Gavin Hinks

Days before he was due to leave PricewaterhouseCoopers he published his government commissioned report into the lost disc fiasco at HM Revenue & Customs.

I say send off because as he departs (see leader opposite) the disc report threw Poynter into the limelight. It was, in a sense, the most well-timed presentation of a business card in UK accounting history.

So what’s on Poynter’s agenda? Well, we don’t know as yet, but we do know what his peers have done. They have gone off to chair FTSE100 companies (Mike Rake, once of KPMG now BT) or have become portfolio non-execs (Nick Land, once of Ernst & Young).

Other former Big Four partners have found more colourful things to do proving there is life after the firm, including Sir Michael Peat who is currently private secretary to Prince Charles, or Sir Alan Reid, currently the Queen’s keeper of the Privy Purse.

You can go into politics, of course, a la Dame Sheila Masters and Lord Colin Sharmon, both now in the Lords for the Tories and the Lib Dems.

Of course, you needn’t do anything serious at all. You can go away to restore historic houses and drive vintage cars in rallies to Monte Carlo (Gerry Acher), which sounds like fun, or raising wild boars in the Highlands of Scotland (Ernie Smart, once of Andersen).

Somehow though I doubt that Kieran Poynter will be happy getting his hands dirty on an engine or with hog feed.

No, there’s bound to be something more dignified and distinguished coming up for Poynter after demonstrating how reliable he can be for government. Perhaps they have something else lined up for him.

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Gavin Hinks is editor of Accountancy Age