13 Years of Best Companies Success for AAB

Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP (AAB), one of the UK’s leading firms of Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors, is celebrating its 13th consecutive year of being recognised as a Best Company. AAB has also secured a place on The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For List 2020, the fifth consecutive year of achieving this recognition; and is the only Scottish accountancy firm to feature in the top 60.

These achievements are only possible thanks to AAB feedback via the Best Companies engagement survey. The questions are designed to examine all aspects of company life; from day-to-day working practices to wellbeing initiatives and reveals how employees truly perceive their working environment.

AAB’s extremely positive response rate may be a reflection of the continued focus the firm has on employee wellbeing and wider corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, as well as client success. The firm’s ‘Social Club’ continue to organise a variety of events during and after the working day for all staff to get involved in. As well as one off events throughout the year, the club organised the ‘In It To Win It’ tournament in May 2019 which consisted of each department taking on weekly challenges throughout the month, with the final challenge being a quiz night to wrap up the competition.

2019 also saw an increased focus on AAB’s CSR efforts. The firm’s ‘Green Team’; a group of AAB employees dedicated to minimising AAB’s environmental impact has seen some great success in the past year. Through encouraging employees to share their ‘green’ ideas and implementing more environmentally friendly processes, the firm has significantly reduced landfill, paper and single use plastic waste. Through the firm’s charitable initiative (AABi), AAB employees are continuing to fundraise and donate volunteering hours to charities in Scotland’s North East and Central Belt. Since its founding, AABi has donated over £125,000 and over 5,000 hours of volunteering time to very worthy causes.

AAB is also continuing its work to support the next generation of leaders through taking part in educational mentoring programmes, sponsoring college & university awards and expanding its training programme intake. 2019 saw the largest programme intake to date, with 48 graduates, apprentices, placements, interns and work experience pupils joining the firm.

The firm has also continued to experience significant growth across services, sectors and locations. Following on from AAB’s launch in Edinburgh in 2018, all seven business units are now represented in the Central Belt. Further afield, AAB’s London office is continuing to generate significant business with global mobility and payroll solutions for international businesses. Across the firm as a whole there has been some significant restructuring with new Managing Partners announced for Aberdeen and Edinburgh, an increased focus on dedicated service teams and the newly structured Business Advisory Group, established to provide a technology driven service to a diverse range of clients.

Graeme Allan, Chief Executive, said “We are thrilled to be recognised as a top company to work for within the UK once again. There have been some big changes across the firm this year as our offices continue to grow and we enter new markets; so it is great to know that our employees are feeling as happy, driven and empowered as ever to help their teams, and in turn the firm, reach our ambitious goals.”

Karen Stewart, Chief Human Resources Officer at AAB, added “We are so thankful to our amazing employees for taking the time to participate in the Best Companies survey and it is their hard work and enthusiasm that makes AAB one of the best companies to work for. We strive to create an inspiring working environment for our people to feel happy within their role, whilst also making sure we are attracting the brightest talent across all teams and levels to ensure continued success for AAB’s firm of the future.”

Jonathan Austin, CEO & Founder of Best Companies, commented: “I would like to congratulate AAB on your achievement. Best Companies have been producing the accreditation standard since 2006 to acknowledge excellence in the workplace. Organisations like AAB have continued to focus on their employees and have been rewarded with an engaged workforce who tell us that this is a best company to work for.”