Columnist

A night of celebrations for the North East accountancy and finance community

Thursday 26th June, saw the region’s accounting and finance stars praised for their achievements at the 8th North East Accountancy Awards sponsored by Nigel Wright Recruitment.

Hosted by BBC Breakfast News presenter Colin Briggs, the black tie dinner took place at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead and brought together 400 people from the region’s business community in a celebration of individual and team success in accountancy and finance. Supported by the main finance organisations, AAT, ACCA, CIMA, CIOT, CIPFA and ICAEW, the event is firmly established as the premier finance awards in North East England.

Andy Hudson Managing Director of Echo Events, the organisers of the North East Accountancy Awards said, “It was a pleasure and a privilege to be a part of the acknowledgement of excellence and endeavour amongst such great professionals. The constant theme in acceptance speeches echoed the joy of being part of a team. In many moments of the evening, the team-spirit of the whole room was evident.” This was the 8th Accountancy Awards for the region; the feedback suggests that we will all be there for many years to come.”

And the 2014 winners are:

• Accounting Technician of the Year (sponsored by AAT) – Holly Langton, Balfour Beatty Business Services
• New Accountant of the Year (sponsored by BPP Professional Education) – Craig Hart, Aspire Technology Solutions Ltd
• Accountant of the Year (sponsored by ACCA) – Vicki Brown, Vertu Motors plc
• Business Finance Team of the Year (sponsored by the University of Sunderland) – Sage UK Ltd
• Tax Adviser of the Year (sponsored by CIOT) – Stephen Hall, Deloitte
• Corporate Finance Deal of the Year (sponsored Rathbones) – Tait Walker LLP
• Branch of the Year (sponsored by Square One Law LLP) - KPMG LLP
• Finance Director of the Year (sponsored by Barclays) – Iain Richardson, The Winn Group
• Public Services Finance Team of the Year (sponsored by CIPFA NE) – Northumberland Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust
• Independent Firm of the Year (sponsored by ICAEW/Northern Society of Chartered Accountants) – Tait Walker LLP
• Accounting & Finance Employer of the Year (sponsored by Echo Events) – KPMG LLP

A new award introduced to this year’s ceremony was the Unsung Hero Award, which recognised individuals who give up their time and expertise to support not-for-profit organisations and their local communities. This award was voted for by the public and the winner was Geoff Little, who has supported Whickham School and Sports College during their difficult transition from a local authority school to an independent academy. Geoff said, “I am extremely humbled and flattered to have been put forward for this Award. All of the nominees do amazing work and I am honoured that I have been voted as the winner this year.”

Paul Wilson CEO Nigel Wright said, “I was delighted to attend my first North East Accountancy Awards on Thursday night. The quality of the event and more importantly the quality of the entrants, short lists and winners more than justified the long term investment Nigel Wright has made in the event and confirmed in my mind that the North East has much to be proud of.”

The most prestigious award of the evening is the Outstanding Achievement Award which is sponsored by title sponsor Nigel Wright and was awarded to North East LEP Chair and former Senior Partner of PwC Paul Woolston.. Bill MacLeod, Senior Partner at PwC in Newcastle said, “Paul had a distinguished career at PwC which spanned 25 years. He successfully built PwC’s government and public sector practice in the region and has become a leading voice in promoting the strengths of the North East. He took up his role as chair of the LEP when the North East was feeling the effects of the recession and through his leadership has helped to create the Combined Authority to develop an agenda for growth is providing unified leadership for the area to attract investment. It is fantastic that he has been recognised by his peers for his dedication to the profession, and to the region’s private and public sectors.”

Another winner on the night was this year’s chosen charity, The Key_Your Potential Unlocked who raised a fantastic £5020.75 to help young people across the region achieve their goals and aspirations.

As well as the all-important awards ceremony, guests were also entertained by tales of teamwork and pressure as adventurer and TV presenter Monty Halls shared his stories.

It certainly was a night of celebration and recognition for finance departments across in region.

Further details relating to the Nigel Wright North East Accountancy Awards can be found at: www.accountancyawards.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Echo Events .