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Chartered accountants honour leading Manchester talent

ICAEW Chartered Accountants Manchester rewarded outstanding talent and potential at its annual dinner and awards event at The Lowry Hotel last night (March 3rd).

The evening gave the ICAEW Chartered Accountants Manchester the opportunity to acknowledge the region’s best finance teams and individuals who inspire excellent performance in both the accountancy profession and business.

Sponsored by Williams Jaguar in Manchester, Investec Private Banking, Manchester Metropolitan University, Ultimate Finance and The Sellick Partnership, the dinner and awards night attracted over 200 chartered accountants and guests.

As well as celebrating the awards attendees enjoyed networking and fine-dining in one of Manchester’s most prestigious venues and heard an excellent keynote speech from Guardian columnist and BBC Radio 4 presenter Guy Browning.

The Finance Leader (Practice) award, which recognises a Chartered Accountant in practice or consultancy who has shown outstanding leadership skills, was awarded to Helen Besant-Roberts of Hurst Accountants.

As the only person to join the firm as a trainee and progress to partner, Helen has been recognised for the inspirational way she leads her team and trainees.

The Finance Leader (Business) award went to Atul Patel of NCC Group. The award acknowledges a Chartered Accountant in business or academia who has demonstrated outstanding leadership skills. Atul was praised by judges for ‘agility’ in an ever changing environment as well as his extra work this year around the acquisition of three new businesses and entering the FTSE 250.

The Finance Team of the Year award went to Peninsula Group, led by Finance Director, Peter Swift.

This team has shown dedication and drive to continue growing its company, while dealing with the challenge of integrating acquisitions. Judges said that the intense focus on developing a deeper understanding of the profitability of clients and services had been particularly impressive as it clearly contributed to a significant increase in group profit.

The Rising Star accolade, which celebrates the profession’s brightest prospects in business or practice, was handed to Charlene Nunn at Mazars LLP. Already being fast-tracked through the firm, Charlene shows great technical prowess and skill in converting new business leads into revenue. Her contribution to the profession and the broader community, including her charitable work was also noted and rewarded.

Grahame Elliott CBE, was presented with the Special Recognition Award for a lifetime of achievements in business, from setting up his own practice to various non-executive roles.

Particular mention was made of his extensive fundraising efforts, for example for the MRI, and many other local charities, over a period of more than 50 years.

A joint award by ICAEW Chartered Accountants Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) was given to Sophie Bollen of White and Company Ltd, who was the highest achieving student on the MMU Accountancy degree course 2015.

Colin Gillespie, President of ICAEW Chartered Accountants Manchester, said: “This year the competition for our awards was tougher than ever, leading to much debate among the judges. In each category the winner was exceptional, having worked hard and maintained a high level of performance throughout the year, and I was delighted to present the awards on behalf of their peers on a fantastic night.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sue Souter .