In April, EY associate partner Chris Jarvill took over as chair of the Corporate Finance Faculty’s technical committee. He talks to Marc Mullen about the role of the committee.
For almost two decades, the Corporate Finance Faculty’s technical committee has been responding on behalf of members to an increasing number of consultations on regulations that impact how corporate financiers go about their business. It plays a critical role in making sure the views of ICAEW, the faculty and its members are considered in the shaping of new regulations. Earlier this year, EY’s Chris Jarvill took over as chair of the committee from Yvette Allen, who had been in the role for five years.
Jarvill has spent nearly four decades with EY, having joined the firm in London when it was Ernst & Whinney as an audit trainee in September 1986. With first-time passes, he qualified as an ACA three years later and moved into what is now the strategy and transactions practice. In 1990, this was a fledgling service line, but now it employs around 2,000 professionals across the UK and since July 2023 has been headed up by Silvia Rindone. “It was very different when I joined in 1990,” Jarvill says. “We were quite a small team of less than 100, spread over a couple of floors in our office near Waterloo and a couple of regional offices.”
He joined the transaction diligence team, carrying out financial due diligence on a wide variety of deals. He worked for large corporates across a number of sectors, particularly industrial and consumer, and latterly focused on big European and US private equity house clients. By the late 2000s Jarvill started taking on more responsibility for quality and risk in corporate finance assignments. Initially he split risk work 50/50 with his client-facing role, but in 2016 he began working full time on risk and in August 2020 took over as quality leader for EY’s UK and Ireland strategy and transactions practice. He has a team of 16 – as well as in London and the South East, there are people in Bristol, Scotland, Luton and Belfast.
“They are as geographically spread as we are as a business. We have a large London office, but we have offices across the UK and Ireland and our team provides support across the whole region. It might sound simplistic, but our job is to keep the business safe, help teams deal with issues that come up during the delivery of engagements and even assist with whether to engage a client in the first place, and how to do that. Increasingly, it’s just about trying to make life easier for our practitioners. There are a lot of hurdles now and we help them pick their way over them.”
The tech committee
Jarvill joined the faculty’s technical committee in 2008 – “I’ve been there a long time”. The overriding purpose of the technical committee, he says, is to raise the profile of ICAEW as a voice on corporate finance, serving ICAEW and faculty members. So what does the committee actually do? “We look at the impact of legislation and regulation, and analyse market trends, to assess the potential impact they have on the work our members are carrying out. We make representations to governments, regulators and other statutory bodies, and respond to consultations. Are there any unintended consequences? Do changes make sense, or are they creating hurdles for members?”
There are a huge number of regulators (see box, Who to watch) and in 2023 alone the committee responded to 17 consultations. If the faculty is leading ICAEW’s response to a consultation, the tech committee will set up a working group usually coordinated by Katerina Joannou, ICAEW capital markets policy senior manager. The committee makes sure each working group has appropriate representation and expertise from accounting and corporate finance firms and other advisers, and also provides oversight and review. The faculty team may also reach out to other relevant external stakeholders or interest groups where appropriate.
Who to watch?
“When it comes to the regulators there’s a lot of acronyms to get used to – the FCA, FRC, CMA, BEIS (now DESNZ),” says Jarvill. “Then there is the Takeover Panel and the London Stock Exchange. And then there are the sector-specific industry regulators that are relevant to a corporate finance deal in their particular sectors – all the ‘Ofs’: Ofcom, Ofwat, Ofgen, etc.”
There is also the Pensions Regulator, the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), and other regulators for different subsets of advisers, such as the SRA for lawyers. Accountants have ICAEW itself; insolvency practitioners have the IPA; and valuers RICS.
“There’s a whole gamut of different regulators and regulations. We also keep an eye on regulatory developments internationally, to see how it may influence domestic regulation. The IESBA is one we watch pretty closely.”
Technical committee meetings cover a wide range of subject matter, including consultations, regulatory and market developments, engagement with members, interest groups and other stakeholders, training, thought leadership and any topical issues. At these meetings, committee members share recent experience and activity, market sentiment and any issues that come up. “That’s the main way we get to hear the views of members.”
The committee also helps the faculty develop insights and produce guidance for practitioners, promoting best practice in technical guidelines and other publications, as well as in Corporate Financier features. It provides input to the training and skills that are required by corporate finance advisers, for example, they have provided input into the content for the Diploma in Corporate Finance that is being developed. “We support corporate finance as a career route for ICAEW members,” Jarvill says. Committee members also take part in the various networking events, forums and panels organised by the faculty.
The committee has contributed to ICAEW’s recent and ongoing review of the ACA exams and their corporate finance content: “We’ve been feeding in our views – it’s difficult being certain what the ACA should and shouldn’t cover, but corporate finance is most definitely on the radar,” says Jarvill. “There’s a wide range of topics to cover, but it provides a taster for corporate finance.”
Jarvill estimates the actual time commitment is a couple of hours per month for each member, with formal meetings taking place quarterly. “We’re all really happy to contribute because we see the value the committee brings. Our firms see it as working both ways because the committee gives us insights on what’s going on, what’s coming down the pipe, and what others think about those things. It works for all of us. It’s also good to give something back.”
Auditor regulation is never off the radar – how it impacts corporate finance services and interacts with listing rules
New ideas
Katherine Broadhurst from Azets and Kathryn Mansell from Old Mill joined the committee in the summer (see box, All bases covered). “Being from smaller firms, they bring a different perspective, so we are less dominated by the big firms. It’s important because we are supporting all members, inside and outside practice. They have been important additions.”
Last December, Ann McCarthy from the Business Growth Fund also joined: “She brings great insight. We’re always trying to expand the number of different voices and knowledge base.”
What have been the big things the committee has grappled with? “There’s been a lot around capital markets-related policy recently. New UK listing rules came out in July, which aim to make listing easier in the UK, but in a proportionate way, while still protecting investors.” Auditor regulation is also never off the radar, Jarvill adds: “How it impacts corporate finance services that practitioners can provide to audit clients and choice for the clients, and how it interacts with the aforementioned changes to listing rules regulations need to be looked at together.
In January, the latest guideline on cyber security in corporate finance was launched: “Cyber security is a key risk in corporate finance transactions now.” An updated financial due diligence guideline was launched last month and, Jarvill says, “Others are in the pipeline. We’ll be looking at the use of AI and technology in corporate finance, which brings a whole different set of risks.”
All bases covered
The ICAEW Corporate Finance Faculty technical committee, like the faculty board itself, is made up of senior professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds, all of whom bring technical and risk management expertise. This ensures that all the perspectives of the faculty’s network are brought to bear on issues affecting members.
Katherine Broadhurst, Azets corporate finance partner and head of corporate finance advisory for Wales and the South West
Peter Croom, Deloitte transaction services quality and risk director
Steve Dolman, BDO corporate finance quality and risk compliance director
Moyra Grant, KPMG associate partner in deal advisory quality and risk management
James Harris, Strand Partners director
Chris Jarvill (chair), EY associate partner and head of quality and risk for UK and Ireland strategy and transactions
Katharine Johnson, PwC director and head of legal and risk in transactions
Amrit Mahbubani, Panmure Liberum investment banking director
Kathryn Mansell, Old Mill corporate finance manager and head of buy-side transaction support services
Philip Martin, Grant Thornton advisory quality and risk management director
Ann McCarthy, BGF head of legal
Sue Nyman, Grant Thornton advisory quality and risk management director
Dani Saghafi, Brunel Business School associate professor in corporate finance and audit
Edd Saidu, RSM technical associate director in restructuring advisory
