Cowgills announces senior hire to growing tax team

Business advisory and accountancy firm Cowgills continues its ambitious recruitment drive with the appointment of Gemma-McCaldon Gower as a specialist VAT director into its growing tax team.

Gemma, who joins from Crowe UK, has previously worked with HMRC and Deloitte and brings over fifteen years’ experience to Cowgills, taking the total head count in the tax team to twenty five.

Commenting on Gemma’s appointment, partner and head of tax Lisa Wilson said: “We have enjoyed a phenomenal year of  growth in challenging circumstances. We want to continue to support our clients with the very best proactive advice which is why we are recruiting as well as developing our team internally. Gemma is the most senior hire into our tax team and we are delighted to welcome her on board’.

“Her specialist knowledge enables us to offer our clients holistic tax advice and to provide absolute clarity in the complex tax area of VAT. It’s a difficult field which has grown exponentially following Brexit and has been further complicated by HMRC piloting its move to digital with VAT. We will continue to strengthen and grow our team to ensure we support our clients as tax matters continue to get more complicated and are not yet becoming more straightforward.”

Gemma added: “I’m really excited to join Cowgills at what is a time of real change within the field of VAT. I look after clients across a wide variety of sectors, priding myself on breaking down complexities and giving straight-forward advice. I have a keen interest in VAT on land and property, a specialist area for Cowgills which has a dedicated property and construction team, so we can be really collaborative and provide the very best, joined up tax advice right across a client’s business.”

Gemma will regularly present VAT updates, training webinars and seminars, working with professional organisations such as the Charity Finance Group, CIMA and others.

Following an unprecedented period of growth Cowgills continues to recruit the best talent right across its business including expanding the corporate finance team in its Manchester office and opening a new office this year in Liverpool to support business recovery. The board has made significant investments into offering the best benefits and rewards available to ensure that it can attract and retain the very best talent across the North West.

Cowgills now has 190 staff and 14 partners based at locations right across the north west.