Deloitte appoints new Audit & Assurance leaders

Deloitte has announced the appointment of Allee Bonnard and Paul Stephenson to the roles of UK and North and South Europe (NSE) Managing Partner for Audit & Assurance (A&A), respectively, from 1 January 2025.

Allee is a financial services audit partner and has over 20 years of asset management and private equity experience working across both listed and large private entities. She currently leads Deloitte UK’s financial services audit practice and is a member of the firm’s audit executive. Allee started her career in Deloitte’s New York practice and moved to London in 2005, where she has continued to work on complex and high-profile audits across a number of geographies.

Allee said: “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead Deloitte’s A&A business at such an important time for the profession. Building on the success of recent years, we will remain steadfast in our commitment to audit quality, the audit and corporate governance reform debate, and the adoption of new technologies to continue to enhance our audits, such as Generative AI.

“I am also hugely proud to be the first female leader of Deloitte’s UK A&A business. Whilst we have made significant strides on gender equality – growing the number of women signing FTSE 100 audits from 9% just five years ago, to around 50% by next year – we know there’s still more to do to ensure all of our diverse talent are given the opportunity to thrive. As a passionate advocate for the attractiveness of the audit profession, much of this will come down to us vocalising and demonstrating the value and importance of what we do – both to new recruits, and to the capital markets as a whole.”

Paul is currently UK Managing Partner for A&A and is an audit partner in the financial services industry. He has held numerous management positions within the firm’s UK A&A business throughout his career, including as Chief Operating Officer, and leading financial services audit and the graduate recruitment team. He also played an instrumental role in the launch of the firm’s school leaver BrightStart programme in 2011, which recently saw the first former BrightStart promoted to partner.

Paul succeeds Nikki Mitchell, who is retiring at the end of the financial year. Deloitte NSE is the second largest member firm in the Deloitte network, bringing together 3,600 partners and 75,000 people across 30 countries.

Richard Houston, Senior Partner and CEO of Deloitte UK and Deloitte NSE, added: “Under Paul’s leadership, the UK A&A business has grown from strength to strength, with audit quality at its core. This is best reflected in this year’s quality scores from the Financial Reporting Council and I have no doubt our wider NSE geographies will benefit significantly from his experience.

“Allee has a strong track record as both a leader and an A&A professional at the firm, I am confident that she will be a fantastic addition to our UK Executive team. As the business continues to evolve, her passionate and dynamic approach gives me every confidence that she is the right person to lead UK A&A into the future.

“Finally, I want to sincerely thank Nikki for her leadership of the NSE A&A business over the past four years and we wish her a happy and healthy retirement.”