THE South Coast office of accountancy firm KPMG at Chandler's Ford is going through a period of growth– with 15 promotions and 15 new staff hired.

There also plans to recruit a further 10.

The new recruits consist of three IT auditors alongside 10 graduate trainees and two apprentices.

Amongst the promotions, there is a new audit director, Caroline Griffiths, a new IT senior manager, Rachel Drury, and four new managers: Gemma Davidson, James Lee, Dan Murton and Bethan Southwood.

Senior partner for the South Coast office, Will Smith, said that the focus on developing and increasing the team reflected the firm’s commitment to the area and its growing pipeline of work. He added:

“It’s fantastic to be able to reward so many of our hard working staff with promotions and be welcoming so much new talent into the business.

“With Brexit around the corner, the fast changing market and customer needs and regulatory changes such as digital VAT reporting, now is a challenging time for businesses – having the right team at KPMG to offer expertise and support is crucial.”

Of this year’s promotions, 60 per cent, were for female employees. Caroline Griffiths who was promoted from senior manager to director said: “I’m delighted to have been promoted. KPMG has been really supportive since I returned from maternity leave in helping me balance working part-time with gaining the skills I needed to take this next step in my career. It’s not always been easy to achieve this balance, but I’m hoping to use this experience to help my colleagues work flexibly.”