AAB win International Award

AAB won a prestigious AAB International Diamond Award at the recent AAB International Global Gathering Conference Dinner in Bali, Indonesia, in recognition of AAB’s people development achievements and the firm’s contribution to people development within AAB International.

The award was presented at the dinner, by AAB International Chairman Sajjad Akhtar from Singapore to AAB’s Managing Director, Feargal McCormack.

New AAB Balbriggan, Dublin North Office

The former Chartered Accountants practice of Francis J. Woods & Company Limited (15 staff), located in Balbriggan, ten minutes from Dublin airport, has been subsumed into AAB and will operate as the AAB Dublin office.

The combined firm will trade as AAB and have more than 115 people throughout 6 office locations in Northern Ireland and Ireland, and global expertise with local knowledge around the World through the network offices of PKF International.

Francis J. Woods & Company Limited was a very successful, well established and respected general accountancy and business consultancy practice with additional sector expertise in farming and charities. The founder of Francis J. Woods & Company Limited, Joe Woods and all his staff, will continue to be very integral to AAB going forward.

Irish Employer of the Year 2016

Leading island based accountancy practice AAB won the Best Employer Award at the prestigious Irish Accountancy Awards Gala Banquet Ceremony which took place last night, 21 April 2016 at the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin. The Awards Ceremony, hosted by Richard Curran, Editor, The Sunday Business Post, attracted a very influential audience, including high profile leaders from the Irish business and accountancy sectors.

As a result of winning the Employer of the Year Award at the Irish Accountancy Awards 2016, AAB which celebrates its 25th Anniversary on 20 August 2016, now uniquely hold both the Awards for Employer of the Year at the British Accountancy of the Year Awards and the Irish Accountancy Awards, having been previously selected on 24 November 2015 at The British Accountancy Awards in London as Employer of the Year.

Willie Walsh – Keynote Speaker at AAB Leadership Lecture with Ulster University Business School

IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh was keynote speaker at the AAB Annual Leadership Talk, Management Month initiative held in association with the Ulster University Business School, at the Belfast Campus on Tuesday 9 February 2016.

Originally from Dublin, and now based in London, Willie Walsh began his career as a cadet pilot with Aer Lingus in 1979, subsequently becoming its Chief Executive in October 2001, just as the full impact of the 9/11 terror attacks on the aviation industry was being felt. At the age of 43, in 2005, he joined British Airways as Chief Executive Officer.

International Airlines Group (IAG) was formed in 2011 with Willie Walsh as Chief Executive when British Airways merged with Spanish carrier Iberia. Since then it has acquired bmi, which was integrated into British Airways, Spanish airline Vueling and Aer Lingus. IAG is one of the world’s largest airline groups with 525 aircraft flying to 255 destinations and carrying more than 96 million passengers each year.

During the one hour conversation with broadcaster Gerry Kelly, Willie’s ambition for IAG, his passion for the sector and his relentless work ethic was evident as he traced his career often through very challenging circumstances.

AAB Win Top UK Accountancy Employer Award

The 2015 Best Employer Award sought to identify and recognise the best accountancy practice to work for in the UK. The project was a joint effort between Accountancy Age and the Best Companies Group.   Over the past six months, Employer and Employee surveys were completed, with participating firms being judged on their working environment, training, remuneration and employee benefits package.

On receiving the award on behalf of AAB, AAB Managing Director, Feargal McCormack stated that he was “humbled by the recognition of the AAB practice as the Best Employer in the UK but greatly honoured, to accept the premier Accountancy Award on behalf of Team AAB”. He added, “it was hard to believe that a practice which started as a one man business in Newry on 19 August 1991 (over 24 years ago) had now grown to be one of the leading accountancy and business consultancy practices operating on the island of Ireland, and globally”.

Feargal stated that, “AAB has been successful in managing talent and developing and building a strong integrated client focused business team, to ensure excellence in service delivery, with priority given to collaboration, communications, innovation and creative thinking. Multi-disciplined teams are utilised at all levels, involving input from trainees to Directors. Within AAB significant emphasis is placed on shared responsibility, internal communications and continuous improvement”.