Accountancy and advisory group Hayward Wright has appointed Mia Mahoney as business development manager as it builds commercial capacity around a national expansion strategy that has included acquisitions in Birmingham and Yorkshire.
Mahoney will be based in its Birmingham office and work across the UK, supporting advisers and the leadership team with new relationships, existing partnerships, and the group’s wider accountancy and advisory proposition.
She joins from international law firm Gowling WLG, where she worked in the national clients and markets team.
The appointment follows a period in which Hayward Wright has extended its footprint through transactions as well as organic development. Over the past 12 months, the group has acquired Wharfside Accountancy in Birmingham and expanded into Yorkshire through a merger with Leeds-based Auker Rhodes.
The Auker Rhodes deal took Hayward Wright beyond the Midlands for the first time, creating a broader geographic platform and increasing the importance of coordinating business development across offices.
Mahoney said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Hayward Wright at such an exciting stage in the firm’s growth journey.”
Alistair Hayward-Wright, director and head of acquisitions, said: “Mia’s appointment is another important step in our growth strategy.”
For a professional services business, the commercial work after an acquisition extends beyond combining accounts and systems. Growth depends on whether the enlarged organisation can convert its broader capabilities, client base, and geographic reach into additional work.
That requires coordination between advisers who hold client relationships and business development teams responsible for identifying opportunities across service lines. A client acquired through an accountancy practice may also require tax, finance, strategic, or other advisory support, but cross-selling depends on teams understanding the wider offer and transferring relationships carefully.
Geographic expansion creates similar decisions. A practice moving from a regional footprint towards a wider national presence needs to determine which commercial activities remain locally led and which can be coordinated across the group.
Mahoney’s UK-wide remit indicates that Hayward Wright is adding capacity around that process. Her professional services background is also relevant because business development in accountancy and law depends heavily on long-term referral networks, reputation, and adviser relationships rather than purely transactional sales activity.
The appointment comes during a period of consolidation across professional services, where accountancy groups have used acquisitions and mergers to add geographic reach, specialist capabilities, and larger client bases.
The value of that consolidation depends heavily on integration after completion. Without a coherent commercial model, acquired offices can continue operating as separate practices under common ownership, limiting the opportunity to share expertise and generate work across the wider group.
A national business development function can help connect those operations by coordinating referral networks, identifying cross-office opportunities, and ensuring the enlarged service portfolio is presented consistently to prospective clients.
There is also an operational balance to manage. Professional services businesses depend heavily on partner and adviser time, so commercial activity needs to generate appropriate work without diverting technical staff excessively from delivery.
As the practice expands, client quality will matter alongside volume. Advisory businesses need to manage capacity, pricing, sector expertise, and service standards while bringing additional businesses and employees into the organisation.
Acquisitions can accelerate revenue growth, but integration also creates costs. Common systems, branding, processes, and management structures may require investment before the combined organisation begins producing the expected efficiencies or cross-selling benefits.
Mahoney’s appointment provides additional commercial resource around that process as Hayward Wright builds on its recent transactions. The next test of the strategy will be whether its wider geographic footprint translates into stronger organic growth across the combined group rather than expansion being driven principally by further acquisitions.
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