Forensics expert joins AlixPartners as Managing Director in London
International consultancy AlixPartners has appointed a new expert to its Investigations, Disputes & Risk practice in London. Gavin Williamson arrives from rival BDO to take up the role of Managing Director.
With fraud in the UK at an alarming high, the Serious Fraud Office completed some 30 raids on suspects in the last year, more than the past three years in total. With such crime on the rise in the UK, financial forensics has become an increasingly vital aspect of British auditing.
Financial forensics is a field which combines criminal investigation skills with financial auditing, in order to identify criminal financial activity coming from within or outside of an organisation. The heightened demand for these services has seen a number of large professional services firms bolster their forensic practices over the past year, particularly in the global financial hub of London.
As AlixPartners similarly moves to better position itself to support the needs of clients, the global consulting firm has appointed corporate and financial investigations specialist Gavin Williamson as a Managing Director in its Investigations, Disputes & Risk practice. Specialising in complex, multi-jurisdictional fraud and corruption investigations, Williamson brings 19 years of experience in forensic accounting, asset-tracing and corporate governance to AlixPartners’ London office.
Before arriving at AlixPartners, Williamson was most recently a Partner in BDO UK’s forensic practice where he was responsible for the investigations service offering, delivering corporate investigations in the UK and internationally. Prior to this, he also spent time as a Director in the investigations leadership team of Big Four firm Deloitte’s Forensic wing. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Dundee, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, and is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
Commenting on the appointment, Simon Freakley, CEO of AlixPartners said, “We are pleased to welcome Gavin to our team at AlixPartners. Gavin brings exceptional leadership and experience to our growing investigations and compliance services team, and his expertise in solving complex international cases will be of great value to our clients.”
Related: Top 10 consulting firms for fraud, forensic and investigation services (on Consultancy.org).
