Jess
McDonald

Who I help

Owner-managed business. Individuals. Family businesses.

How I help

Corporate and Personal Tax Compliance and Advisory. Tax Efficient Profit Extraction Planning.

“I love getting to know my clients & their businesses.”

Jess McDonald is an Business Advisory Assistant Manager based in our Aberdeen office. She supports a variety of clients from owner-managed businesses to family businesses to individuals. For her, it’s all about making a marked different for her clients by providing high quality corporate and personal tax advice and compliance.

In 2019, Jess joined AAB as a trainee, since then she’s worked her way up to her current role. It’s a testament to her hard work and dedication to help her clients achieve their goals that Jess is where she is today.

Going the extra mile

“A lot of the clients I work with closely are family businesses. Family businesses play a vital role in our economy and have a very hands-on approach to the way they conduct businesses as they’re trying to keep the business passing through the generations. They have a vested interest in their success and progression that I believe is important and that I aim to match. I love getting to know my clients and their businesses.

Clients aren’t just another number or tick on a to-do list for me. I care about my clients and want to play my part in helping them to success. That means going the extra mile and building a strong and close trusted relationship with clients so they can pick up the phone and call me and feel comfortable enough to reach out when there’s something they need advice on. Having these relationships with my clients is really important to me and something I strive to create every time.”

Interpreting legislation

“It’s not just about providing advice to clients – it’s about providing them with advice and support that’s tailored to them. It doesn’t serve us to just relay legislation and technical information and advice. I pride myself on my ability to take that information and only give them the parts that are relevant for them – what that means and how it will affect them.

With the constantly changing legislation being proactive is key. As soon as we hear about changes, we’re thinking about how our clients might be affected and letting them know how those changes impact them. We want to go to them with that information at the earliest opportunity which is something they appreciate – knowing that we’re already on the front foot and ready to help them navigate any changes.”

Ability to progress careers

“Placing an importance on progression isn’t just something we talk about here at AAB. It’s embedded into our culture. I joined the firm as a trainee and have been able to work my way up. It’s not just senior members of the team progressing. There’s progression opportunities for everyone here at AAB.

As the group continue to evolve and grow so too do the opportunities for people to progress and develop in their careers. For me, that feels like a full circle moment because I remember coming in as a junior member of the team, getting trained by more senior people and now I’m helping to train our junior members. Sharing with them what I’ve learned, my knowledge and experience in the hopes that it will help them to achieve their career goals.”

More effective communication through technology

“Technology has an important part to play in our ability to deliver excellent client service. It’s definitely increased and made our ability to communicate quickly and therefore effectively that much easier.

I am a firm believer that face-to-face interactions do just give you more. In person you can see them and you can really get to know who they are as people.”