FRANK Blin, one of the highest-profile figures in Scotland's accountancy profession in recent decades, will step down from his long-held position at the head of big four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers' operations north of the Border next June.
He will be succeeded by Lindsay Gardiner, head of assurance services at PwC in Scotland.
Mr Blin, who will be 58 next May and has advised entrepreneurs including Sir Tom Hunter and Sir Philip Green, plans to build a portfolio of roles which will together amount to a full-time commitment.
He said: “I think one should choose to decide when is the right time to hand over the reins. I have been very fortunate. I have a very talented team here. We have weathered some pretty difficult economic times well. It was an easy decision for me to say I want to do other things.”
Noting he had worked for PwC and its predecessor firms for nearly four decades, he added: “I think 38 years is not a bad innings in the current climate.”
Mr Blin, a senior partner of PwC and its Scottish chairman, plans to employ his “own experiences of turnaround and helping companies” in building a portfolio of roles.
Asked about the type of roles he might take up, Mr Blin replied: “There are some interesting things that have come across my desk recently. One sets off with a view in life and sometimes it doesn’t pan out, especially in current times.
“I have three pillars in my head. The private equity, turnaround space, which is helping businesses grow and helping businesses get money (amid) current trials and tribulations.
“Second, public company, the more traditional non-executive director space. The third of my pillars is to put something back – that will be either through the public sector or charity.”
Mr Blin, who handled some of the biggest insolvencies and corporate turnarounds in Scotland in the late-1980s and early-1990s, added: “While I might play a bit more golf, this is not me wanting to take more time to pastimes. I want to create a new, more ‘plural’ career – I hate that word.”
Mr Blin was head of PwC’s ‘UK regions’ between 1998 and 2008 and a member of the firm’s UK board from 1998 to 2006.
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