Regional accountancy firm Bishop Fleming, which has an office in Bath, is boosting its restructuring team to take account of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on businesses. 
Three members of the 11-strong team have become licensed insolvency practitioners – increasing to four the number holding the title – while it is currently recruiting for a number of additional roles.
The number of businesses seeking restructuring advice has soared over recent months as a result of Covid-19 while corporate insolvencies are expected to increase rapidly this winter as the government’s staff furlough winds down and companies run out of cash. 
The three new licensed insolvency practitioners at Bishop Fleming – with more than 60 years’ collective experience between them – are Jack Callow, pictured right, Luke Venner, pictured below left, and Malcolm Rhodes, pictured below right.
In their new roles they are able to act as liquidators and administrators for clients’ businesses in addition to their existing work providing restructuring and turnaround advice.
To become insolvency practitioners, they had to pass the JIEB (Joint Insolvency Examination Board) set of examinations and then become licensed by an approved regulatory body – in their case the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales).
Bishop Fleming’s restructuring team, which is based across its seven offices, provides a range of services throughout a business’s life cycle including operational, management, asset and financial restructuring.
It complements the firm’s multidisciplinary team of chartered accountants, experienced corporate financiers and tax experts.
The team’s expansion comes at a time when it is busy working on turnaround deals and other restructuring work as clients cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
It has also seen a rise in clients using its Escalate dispute resolution service, which assists with the financial recovery of losses in contractual or other disputes.
Restructuring team senior manager and licensed insolvency practitioner Luke Venner said: “The three of us are delighted to take up these appointments within the firm and we look forward to building on our relationships in the market and leveraging both the breadth of skills and the range of products and services we have to offer between us.”
Partner and head of restructuring Jonathan Williams added: “Our appointment of Luke, Jack and Malcolm is a demonstration of our ambition to grow our restructuring service across our business.
“In these challenging times, the ability to support our clients facing commercial, financial, governance or ownership difficulties with timely, relevant and proactive support has never been more important.
“But our ambition does not stop there. We are also currently recruiting for a number of additional roles across our other offices to further expand our restructuring team.”
Bishop Fleming has twice been named as Britain’s fastest-growing accountancy firm. It employs around 370 people across its office network, which stretches from Truro to Worcester.
