Alan
Paterson

WHO I HELP 

All divisions across the AAB Group.

HOW I HELP 

Identifying & Managing Risk, Good Governance, Procurement, Cost Efficiency & Budget Management.

“SUPPORTING THE WHOLE GROUP.” 

Alan Paterson is Group Risk & Procurement Director and leads on all matters concerning Risk & Procurement. His role is to support the Governance, Legal and Financial wellbeing of the entire AAB Group.

Based in our Aberdeen office, Alan works extensively on providing good advice and guidance on risk and governance matters and supports the financial health of the business through effective procurement and cost budgeting/management.

Alan sits on the Operational Board and is responsible for risk reporting, budgeting, cost forecasting, forward budgeting and strategy development. He also provides guidance on supplier assessments; ESG mindful buying and developing sound and robust spend approval processes and procedures.

EXTENSIVE COMMERCIAL EXPERIENCE 

“I trained as an accountant but didn’t want to stay in practice, so I have spent many years in industry working for several different companies from SMEs to a PLC. I like to think that the skills I have developed in the financial reporting arena have made me a very effective operator with a common-sense approach which is key in the world of risk, contracts and legal matters – particularly in a fast-growing group like AAB.

The accounting and finance experience comes into its own in terms of cost management and budgeting, and I have many years of experience setting budgets, leveraging relationships to reduce spend – or to at least ensure that the business gets the best ‘bang for its buck’ – to help form a strong infrastructure on which the Group can pursue its growth plans and wider objectives.”

A GOOD SOUNDING BOARD

“The nature of the role requires me to be approachable, pragmatic and hopefully somebody who is a good sounding board. When an issue arises the important thing to do is not panic, take a breath and then boil the problem down into manageable chunks. Sometimes, it is just taking that extra moment to fully understand the issue and not just launch into solving mode.”

RAPID GROWTH ACROSS THE GROUP

“As the Group grows rapidly our clients, contracts and assignments become increasingly sophisticated and this is invariably followed by increased complexity, higher sums of money involved and therefor greater risk, making my role ever more important.

Additionally, the Group is growing geographically and subsequently, so is our service offering making it vital that risk mitigation is in everybody’s mind, even if they don’t know it. We risk-assess in our daily lives almost every waking moment, and in the world of work, this should be no different because every client engagement or interaction, every piece of advice given, and every challenge encountered delivering on a work stream has risk attached.”

A CORPORATE MINDSET 

“I often bring a different, pragmatic, and commercial perspective to my role, from impacting how meetings are run, bringing a more corporate perspective and focusing people on the things that really matter, to assisting with making difficult decisions.

We aim to maintain good supplier relationships across the group, and as we grow, our purchasing approach and demands will become more corporatized. However, we will not let this get in the way of these relationships and we can strengthen these ties by developing commercial arrangements that might be demanding in terms of pricing and high-quality delivery, but the terms agreed are fair and realistic, recognising that everybody needs to earn a living.”

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE 

“For me, hitting our targets through controlling our cost budgets is really important. I’m results-driven and as the business grows that may become tougher, but I welcome the challenge. My role is to recognise those challenges early, analyse the root causes, help the divisional teams to understand them, articulate them to the Senior Management and the Board and plan on how we overcome them.

The future growth potential for AAB is amazing and I look forward to the future. Every day is different, the challenges may get bigger, but I’m more than ready for that.”