Tatiana
Mulhearne

Who I Help

SMEs, owner-managed businesses and shareholders navigating key stages of the business lifecycle, including transactions, acquisitions, disposals, M&A, fundraising, valuations and ownership transitions.

How I Help

Transaction and advisory support across acquisitions, disposals, M&A, valuations and due diligence, supported by financial modelling, scenario analysis and cash flow analysis. Providing advice to support transaction decisions, business planning and shareholder outcomes.

“Looking beyond the engagement to deliver long-term value for clients.”

Tanya Mulhearne is a Director of Advisory Services at AAB, based in Cork, providing transactional and financial advisory to SMEs, owner-managed businesses and shareholders. Her experience covers valuations, due diligence, transaction advisory and financial modelling, with a focus on acquisitions, disposals, M&A and other corporate transactions.

Combining strong analytical and commercial skills with a genuinely client-focused approach, Tanya helps clients understand the key drivers of value within their business and translates complex financial and valuation analysis into clear, practical advice to support key transaction and strategic decisions.

Advisory in Motion

My role covers a range of transactional and financial advisory engagements, including valuations, due diligence, transaction advisory and financial modelling. I work directly with clients throughout each engagement, with the nature of the work varying depending on the specific requirements of each assignment.

The work combines financial analysis, commercial assessment and strategic thinking, with a focus on translating complex analysis into clear, practical advice that supports key transaction and business decisions.

Where Analysis Meets Advice

I was drawn to advisory because of the variety of the work and the opportunity to work across different businesses and situations. I enjoy the analytical side of the role, but equally value the opportunity to work closely with clients, understand their objectives and provide practical advice to support their decision-making. The combination of problem-solving and client interaction is what particularly appealed to me about the career path.

My experience and technical skills have given me a strong analytical and commercial skill set, which forms an integral part of the firm’s broader advisory offering. I help clients understand the key drivers of value and identify quantitative and qualitative opportunities for long-term value creation, particularly in the context of an eventual exit. My financial modelling experience also helps clients understand profitability and pricing drivers, manage cash flow and assess different scenarios to support planning and decision-making. A key part of my approach is translating technical analysis into clear, practical insights that clients can easily understand and apply.

Staying a Step Ahead

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is the importance of being proactive and agile, particularly as client needs can change throughout an engagement. Priorities can shift quickly, requiring you to anticipate requirements, adapt your approach and stay technically current while continuing to deliver to deadlines. I have learned that strong client relationships are built by going beyond the immediate brief, understanding the wider context, anticipating what a client may need before they ask for it, and bringing those insights to the conversation.

Beyond the Immediate Brief

The key to building a strong client relationship is taking the time to understand a client’s business, objectives and wider context, rather than focusing solely on the immediate engagement. I try to be proactive in anticipating what a client may need, communicating openly and bringing relevant insights to the conversation. This builds trust and allows you to become a long-term adviser, rather than simply a service provider.

One example is a long-standing client of the firm whom I began working with after the relationship was already established. Over time, I became a trusted adviser by helping the client develop a clearer understanding of the value of their business and what drives it, explaining valuation principles, EBITDA and the wider financial and commercial drivers of value in a clear, practical way. By going beyond the immediate requirement and helping the client understand the bigger picture, I was able to build trust and develop a strong, long-term relationship.

Delivering Value Together

The most satisfying aspect of working with clients is building strong, long-term relationships. I enjoy getting to know their business, understanding what matters to them and becoming a trusted adviser they can rely on, and it is particularly rewarding when that relationship extends beyond an individual engagement into a long-term partnership. What stands out to me as most rewarding about being part of both my team and the wider AAB organisation is the ability to draw on a wide range of expertise across the organisation and collaborate with colleagues to deliver the best outcomes for our clients.

A recent example involved supporting a due diligence process where the seller was challenging to engage and initially provided limited information. I worked proactively to identify the key information gaps, prioritise what was most important and find alternative ways to substantiate the analysis where possible, keeping the process moving while ensuring key risks and issues were properly identified and communicated to the client. The greatest compliment I have received is when a client seeks my perspective on matters beyond the scope of a specific engagement, which reflects the trust they place in my judgement and the value they see in the relationship beyond the work itself.

Judgement You Can Trust

A common misconception about my profession is that advisory is simply an extension of accounting, or that it is too subjective to provide meaningful insight. In reality, it combines technical analysis, commercial judgement and experience to address complex business questions and support important decisions. The value is in interpreting the information, challenging assumptions and turning it into practical, actionable advice, which is why my approach is always to do the homework, understand the underlying evidence and challenge assumptions before reaching a conclusion.

My key strengths are my technical and analytical ability, and commercial judgement. I bring a broad perspective to engagements, looking at issues from different angles and thinking beyond the obvious to find practical solutions, and I am highly client-focused, with an ability to translate complex analysis into clear, commercially relevant advice. Looking ahead, I am particularly interested in using AI to make advisory work more efficient, from data processing and initial report drafting to researching comparable transactions and market trends, freeing up more time to focus on analysis, judgement and delivering value to clients.