Rate-regulated Activities Technical Advisory Group

Phil is Chief Financial Officer of United Utilities Group PLC. In his previous 25 years with United Utilities he has held roles including Group Controller, with responsibility for the group’s financial reporting, and prior to that Group Treasurer, with responsibility for funding and financial risk management.

He is also a member of The 100 Group, where he is Chair of the Pensions Committee and a member of the Main Committee. He was previously a member of the Stakeholder Communications and Reporting Committee. 

He is both a chartered accountant and a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. He was previously a member of EFRAG Technical Expert Group (2015 to 2017) and chaired the EFRAG Rate Regulated Activities Working Group (2017 to 2020).

Phil is serving his second term which will end on 14 March 2026.

Claire Howells is a UK Chartered accountant with over 25 years’ experience of auditing and providing technical advice to corporate entities. She works in PwC’s Corporate Reporting Services group, based in London, and has spent the last 10 years providing technical advice and support to energy, utilities and mining groups. Her role as a member of PwC's global rate-regulated working group and other industry groups means Claire has a good understanding of the current financial reporting challenges faced by a number of rate-regulated entities, in the water industry, in particular, and across the wider energy network.

Dean Lockhart is a partner within EY’s Financial Reporting Group, which he joined in 2011. He provides advice and support to the audit practice on IFRS and UK GAAP, specialising in intangible assets, impairment and leases. He is one of the authors of EY’s International GAAP and UK GAAP publications. Dean’s role within EY includes performing pre-issuance technical reviews of the financial statements of EY’s listed clients in utilities, extractive industries, manufacturing, engineering and retail, including clients in the FTSE 100. Prior to joining EY’s Financial Reporting Group, Dean worked in EY’s audit practice from 2004. His audit engagements included entities in a wide range of industries including utilities, technology, automotive, manufacturing and facilities management. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

James Sawyer is the Head of Financial Reporting, Systems and Controls at Thames Water which is the UK’s largest water and wastewater provider. Here he is responsible for all financial reporting in line with IFRS.  James has over 15 years’ experience in technical accounting, originally training in audit at EY before moving into software and utilities sectors. James has worked closely with the sustainability team to deliver green bond frameworks, natural capital assessments, ESG disclosures and TCFD reporting.

Kelly Martin is a Partner in KPMG’s Accounting Advisory Services. She leads the firm’s accounting advice for the Energy and Natural Resources sector including its support for companies responding to the IASB’s Exposure Draft Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities. With over 10 years of accounting advisory experience, Kelly has supported UK companies through significant accounting change including UK GAAP, revenue and leases. Originally Australian, Kelly has made the UK home and is passionate about accounting and its role in making the UK a thriving financial centre globally.

Rebecca Vass is the Head of Group External Reporting at National Grid, which has principal activities relating to the transmission and distribution of electricity in Great Britain and of electricity and gas in northeastern US. Before joining National Grid, Rebecca was the Chief Accountant at Sun Life Financial, a Canadian financial services company. Rebecca qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC, working in their Milton Keynes, London and Toronto offices in external audit, and accounting advisory roles, assisting companies with the adoption of IFRS, and application of new and complex accounting standards. 

Sam Vaughan leads the External Reporting team at United Utilities Group PLC, the UK’s largest listed water and wastewater company. In this role he is responsible for production of the group’s financial statements in accordance with IFRS, along with the implementation of new accounting standards and interpretations. Sam leads the group’s work on regulatory assets and regulatory liabilities, coordinating between the finance and regulation teams, and was a key author of the group’s comment letter on the IASB’s exposure draft for the proposed standard. Sam has also been a member of the EFRAG Rate-regulated Activities Working Group since 2020. Prior to working at United Utilities Sam worked in EY’s audit practice.

Simon Davie currently works as Technical Reporting Manager at SSE plc, a UK based energy company with a regulated electricity transmission network and two regulated electricity distribution networks. Prior to leading the Technical Accounting team, he worked as SSE’s External Reporting Manager, responsible for the preparation of the Group’s consolidated financial statements. Simon qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG, working in their Aberdeen, London and Copenhagen offices as an external auditor. He was also a Technical Accountant at Williams & Glynn for two years prior to joining SSE.

William Gardiner is the Group Reporting Manager at Anglian Water, a water company serving 7 million customers across the UK. He is an ACA qualified Accountant with over 10 years' experience in Audit and Financial Reporting. In his role he is responsible for external reporting, both Statutory and Regulatory, and for providing advice to the wider finance team, as well as industry, on technical accounting matters.