One Firm: Endless Opportunities

It is hard to believe that I have been at AAB for over 10 years now, having made the move to continue my career in tax, I can honestly say I have never regretted my decision.

I started in our Private Client team back in June 2011 as a Tax Senior dealing with a wide variety of personal tax clients, while also being involved in one of our Expat and Employer Tax projects in the “EETS” team. Working over 2 teams was challenging in terms of managing my workload and the different expectations, but also very rewarding as it gave me a large variety of work and meant that no 2 days were the same.

In June 2014 I made the jump to commit all my time to working in the EETS team which quickly became the Integrated Employment Solutions (or “IES” for short) team, encompassing global employment taxes, expat and global mobility, payroll, software and systems and corporate benefits. It was here my career progressed to Tax Manager, and the exposure to so many technical areas really helped my understanding of tax and the increasingly global market in which our clients operate.

Throughout this time, my key focus was on how we used technology to work more efficiently alongside developing our team to be the best versions of themselves, both areas I enjoy immensely. Nurturing the team from the day they start is incredibly rewarding, and to see them develop and progress in their career and gain confidence in their own knowledge and abilities makes me extremely proud.

When the opportunity to be involved in our new technology driven Business Advisory Group (or BAG for short, we like acronyms at AAB!) came up, I jumped at the chance. This new role was going to be very different and had its own challenges, but I was excited about the opportunities it would bring to develop the firms approach to Awesome Service as well as using technology to help deliver to our clients and develop efficiencies.

I am now a Senior Operations Manager in BAG, involved in managing key technology across the team and wider firm. In addition, I am heavily involved in the Firm’s coaching and mentoring strategy which is a real change in our approach to developing the best asset we have, our people.

I am also one of the firms Mental Health First Aiders, we are working hard to reduce the stigma around mental health while also ensuring our team are fully supported and can easily access any help they may need.

If I had to sum up my time at AAB I would say it has been challenging, rewarding, flexible and makes me proud to be part of a forward-thinking Firm of the Future, and I cannot wait to take on the next challenge!

By Isla Mayfield, Senior Business Advisory Services Operations Manager