Just months after guiding her company through a takeover by Ferrovial, Margaret Ewing, BAA's finance director, will challenge Trevor Dighton from Group 4 Securicor and John Bason from Associated British Foods for the title of Blue Chip FD of the Year at this year's Accountancy Age Awards.

The Blue Chip award will be just one of many keenly contested categories at this year's event.

The Public Sector FD of the Year Award will be contested by Ken Sutherland from the NFU, Mark Lumsden Taylor from Hadlow College, Sharon Burd from the Metropolitan Police and Philip Lloyd from HM Court Services.

Johnston Carmichael, Bishop Fleming and Bentley Jennison have made the shortlist for Large Firm of the Year, while SJD Accountancy, Landers, Windsor Stebbing Marsh and Haworths will contest the Small Firm of theYear Award.

BDO Stoy Hayward, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, KPMG and PwC have been shortlisted for best Global Firm.

Read the full shortlist below:

Personality of the year
Eric Anstee, chief executive of the ICAEW
Rona Fairhead, CEO of Financial Times Group
Dave Hartnett, director general of HM Revenue & Customs
Jeremy Newman, managing partner of BDO Stoy Hayward
Alison Reed, group finance director at Standard Life

Global Firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers
KPMG
Deloitte
Ernst & Young
BDO Stoy Hayward
Grant Thornton

Large Firm
Johnston Carmichael
Bishop Fleming
Bentley Jennison

Medium Firm
Wright Vigar
Jackson Stephen
Haslers
Sagars

Small Firm of the Year
SJD Accountancy
Landers
Windsor Stebbing Marsh
Haworths

Corporate Finance
KPMG
BDO Stoy Hayward
Deloitte

FinanceTeam: Business
Priceline International
AA

Finance Team: Public Sector
HMCourts Service
Ealing Council
Metropolitan Police
Salford City Council

Report and Accounts: Business
Friends Provident
Associated British Ports
WPP
Land Securities RM plc
Acambis
RM plc

Report and Accounts: Public Sector
British Library
HM Court Services
Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad
Valuation Agency
Learning and Skills Council

Accounting Technician
Lorraine Ludlow - CQG
Damon Brain – Duncan & Topliss
Anne Rooney – FPM

Finance Director:Blue Chip
Trevor Dighton - Group 4 Securicor
Margaret Ewing – BAA
John Bason – Associated British  Foods

Finance Director: Growing Business
Michael Warren - WorkGroup
Katherine Harris - Rollover
Jitesh Sodha - Mobile Streams
Dynshaw Italia – Cobra Beer
Richard Jones – Plastic Building Materials

Finance director: Public Sector
Ken Sutherland – NFU
Mark LumsdenTaylor – Hadlow College
Sharon Burd – Metropolitan Police
Philip Lloyd – HM Court Services

Accountant of theYear
Ruth Dooley – Grant Thornton
Sam Gable – Havering Council
Simon George – Ealing Council

Best use of internet: Practice
Goodman Jones
eBral
Jonathan Ford
Peters Elworthy & Moore
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Best use of internet: Business
London Presence
IT InsideOut
Taxassist

Best use of internet: Public Sector
Companies House
HM Treasury
Lambeth Council
Havering Council

Enterprise Software
Cedar Open Accounts
Topaz
Cartesis

Mid-range Software
Hansaworld
Access
Webexpenses
Pegasus

Small Business Software
Mamut
TAS
Sage
Netsuite
MYOB