Members of the group

Alison Duncan, EY, Audit Partner and UK Head of Regulatory & Public Policy

Alison has been with EY for over 30 years, more than 20 of which as a partner, in which time she has been the Global Client Service and Lead Audit Partner on a number of FTSE 100 companies. Currently, she is EY’s UK Head of Regulatory and Public Policy.

Alison has held a number of firm governance roles including Deputy Chair of the UK&I Regional Partner Forum and a member of both EY’s EMEIA Advisory Council and Global Governance Council until November 2023. As part of these governance roles, she has been a member of the EY UK Board as a UK&I Partner Forum representative and has chaired the EY UK Audit Committee. Alison has also held a number of leadership positions including UK&I Assurance Digital Assurance Leader, and Managing Partner for People when she was a member of the UK Executive.

Alison is a board member of Teach First, a charity committed to giving children facing the biggest barriers the chance to fulfil their potential through making our education system work for every child.

Gervase MacGregor, Leadership Team member Governance, Reputation and Legal

Gervase is a BDO UK partner and chartered accountant with over forty years experience at BDO having been an auditor for 20 years and forensic accountant and valuer.

He has a broad range of experience having worked with FTSE listed companies, private equity owned entities and governments and NGOs. He was the (then) DTI accounting inspector on MG Rover.

He is the Leadership Team member for Governance, Reputation and Legal and is leading the firm’s work on public policy and audit reform.

He was previously the Head of Advisory at BDO and then the Leadership Team member for Risk. He was the head of the risk committee of BDO International and a director of BDO’s insurance captive.

He deals with all regulatory and legal actions against his firm as well as supervisory matters involving the FRC and ICAEW and overseas regulators, including audit matters at firm and audited entity level. He is BDO’s MLRO.

He was also until December 2018 an INE and chair of the audit committee and the risk committee of a FTSE250 listed company.

Greg is the Head of Audit for Forvis Mazars in the UK.

He is a member of the UK Audit Executive and has specialised in the audits of banks and similar financial institutions ranging from large international investment banks to domestic building societies. He is a board member of the Centre for Public Interest Audit and regularly represents Forvis Mazars at various industry forums including with the financial regulators. He was previously a board member of the FS Faculty of the ICAEW.

He is a technical specialist and has provided training and education on banking topics such as IFRS 9 implementation to firms and regulators across Europe.

Ben Priestley, KPMG, Chief Auditor

Ben was appointed Chief Auditor (“CA”) for the UK audit practice on 1 October 2023.

Ben joined KPMG as an Audit graduate in 1991 becoming ACA qualified 1994. Ben became a Partner within Audit in 2007 and spent 31 years working with insurance entities. His experience ranged from working with complex PLCs to large private organisations together with advising on various GAAP conversions, UK and US listings as well as expert witness engagements. In April 2022 Ben was appointed Head of the Department for Professional Practice Accounting & Reporting (DPP A&R)  with overall responsibility for the interpretation and implementation of accounting standards and related regulatory matters in the UK a role he undertook until October 2023 when he was appointed CA.

Paul Viljoen, Grant Thornton, Audit Partner

Paul is the head of the firm’s Quality Support Team, which is focussed on supporting the firm’s audits of public interest entities. He has experience of working at the UK’s regulator of accountants and auditors, having particular expertise in inspection and enforcement activities, international standard-setting, ethics and independence.

Shauna Robinson, Audit & Assurance Public Policy, Regulation and Reputational Risk Lead Partner

Shauna is Deloitte’s lead partner for Audit & Assurance Public Policy, Regulation and Reputational Risk. She is a member of Deloitte’s Audit & Assurance Executive. Shauna leads Deloitte’s relationship with the FRC across a range of matters. Shauna is actively involved in investor and stakeholder engagement, is a member of the Policy and Regulation Group (PRG) and a member of the Board of the Audit and Assurance Faculty of the ICAEW.

Sotiris Kroustis, Audit Partner and Head of Public Policy

Sotiris is a PwC UK partner and chartered accountant with over twenty years experience at PwC. He is a practicing audit partner, Head of Public Policy for the Audit practice and a member of the firm’s Audit Executive.

Sotiris has a broad range of experience having worked with large FTSE listed groups through to US registrants, private equity portfolio companies and large family businesses. He has experience leading the audits of a number of the largest and more complex organisations that PwC audits across a range of sectors including aviation, retail and consumer, business services, engineering and construction and industrial products. The public interest entities that Sotiris has worked with include Heathrow Airport, Intertek, Smiths Group, Burberry, British American Tobacco, G4S and a number of the UK’s largest Housing Associations.

Sotiris has held a number of other roles including responsibility for leading the PwC Audit practice in Reading. He also leads PwC’s Professional Qualifications team, with a keen focus on developing the skills and capabilities for future finance leaders, and is also a member of the Learning and Education Board of the ICAEW.