The Partners of Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP, one of the largest independent firms of Chartered Accountants in Scotland, are delighted to announce three key internal promotions. Steve Mitchell (pictured centre) becomes a Director of the firm. Steve joined the firm as a Senior Manager in 2010 and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. He is Head of the firm’s Accounting Services team which provides services to predominantly owner managed businesses across a wide range of sectors. Steve is also involved in advising on financial related aspects of running and developing businesses and has a wealth of professional practice experience across accounting, audit, and corporate finance.

Andrew Shaw (pictured right) is appointed Corporate Tax Senior Manager. Andrew joined the firm as a graduate trainee in 2006 and qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser in 2009, before being promoted to Manager in 2011. Andrew manages the corporate tax affairs of a portfolio of multi-national clients and also works on projects, advising groups on all the international tax implications of working cross border, including that of expatriate personnel who are operating in overseas locations, together with coordinating all necessary in country compliance.

Stuart Petrie becomes Private Client Senior Manager. Stuart joined the firm in 2006 from HMRC and is a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians. Stuart provides a range of tax advice to individuals, unincorporated owner-managed businesses and limited companies including planning and compliance and advising on efficient profit extraction. He also provides expert assistance on all types of HMRC enquiries and disclosure matters.

Managing Partner, Mike Brown, commented “we are committed to providing top quality advice and excellent service to our clients and these promotions demonstrate the broad range of specialist skills that we continue to develop within our team”.

Anderson Anderson & Brown was formed in 1990 and now has 13 Partners, 8 Directors and over 200 staff. The firm has 6 key service areas namely; audit & accounting, taxation (personal, corporate, international and VAT), integrated employment solutions, corporate finance, management information solutions and wealth management.

We are delighted to announce that the firm has been shortlisted for the 2014 UK-wide Payroll World Awards in all three categories which we decided to enter:

• Payroll Team Award – Bureau / Service Provider (which we won last year)
• Specialist Payroll Provider Award (which we won last year)
• Payroll Provider Award

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on Thursday 23 October 2014.

Now in its fourth year, the Payroll World Awards honours individuals and teams for outstanding achievement and pioneering work within the payroll industry. The awards are now firmly established as the leading awards platform for the payroll industry.

Commenting on this latest recognition of the firm, Gary Johnstone, Integrated Employment Solutions Senior Manager at AAB said “We are delighted to be shortlisted for these prestigious awards. Once again, our firm’s achievements are being viewed positively by independent bodies, recognising that the efforts and successes of our experienced and committed team of individuals is contributing positively to our clients’ business operations.”

“We are particularly pleased to be shortlisted in both categories which we won last year and are looking forward to the awards ceremony in London next month.”

Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP (“AAB”) has experienced a tremendous level of deal activity during the first half of this year and completed 27 deals during the period between 1 January – 30 June 2014.

Please click here to read further.

Sheena Anderson, a founding Partner of Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP, one of Scotland’s largest independent firms of Chartered Accountants, had the honour of being a baton bearer in the Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton relay today.

Sheena was nominated to take part in the relay by her son Scott, who said “when I realised there was an option to nominate someone to take part, I had no doubt that my Mum would be the ‘perfect candidate’.”

Being one of the founding Partners of an award winning Chartered Accountancy firm and heading up their Private Client department, Sheena champions the way for women in business. Not only this, she also serves on The Prince’s Youth Trust panel and helps start-up businesses.

As well as being a role model in the business sense, Sheena’s charitable efforts are extensive and typify her aim to help others. She visits orphans in Sierra Leone and also raises money to have them visit Scotland. In addition she sponsors an orphan in India to help fund her full time education. She even finds time on Christmas Day to drive people with no friends and family to enjoy their day at the Salvation Army.

Mike Brown, a fellow founding Partner of AAB and long-term close friend commented “All who know Sheena are aware of her inspirational qualities and her selfless activities are too many to be listed. As well as being a Mum of three, Sheena’s ‘roles’ include business woman, charity worker, sportswoman, business mentor and school governor to name but a few. She is an inspiring woman whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for many years. We, her friends and colleagues, are very proud of her and are delighted that she was chosen to participate in this memorable event.”

We are delighted to announce that the firm has been named Tax Team of the Year at the 2014 Scottish Accountancy & Finance Awards (in conjunction with Scottish Business Insider).

Gill Pryde, Head of Tax, commented, “We are delighted with this national recognition of the exceptional talent and innovation within our tax team, one of the largest and most diverse in Scotland. It is fantastic to see our firm’s achievements being viewed positively by independent bodies, recognising that the efforts and successes of our experienced and committed team of individuals is contributing positively to our clients’ business operations.”

The firm has been successful in these awards in the past having been awarded ‘Accountancy Firm of the Year’ at the 2013 awards, ‘Best Small Firm’ and ‘Fastest Growing Firm’ in 2009 and ‘Best Team of the Year’ (corporate finance) in 2010. This is also the ninth consecutive year that the firm’s corporate finance team have topped the Insider league tables for both ‘most deals initiated’ and ‘most deals completed’ in Scotland.

It is no secret that HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) have been targeting UK residents with overseas bank accounts and investments. Further proof of this has recently been revealed in the HMRC “no safe havens” document which outlines their strategy, and reinforces the message that now, more than ever, HMRC are investing time and money into investigating those with overseas assets. Whilst the new UK/Swiss agreement has been hitting the headlines, many other plans are now being unveiled by HMRC including:

• In the next few months HMRC will begin to automatically receive overseas investment information on UK residents from 44 separate countries.
• HMRC is now ready and able to pay rewards to individual “whistle-blowers” for significant information which helps uncover secret offshore accounts.
• Increased civil penalties for offshore tax evasion of up to 200% of the tax evaded are now firmly in place.
• HMRC will consult on a new criminal offence of failing to declare taxable offshore income, with the potential for unlimited penalties, as well as a prison sentence.

HMRC has analysed and cross referenced electronic information held to identify hot spots in the UK where the highest proportion of offshore account holders live, with the north east of Scotland being identified as a hot spot! It is therefore clear that whilst HMRC’s current focus is on contacting the 25,000 UK residents who they know hold Swiss bank accounts by the end of this month, much of the long-term strategy is focused on offshore matters anywhere in the world.

Importantly, where disclosures are to be made, many HMRC voluntary disclosure campaigns are still available right through to 2016. These campaigns have much more favourable disclosure terms, therefore with the right guidance and approach a relatively pain free disclosure still possible!

If you require any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact Stuart Petrie.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Peter Sim as Senior Manager in Taxation Services.

Peter, who qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2009, joins AAB from PwC where he was responsible for managing and advising a portfolio of predominantly owner managed and private equity backed businesses on all aspects of UK and international corporate tax. Peter brings a wealth of technical knowledge to AAB and his focus will include all forms of corporate restructuring.

Gill Pryde, Head of Taxation, commented “We are committed to providing exemplary service and tax advice to our clients and are delighted to welcome Peter, who brings further expertise to our corporate tax advisory team.”

AAB was formed in 1990 and now employs over 200, which includes 13 partners and 7 Directors. The firm has 6 key service areas namely audit & accounting, taxation (personal, corporate, international and VAT), accounting and payroll outsourcing, corporate finance, management information solutions and wealth management.

We are delighted to announce that AAB has been shortlisted for the 2014 Scottish Accountancy & Finance Awards in the categories of ‘Accountancy Firm of the Year’, which we won last year, ‘Tax Team of the Year’ and Managing Partner Mike Brown has been shortlisted in the ‘Accountant of the Year’ category. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Glasgow on Wednesday June 18.

Now in their seventh year, these awards are looking to celebrate the vital ‘behind the scenes’ role that accountants play in ensuring the effectiveness of both companies and public sector organisations.

A panel of independent experts will judge the awards, with research being carried out by the Business School at Edinburgh Napier University.

Commenting on this latest recognition of the firm, Graeme Allan, Deputy Managing Partner, said “We are delighted to be shortlisted for these prestigious awards. Once again, our firm’s achievements are being viewed positively by independent bodies, recognising that the efforts and successes of our experienced and committed team of individuals is contributing positively to our clients’ business operations.”

“Each year offers up different challenges and through application of exceptional talent, experience and expertise our team continues to rise to the occasion and deliver positive results time and again.”

AAB has raised over £30,000 for local cancer charity, Friends of ANCHOR in a year-long fundraising drive. AAB has its own Fundraising Committee and each year partner with and raise funds for a local charity. The committee asks the staff to nominate charities close to their hearts and then the partnership is decided by an all-staff vote. Friends of ANCHOR were nominated as a result of both a member of staff, and another staff member’s relative, receiving first-class care as they were treated in the ANCHOR unit of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary over the previous year.

Staff threw themselves into a variety of activities to raise funds throughout the year, the most successful being an interdepartmental challenge to see who could raise the most from a starting pot of £15 over a 100-day period. The most daring of these was a sky dive by 8 very brave members of staff. Proceeds from this challenge have already bought a cool-cap machine for the unit, but staff overwhelmingly voted that the balance of the money raised to go towards a Friends of ANCHOR funded clinical trial which is the first of its kind.

Today, representatives from AAB met with the lead research fellow of the trial, Russell Petty. The aim of the trial – totalling almost £190,000 – is to give patients suffering from an aggressive form of stomach cancer a second chance at fighting a disease which too often claims the lives of those facing it. In Aberdeen the percentage of patients potentially having access to a clinical trial is 44% compared to a national average of 14-16%.

The method using FDG-PET scans will determine within two weeks of starting treatment, those patients for whom chemotherapy will be ineffective thereby enabling consultants to give patients an opportunity of a second chance of effective treatment.

This would represent a significant advance over current practice where patients often undergo two to three months of chemotherapy before it can be determined if the treatment is working. If the cancer has progressed during this time the chance of survival is significantly lowered due to unviable opportunity for alternative treatment.

Clinical Senior Lecturer in Medical Oncology in the Aberdeen University School of Medicine and Consultant Medical Oncologist in NHS Grampian, Russell Petty, the lead of the Friends of ANCHOR-funded clinical trial comments; “It is tremendous to see that people realise the huge importance of clinical trials within the North-east and I’m so grateful to Anderson Anderson & Brown employees for contributing a significant amount of their year-long fundraising to the trial. This will give patients a second chance at fighting this aggressive form of cancer that too often has a poor prognosis. I’m excited and optimistic for what the future holds for cancer patients as a result of this trial.”

Managing Partner of An­derson Anderson & Brown LLP, Mike Brown comments; “I am exceptionally proud of the team for all the time, effort and commitment they’ve passionately poured into fundraising for Friends of ANCHOR this past year. The sum of money raised has surprised as all, especially for a
firm of our size.

“I think the big driving force behind the successful fundraising was down to the absolute assurance that every penny raised would make a direct difference to those we know and love who are receiving cancer treatment at the ANCHOR Unit. To know that we can play a part in ensuring North-east cancer patients receive the best treatment and care is a real privilege and a cause we feel proud to have supported.”

 

The Partners of Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP are delighted to announce three key appointments within their leadership team. They are Derek Gemmell and Gordon Steele to Partners and Ciara Blackwood to Director.

Gordon trained and qualified with the firm in audit and then joined the Corporate Finance team in 2004 where he was promoted to Senior Manager in 2007 and Director in 2011. Gordon gets involved in all aspects of corporate finance work and has transacted over 150 deals. He also plays a significant role in the department’s development and has been key in the initiation and execution of a number of high profile and complex oil service deals.

Derek, a qualified Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, joined the firm as a Senior Manager in 2008 and was promoted to Director in 2012. With his depth of experience in many areas of taxation, Derek, alongside Deputy Managing Partner Graeme Allan, leads the firm’s specialist Expertise to Entrepreneurs (‘E2’) division in delivering innovative investment structures which provide the firm’s entrepreneurial client base a greater return on their investment.

Ciara, who joined the firm in 2011, is Head of Strategy & Business Transformation within the Corporate Finance Team. Working with a diverse range of clients, Ciara is involved in a variety of strategic planning and development, pre-sale business readiness, disposals, fundraising and succession planning. As well as this, Ciara has increasingly become involved in key internal corporate development initiatives across AAB and has made a significant contribution in this area.

Managing Partner, Mike Brown, commented “By expanding our leadership team, through these appointments, we are confident that our ability to deliver only the very best of client service will be strengthened further. Each of these promotions are well deserved and, following on from the appointment of Graeme Allan to Deputy Managing Partner, are also key to the succession development and continuing prosperity of the firm in the future.”

Anderson Anderson & Brown was formed in 1990 and now has 13 Partners, 6 Directors and over 200 staff. The firm has 6 key service areas namely; audit & accounting, taxation (personal, corporate, international and VAT), accounting and payroll outsourcing, corporate finance, management information solutions and wealth management.