Practice board
The Practice Board has been set up by ICAS to serve the needs of small and medium-sized CA practices.
The board, which is chaired by Suzy Kerton, meets every 3 months to discuss matters affecting practitioners and considers how ICAS can help practitioners deal with the issues which they face in their day to day working lives and ensures that ICAS has the necessary support structures in place.
The board is made up of a mixture of accountants in practice, with ICAS employees also playing a role in ensuring that the recommendations of the board are acted upon.
Practice board members
The board is made up of the following members:
Suzy Kerton
Suzy Kerton qualified as a CA with Baker Tilly in 2012 and completed a secondment to the Buenos Aires office in Argentina shortly after qualifying.
She became CFO of a cloud accounting software company at just 26 years of age which set her in good stead when starting her own cloud-based accountancy practice. After a brief spell as Financial Accountant at the Cabinet Office, she embarked on a Full-Time MBA at Imperial College Business School. It was during the MBA that Suzy, with her business partner Latha, started Zyla Accountants, an accountancy practice offering a full range of accountancy services to startups and small businesses from year-end accounts and VAT returns to R&D tax credits and SEIS compliance.
Suzy is passionate about helping businesses understand their finances and making their accounting processes easy and efficient. Suzy also sits on the ICAS Council and the London Area Network. Beyond accountant life Suzy plays basketball and tennis, she speaks Spanish and Portuguese and loves to travel.
Karen Kennedy
Karen Kennedy set up Kennedy Accountancy in October 2020 during the Covid lockdown.
Karen is based in Dornie and Kennedy Accountancy serves first and foremost the local business community in Lochalsh & Skye, with a focus on utilising technology as much as possible and helping clients run better businesses.
Outside of work Karen lives with her husband and two little boys and enjoys keeping fit, watching shinty (her beloved Kinlochshiel!) and generally enjoying being outside in the stunning place she calls home.
Eric John Summers
EJ joined the family firm, Leiper & Summers, in 2011 and became Partner in 2016. The firm is based in Fraserburgh but supports clients throughout North East of Scotland, Aberdeen and Shetland.
After qualifying as a CA in 2009, EJ became Scottish Young Accountant of the Year 2014 and was part of the ICAS Top 100 Young Chartered Accountants in 2018. He specialises in working with owner managed small to medium sized businesses across varying industries. He thoroughly enjoys working with clients and delivers his work with great enthusiasm and client service.
When time allows, EJ enjoys hiking and has almost completed his first round of Scottish Munro’s with 13 left to hike out of 282. He enjoys playing badminton and is a huge fan of Formula One.
Eilidh Harman
Eilidh Harman became a Partner in 2017 with Bell Ogilvy in Castle Douglas in South West Scotland.
She studied Accounting and Finance at Strathclyde University before moving to Dumfries to a small firm where she trained as a CA and qualified in 2009.
Eilidh enjoys working with local businesses and assisting them with accounts, corporate and personal tax along with business support services. She enjoys being able to work closely with clients and their businesses and help them take their business in the direction they wish.
Outside of work Eilidh lives with her husband who is also a CA and their young daughter. She enjoys socialising with friends and family, travelling and keeping fit.
Gillian O'Dea
Gillian is a Director with J H Greenwood and Company. Having qualified as a CA in 2008 in general practice in Edinburgh, Gillian moved to London and took on a role in audit before moving on to a practice in Marylebone to perform a senior role working in all areas of the practice. Gillian joined J H Greenwood and Company in 2012 after re locating back from London. In her spare time Gillian likes to spend time with friends and family, travel the world, try out new restaurants and keep fit when time allows.
Heather Green
Heather is a Partner with Gerber Landa & Gee. Heather joined Gerber Landa & Gee in 2006 and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2010. In 2013, she moved to Scottish Friendly Assurance Society where she gained valuable experience working in the financial services sector. Since returning to the firm in 2015, Heather is responsible for a portfolio of clients, providing audit, accounts, VAT, corporation & personal tax services to a number of charitable organisations, individuals and owner managed SMEs across a variety of sectors. She also regularly provides an outsourced monthly finance function to clients where additional financial advice and resources are required, which involves preparing management accounts and cash flow analysis.
Brian Thomson
Brian is Audit Compliance Principal with Cornerstone Accountants, Glasgow. Brian trained with PwC in Glasgow and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2011. Since qualifying, Brian has worked with Martin Aitken & Co, Alexander Sloan and Armstrong Watson mainly in the area of SME audit.
Dalvir Singh Johal CA
Originally from London, Dalvir graduated with a 2:1 degree in Accountancy from the University of Dundee in 2002. He then went on to complete a master’s degree in Management, Economics and International Relations from the University of St. Andrews.
Dalvir commenced his chartered accountancy qualification in Glasgow at PwC within Audit and Assurance. Following qualification as a CA, he then joined the Financial Accounting & Advisory Services team at EY. During this time, he also undertook two client secondments that included finance operational support through the carve-out of TSB Retail Bank from Lloyds Banking Group; and then managing the statutory reporting process for the Upstream Division of Centrica. In 2013 Dalvir joined Johal & Co, his long-established London based family-run practice as a Director and also took on a number of consultancy roles. He then went on to successfully establish an office in Glasgow for Johal & Co. In 2020 the opportunity arose to merge the Glasgow office of Johal & Co with Ballantyne & Co, a Glasgow city centre practice that was originally established in 1967. Dalvir now leads Ballantyne & Co, working closely with clients across wide-ranging industry sectors to provide proactive accounting, audit, tax and advisory services. Furthermore, he currently sits on the Members in Practice Advisory Board at ICAS.
Outside of work, Dalvir has been a trustee of Impact Funding Partners since 2017, a charity fund manager that works with the public sector, private companies, and individual donors to create social, environmental and economic impact across Scotland. For over 38 years, Impact Funding Partners has managed 55 funds and invested £160m across 32 local authorities. Dalvir is married and a father of 2 young children. When not working, he enjoys spending time with his family and playing golf whenever possible.
