Joining AAB’s Audit and Family Business Teams

Emma Mowatt joined AAB in 2019 as a graduate in our audit department. She dicusses how she has been able to seize opportunities within AAB, becoming a member of our dedicated Family Business team.

AAB Life Blog

Blog23rd Jul 2021

I had worked in the audit team at AAB for 8 months before we went into lockdown, starting my career at AAB as a Graduate Trainee. I settled in quickly to the audit team and built strong friendships with the others in my graduate cohort, so it was a big shock to the system when I moved from working out at client premises to a desk in my own home.

But our team did adapt to the new way of working quickly. Due to the nature of audit, I was rarely in the office and each new work week brought a new client and a new site to be on. I think this interaction with clients and seeing each day-to-day operation really helped my understanding of the businesses and helped build those vital connections with the people I was working with, which is so valuable when starting out in your career.

Although technology is great and it has allowed for us to keep providing a great client service during the pandemic, obviously it still doesn’t quite match the experience of interacting with clients out on site and being there in person allows them to get to know more about us as a team too, even if its just having a quick chat during the day about weekend plans, or how bad the traffic was that morning! I think every interaction has a hugely positive impact on client service that we provide and the relationships that we build.

During lockdown I was lucky that due to audits continuing, I still had that variety week by week, and this was amplified even more when I was asked to join AAB’s dedicated family business team. From day 1, AAB have been working with family businesses and it has been really insightful to join the team, find out more about how the firm assist these businesses and the families, and also find out more about the opportunities and struggles the sector faces, and the importance they have within the UK economy.

Everyone in the team works across different departments but we all share a common denominator with our interests for our clients. We’re all people with our own families and lives outside of work, so it comes natural for us to look at the bigger picture and delve a little deeper to build those really strong, trustworthy relationships with our clients to ensure we help them reach their goals and potential.

This personal dynamic that we hold strong in our professional relationships is very important for all our clients, but I think especially more so for our family business clients who’s decisions and plans for the future may be a little bit tougher to think and talk about due to the more personal tie they have with their business.

Being part of the family business team has given me confidence that when the opportunity arises and clients need help with queries outside the scope of the audit, I’ll know someone that I can point them in the direction of. Our expanding group also shows that we are willing to be able to help our clients in all aspects of their business and where we can help, we will do our best to provide our awesome service.

By Emma Mowatt, Audit Analyst

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