Baker Tilly appoints twelve new partners from within its own ranks

The international consulting and auditing firm Baker Tilly is going to start into the new year with twelve new partners. In the business line Legal & Tax, attorney-at-law Florian Bandrack, LL.M., tax advisor Sonja Eberhardt, tax advisor Daniela Hackenberg, attorney-at-law Stefan Hanke, LL. M., tax advisor Wibke Mannl, tax advisor Nina Schulz, tax advisor Piet Werner and attorney-at-law Yan Zhang are being appointed as new partners. In the business line Audit & Advisory, Baker Tilly appoints German CPA /tax advisor Christian J. Ginzinger, German CPA /tax advisor Yuliya Merget, Björn Prawetz, M.Sc., and German CPA Isabel Schiebel to the partnership.

“We are delighted to start the new year with twelve new partners and look forward to continuing our successful course together. Congratulations to all our new partner colleagues. Over the past few years, they have proven that the interdisciplinary, international and entrepreneurial Baker Tilly approach leads to high-quality solutions that offer our clients measurable added value in all areas of consulting and auditing,” commented Prof. Dr. Thomas Edenhofer, Managing Partner Audit & Advisory at Baker Tilly.

Targeted support on the way to partnership

“Our new partners include many colleagues who have been with us for many years – the targeted promotion of talent is a central component of our corporate philosophy,” says Dr. Thomas Gemmeke, Managing Partner Legal at Baker Tilly.

With the internal partner appointments at the beginning of the new financial year 2025, the number of Baker Tilly partners throughout Germany will increase to 145, spread across locations throughout Germany.

“Baker Tilly stands for outstanding commitment and a high level of expertise. With no less than twelve internal partner appointments, we are strengthening our team and meeting the constantly growing demand for our advisory and auditing services,” comments Ralf Gröning, Managing Partner of Baker Tilly.

Oliver Hubertus, Managing Partner Tax at Baker Tilly, adds: “We are proud to have created an environment in which young talents can ‘develop’ into a partnership. Supplemented by targeted, strategic external recruitments. We stand for continuous development – with a view to our clients and our service portfolio. These appointments are a clear sign that we are moving in the right direction. We look forward to continuing on this path together.”

Legal & Taxes welcomes eight new partners

Florian Bandrack, LL.M. corp. restruc., attorney-at-law, insolvency administrator and specialist lawyer for labor law, looks back on more than 15 years of expertise in reorganization and restructuring advice and insolvency administration. Before joining Baker Tilly in 2018, he had already worked for several renowned insolvency administration law firms. At the Frankfurt office, Bandrack concentrates in particular on restructuring advice in the Restructuring Competence Center. His focus is primarily on advising companies in the insolvency-related area. He also assists them through debtor-in-possession insolvency proceedings where necessary. In addition, he is regularly appointed as insolvency administrator by currently six courts. 

After several professional positions – most recently at RSM Ebner Stolz – tax advisor Sonja Eberhardt joined Baker Tilly’s Stuttgart office in 2013. Since joining Baker Tilly, she has worked in the area of non-profit organizations and public authorities and primarily advises non-profit corporations, hospitals, foundations and associations as well as public corporations. She also advises clients on tax audits and special tax issues.

Tax advisor Daniela Hackenberg began her professional career in 2013 as part of the Baker Tilly team in Nuremberg. The main focus of her work is providing tax advice to medium-sized companies in the areas of tax compliance and tax structuring. Her client and industry focus is primarily in the areas of private equity, mechanical engineering, automotive, AI and real estate. In addition, Hackenberg has many years of experience in supporting tax audits, preparing financial and payroll accounting, annual financial statements and tax returns as well as the treatment of securities as business assets.

Stefan Hanke, attorney-at-law and specialist lawyer for construction and architectural law, joined the Legal & Tax department at the Düsseldorf office at the beginning of 2023 and has since significantly expanded the activities of the Private Construction Law practice group. Together with Baker Tilly partner Simon Parviz (Frankfurt), he heads the team of eight highly specialized lawyers (five of whom are specialist lawyers) and advises national and international clients in the areas of private construction and architectural law, public procurement law and public grants law. Hanke specializes in particular in the healthcare sector and has also been a lecturer at Bochum University of Applied Sciences for many years.

Tax advisor Wibke Mannl has been part of Baker Tilly since 2022. Based in Munich, she advises both medium-sized and listed companies and corporate groups on national and international tax law issues. Her practice focuses on national and international tax structuring advice, advice in the context of tax audits and the handling of ongoing tax returns. Mannl has particular expertise in the areas of inbound business and permanent establishment taxation. As a partner, she will further expand these areas at Baker Tilly.

Tax advisor Nina Schulz has been part of the Frankfurt Baker Tilly team since mid-2023. She specializes in advising national and international banks, financial service providers, private equity funds and capital management companies. In addition to tax compliance, her main areas of expertise include ongoing advice on income tax and VAT, support during tax audits and, in the area of asset management, tax advice for private equity and investment funds, including investor reporting. She is also responsible for auditing tax positions as part of the annual audit of standalone and consolidated financial statements.

Dipl.-Bw. (BA) and tax consultant Piet Werner has been working at the Leipzig office since 2008. He specializes in advising software, AI and technology companies as well as start-ups. He also advises medium-sized companies on the tax structuring of transactions and company successions. Furthermore, his advisory services range from classic compliance activities to complex tax restructuring projects for companies of various legal forms and sizes. 

Attorney-at-law Yan Zhang joined Baker Tilly’s Frankfurt office at the beginning of 2021. He is head of the Baker Tilly China Desk. His practice focuses primarily on advising national and international investors, entrepreneurs and private individuals with a connection to China. A particular focus is on the areas of business start-ups, M&A and post-M&A advice as well as accompanying and ongoing legal advice to the German branches of Chinese companies – from SMEs to listed companies and state-owned enterprises.

Four new partners for Audit & Advisory

German CPA and tax advisor Christian J. Ginzinger joined the Baker Tilly Financial Services team in the Audit & Advisory division in 2023. He started his professional career at KPMG. After working in Munich and New York, he moved to EY’s Assurance Financial Services division as a Director in 2020. Based in Nuremberg, the main focus of his work at Baker Tilly is on audits of annual and consolidated financial statements of cooperative banks, private banks, leasing and factoring companies, capital management companies and securities institutions. In addition to his role as responsible audit partner, he also provides clients with audits pursuant to the German Securities Trading Act (“WpHG”), internal audit services and audit-related consulting.

Yuliya Merget began her professional career in 2005 and moved to Baker Tilly’s Munich office in 2019 after working at various law firms. During her professional career, she has continuously expanded and deepened her expertise in tax advice and auditing. At the Munich office, she is mainly involved in the audit of annual and consolidated financial statements in accordance with HGB and IFRS as well as in the planning and implementation of advisory projects. In addition, Merget advises clients on ongoing accounting issues and special issues – regardless of whether they relate to consolidated or standalone financial statements pursuant to HGB or IFRS. Her advice is provided across all industries and is aimed at companies in a wide range of sectors.

Björn Prawetz joined Baker Tilly in 2020 from the advisory firm WTS Advisory. Together with partner Nils Klamar, he is building up the Deal Advisory (A&A) practice from Frankfurt. The main focus of his advisory work is on valuations, in particular purchase price allocations, indicative and expert company valuations, fairness opinions, impairment tests, investment valuations and the valuation of intangible assets. Furthermore, Prawetz supports clients in the context of M&A transactions with financial due diligence audits and the preparation of fact books and corporate planning. A particular focus is on the IT, platform business, pharmaceuticals and plant and mechanical engineering sectors.

German CPA Isabel Schiebel has been working in the Audit & Advisory Financial Services team since 2021. As an auditor and core operational contact person, she particularly supports CRR credit institutions and companies in the financial sector in the context of annual financial statements audits pursuant to German HGB/RechKredV (Financial Institutions Accounting Ordinance). She also works on special audits in accordance with Art. 44 of the German Banking Act (“KWG”) on behalf of BaFin and on audits as part of the outsourcing of internal auditing. As a partner at the Frankfurt office, she is primarily involved in the interdisciplinary development of the Financial Services division.