THE Scottish arm of accountancy giant PwC in Scotland has set its sights on making greater inroads into the private business and SME sector following a market lull sparked by the Brexit vote.

PwC Scotland has appointed a new three-partner group to strengthen its tax, assurance and deals offer for the Scottish market, led by Susie Simpson as overall private business lead, supported by Kenny Wilson and Jon Shelley.

The move comes after the firm saw a 20 per cent rise in private business work in Scotland in the first half of the year, driven by growth in its tax and deals practice. It advised on high-profile transactions such as last week’s sale of Glasgow-based coffee roaster Matthew Algie to Tchibo of Germany.

Ms Simpson said: “We have seen an impact on activity from private business clients since the EU Referendum but by no means has the work dried up. The key is just to be innovative and fleet of foot to cope with the changes of a brave new world - exactly what private businesses are good at.

“We’ve always had a strong focus on the private business market in Scotland and this new team will allow to not only offer more across the country but also ensure the businesses we are dealing with are getting strong cross-service knowledge.”

Meanwhile, a survey commissioned by PwC has identified access to the European single market and securing trade deals with non-EU countries have been cited by SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) as the key priorities for the UK Government when it negotiates the country’s exit from the European Union.

Trade deals and market access were ranked ahead of immigration quotas, environmental legislation and emission targets in a post-Brexit vote survey carried out for PwC’s My Financepartner.

While the survey signalled a broad convergence in views among SMEs in Scotland with their counterparts elsewhere in the UK, it highlighted some differences in sentiment between business owners on either side of the Border.

According to the survey, two-thirds of Scottish firms (66 per cent) said maintaining liquidity in UK financial markets compared to 52 per cent for the UK as a whole.

It found that Scottish firms are much less likely to make capital investments than SMEs across the UK as a whole, at 24 per cent compared with 15 per cent, while a much smaller number have plans in place to drive growth in light of the EU referendum (22 per cent versus 38 per cent).

Based on the views of 566 SMEs, including 51 in Scotland, the survey also found that Scots are more likely to direct EU savings into transport infrastructure (54 per cent versus 48 per cent) than digital infrastructure improvements (17 per cent versus 29 per cent).