

Office managing partner John Taylor welcomed the move, commenting: "This is a really exciting development for us and further builds on the team that we have had in place here. Baker Tilly is recognised as a market leading adviser to the pensions sector and Karen’s experience and expertise will add significantly to our offering."

Nationally, Baker Tilly  has one of the largest specialist teams of auditors for occupational pension schemes delivering pensions audit and associated services to over 600 pension schemes. UK-wide, the firm’s specialist pensions group comprises 11 partners, seven directors, 24 managers and 150 other professional staff.

Baker Tilly works with a large number of schemes ranging from the smallest individual arrangements to large schemes of Stock Exchange listed companies. The firm has twice been recognised as ‘Pensions Accountant of the Year’ at the Pensions Investment & Providers Awards.