AMS Accountants Group, one of the UK's fastest-growing accountancy and advisory firms, has made its Edinburgh move - and with early commercial momentum already established in the market.
The firm has secured agreements with three clients ahead of its formal launch, one of which is Edinburgh-based, generating annual revenue in excess of £200,000. AMS is also in active discussions with two large UK-wide businesses - one headquartered in Edinburgh - looking to replace their existing finance function entirely, with a further pipeline of ten businesses under active consideration. To support that growth, the firm is already recruiting, with two Edinburgh-based roles being advertised now as part of a wider commitment to create around 200 jobs across Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
To lead that Edinburgh push, AMS has appointed Sean Dunn as Partner and Head of Outsourced Accounting, a role that gives Edinburgh businesses direct, senior access to AMS's full range of accountancy and advisory services for the first time. The Manchester-headquartered firm is based at Lochrin Square, in the heart of Edinburgh's Exchange District, as it accelerates its ambition to build a £20 million Scottish business.
Sean Dunn said: "Too many businesses still treat finance as a cost centre, something to be managed down rather than invested in. The reality is that poor financial control creates real risk, and the cost of getting it wrong almost always outweighs the cost of getting it right. What we're building at AMS is different. It's not about parachuting in a resource and stepping back - it's about being a genuine partner to the businesses we work with. Senior access, real transparency and a service built around what the client actually needs."
Sean's Edinburgh role is backed by a UK-wide remit, building and leading a brand new national outsourced accounting function for AMS, establishing a service line entirely new to the business and designed to give companies across the UK access to high-quality financial compliance, operations, planning and strategic finance support. It is a model Sean argues is still significantly underused by Scottish and UK businesses, often to their considerable cost.
The Edinburgh expansion follows AMS's acquisition of Infinity Partnership in Aberdeen, a transaction that created a new Scottish HQ for the firm and established the blueprint AMS intends to replicate in Edinburgh. As with Aberdeen, the ambition is to build a full-service offering in the Edinburgh market, with senior lateral hires planned across Audit, Tax and Advisory in the coming months. That operation is being led by AMS Regional Managing Partner Steven Fraser and Wendy Atkinson, Director of Growth and Partnerships (Scotland).
Steven Fraser said: "When we launched in Scotland, we made a commitment to build something meaningful - not simply plant a flag and move on. What we did in Aberdeen with Infinity Partnership showed exactly what that looks like in practice, and Edinburgh is the next chapter of that story.
"Sean's appointment delivers on that commitment in two important ways. It gives us a strong, senior presence in Edinburgh, while also adding a capability the wider AMS business has not had before. Outsourced accounting is one of the fastest-growing areas of client demand we are seeing, and the fact that we already have clients signed, revenue generating and a strong pipeline ahead of our formal launch tells you everything about how the market is responding.
"Together with our expansion into Edinburgh and the recent acquisition of Infinity Partnership in Aberdeen, this underlines the pace at which we are executing our Scottish growth plan. We are just getting started."
Sean joins AMS with over a decade of experience in outsourced accounting and advisory services, having held senior roles including Head of Operations at a boutique firm and director at a top-five practice. He began his career in industry, developing deep expertise working with law firms from start-ups to multinational practices, and brings a track record of building robust, compliant and efficient financial solutions for clients navigating complex operational challenges.