THE recent boom in the UK accountancy industry has led to Chard-based CMA Financial Recruitment expanding its public practice division and taking on new consultant Antony Mason.

Antony joined the company - which has its head office in London Road - to take over the running of the section, which finds suitably qualified staff for accountancy firms across the south coast.

His appointment came after CMA decided to dedicate more resources to public practice, as a reaction to the flood of work currently being experienced by local accountancy firms, which has been caused by the increasing specialisation of the 'Big Four' international companies.

He joined the firm after spending four years in recruitment with Zurich Financial Services at Whiteley, near Fareham - and says he enjoys the challenge of his new job.

Antony, 35, who lives near Stockbridge, said: "Many smaller accountancy firms are currently getting larger because they are moving into new areas such as corporate finance and insolvency, and, as a result, are needing far more staff than before.

"This, of course, is great news for consultancies like CMA Financial Recruitment. Since I joined CMA I've been working hard to re-establish contact with all our former clients and candidates, as well as making new contacts, and it's been going really well.

"I was keen to join CMA because it's a professional company that's going places, which really appealed to me - and I now want to take the public practice division further than it has ever been before."