BDO Stoy Hayward has recruited Christopher Clark from Pricewater- houseCoopers, and is forecasting a boom in mergers and acquisitions in the recruitment sector.

It said: "Positive sentiment in the sector is now bringing increased confidence to managers and this is putting M&A activity back on the board room agenda. The number of transactions taking place this year is significantly ahead of the low of 2002 and 2007 looks set to continue this upward trend."

BDO has advised on many recruitment-sector deals - most recently the public-to-private offer for Whitehead Mann, the buyout of Greythorn Holdings by Englefield Capital and the buyout of Coalition Holdings by Isis Equity Partners