Johnston Carmichael is celebrating its 90th anniversary. Its chief executive, Lynne Walker, is already focused on getting to 100 years and beyond
In 1936, towards the end of the Great Depression and with war in Europe increasingly in mind, an accountancy practice opened its doors in Elgin. This modest venture, founded by William Dewar Johnston and John Carmichael, serving the rich farmlands and the whisky and fishing companies along the Moray Firth coast, would grow into one of Scotland’s most prominent professional services firms.
Johnston Carmichael is celebrating its 90th anniversary and its chief executive, Lynne Walker, views this not merely as an occasion for celebration but as a moment of reflection and forward momentum.
“This is definitely a year of looking back at the history and the heritage but hang on, it’s about the future,” she explains, sitting in the Inverness office in the corporate advisory hub close to Culloden.
The Moray origins carry a resonance for Walker, who was raised 20 miles to the west in Nairn and has spent much of her career based in the Elgin and Inverness offices. She notes that one of the founders maintained an office in Nairn.
Johnston Carmichael has expanded to a firm with offices stretching from Inverness to Newcastle and London, working with 21 of Scotland’s top 100 businesses, more than any other advisory firm. It employs 830 people, including 73 partners, and serves clients across sectors as varied as food and drink, construction, energy, financial services, technology and life sciences.
To mark the anniversary, the firm is staging a programme of events across its communities, including volunteering days, client gatherings and alumni reunions.
An impact report has been compiled, drawing on interviews with colleagues past and present to capture the firm’s history. The internal celebrations in Glasgow, with 600 staff expected to join the party, are sure to include a few drams of Speyside’s finest.
Yet characteristically, Walker keeps one eye firmly trained on the horizon. “For me, it’s about how do we get to 100 years in business and beyond.”
While I enjoyed working in audit, I relished the engagement and contact with clients
Walker’s own story has been a mixture of careful planning with a willingness to embrace the unexpected. She studied accountancy and economics at Aberdeen University, then joined Deloitte where she completed her qualification to become an ICAS chartered accountant.
“I’ve had quite a mapped-out career. No one else in my family has ever been an accountant, but it just felt right for me at an early stage.”
With family and friends in the Highlands, Walker chose to move back north, joining Johnston Carmichael. The firm has been her professional home ever since.
For more than 15 years, company audit formed the backbone of her work, with particular expertise in the construction sector, as well as oil and gas during her earlier Aberdeen years. It was not the knit-picking technical aspects of auditing that appealed most to her, but the conversations and business relationships that were built up.
“While I enjoyed working in audit with clients, I actually relished the other parts of the engagement and contact with clients. The sitting down, having a coffee and getting under the skin of the business,” she says.
That instinct to engage more deeply with clients gradually reshaped the career. In 2018, Walker was invited to take on broader leadership responsibilities, overseeing transformation projects and thinking about the future shape of the business.
She led the firm’s business advisory side, was elected to the board, becoming vice chair and two years ago assumed the role of chief executive officer.
“While I definitely feel the responsibility I know it’s something that can be shared as well.”
She works closely with senior partner and chair Mark Houston, as well as chief people officer Martin Osler, a former communication specialist who joined in 2021.
Central to her rise has been openness to change and a willingness to be guided by others. She credits a series of mentors and supporters throughout her career: James Campbell, a partner in the Elgin office who backed her early move and expansion of responsibilities; Craig Macpherson, who gave her the opportunity to
deputise as business line head before handing the role over entirely; Sandy Manson, the former chief executive and chair.
“I genuinely believe I found pathways and doorways. I wasn’t scared to pivot my role.”
We take from all different sector qualifications; we just need people that can apply themselves
If Walker’s path was shaped by those who opened doors along the way, she is now committed to doing the same for others. Around a third of Johnston Carmichael’s workforce are early career professionals, and approximately 70 students are joining the firm this year alone.
Investing in the next generation is not simply a matter of principle; it is a strategic priority, especially when the profession, which is going through a period of consolidation and upheaval, is leaning into the use of AI.
She says the next generation requires a fundamentally different approach from the one which shaped her early years.
The profession is shifting away from its traditionally transactional model. The annual meeting poring over accounts and tax returns has given way to a continuous, integrated advisory relationship with clients.
Digital immediacy is an increasing expectation from both client and from tax authorities and regulators.
Young professionals are now expected to engage meaningfully with clients far earlier in their careers, demanding strong interpersonal skills alongside advanced technical ability.
“To be able to have those relationship-building skills, interpersonal skills, is hugely important and it’s what we look for as part of that programme of onboarding our students.”
Technology and AI are both exciting and thought-provoking. The tasks that once occupied junior staff, such as data gathering, processing and basic review, are increasingly handled by digital tools. Rather than viewing this as a diminishment of opportunity, she frames it as a liberation.
“We want our students to use these tools and think of them as taking the robot out of themselves. Take the tasks away from the humans that ultimately free you up to do the exciting parts of your roles.”
Curiosity, Walker argues, is more essential than ever. She attends student inductions twice a year and speaks of these occasions with evident enthusiasm.
“I just really enjoy being with that cohort. The ambition that they show. It’s just what we need across, well, it’s not even just in our firm, but across our sectors, our business community.”
The firm’s commitment to inclusivity shapes the routes through which students can enter. Through JC Futures, the firm supports school leavers, apprentices and graduates alike, and actively welcomes those from non-accountancy disciplines.
“We absolutely support growth. It’s absolutely not just about taking in accountancy students. We take from all different sector qualifications; the importance of that is we just need people that can apply themselves, can learn.”
Walker has also commissioned research in partnership with Edinburgh University and the Moore Global Network to hear from young professionals themselves – asking what draws them to the profession, what keeps them there, and how they envision the role of AI shaping their futures.
“A lot of the time it’s leaders sitting in a room talking about AI. Actually, this generation is a generation that’s going to be using it in the future and are probably using it more than some of us right now. So let’s ask them.”
It is a point which Walker likes to make: listen, learn, and then act; not just for the next quarter but for the next 90 years.
