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TaxScout has announced the appointment of Mal Cowley as its new chief executive officer, who will drive the tax and accounting platform’s ambition to grow the largest network of certified accountants in Europe.
He succeeds Mart Abramov in the role, who also co-founded the firm. Abramov, formerly of tech companies Wise and MarketInvoice, will remain on TaxScouts’ board.
Prior to his appointment, Cowley was instrumental in the exits of three companies, including Bottlepay to NYDIG LLC and buy.at to AOL, each with a combined value of over $500m (£413.9m).
Having experience in leading UK and US venture capital and private equity-backed startups, Cowley joins the firm as it has reportedly grown over three times its original size and tripled its customers in the past two years.
TaxScouts also expanded its network of accredited accountants to 150 after a successful 2021 launch in Spain, which has a “notoriously” complicated tax system.
Cowley’s appointment is said to signal a strategy shift for the firm, as they expand beyond quarterly and annual tax returns, which have been the bread and butter of the business, to build Europe’s largest network of accredited accountants.
Cowley said: “In the new realities of work, the self-employed are playing an increasingly pivotal role in providing stability and flexibility to all industries. As a result, there’s a growing demand for trusted tax advice and support that’s easy to access.
“On the accountants side, TaxScouts’ ease of onboarding new clients and managing workflows has already contributed to the retention of high-quality accountants in the workforce – yet another industry that has been hit by the global talent shortages.”
He added: “It’s a strong foundation to build the largest European network of accredited accountants and I’m happy to have joined the team at this pivotal time in the company’s trajectory.”
TaxScouts was founded in 2018 by alumni from Wise, Skype and MarketInvoice, and uses AI and automation to remove 80% of manual admin associated with the tax preparation process.
