Accountancy excellence honoured at awards.

Applause echoed around the walls of London’s Natural History Museum last night as winners of the Accountancy Age Awards for Excellence stepped up to take their prizes in categories ranging from trainee accountant to Big Five firm.

Anne Redston won the leading honour – Accountancy Age Personality of the Year Award – for her unstinting efforts in opposing the government’s controversial IR35 tax crackdown. For the second consecutive year, Ernst & Young reigned victorious for its achievements to win the accolade in the Big Five firm category.

E&Y was joint winners with PricewaterhouseCoopers in last year’s awards.

Craig Bennett, finance director of the telecoms company, The Caudwell Group, clinched the prestigious award of Financial Director of the Year for his crucial role in the company’s success story.

Damian Wild, Accountancy Age editor and chairman of the panel of judges, said: ‘Once again this year’s Accountancy Age Awards for Excellence generated a huge number of high-quality entries.

‘Accountants are sometimes guilty of failing to trumpet their successes. But in the face of very, very difficult conditions over the last 12 months – from SEC-imposed change to the vagaries of the e-business revolution – many individuals and businesses have managed to shine. These awards give the wider world a chance to recognise those achievements.’

Faced with changes in the accountancy world, judges were impressed by how accountants in all sectors had been able to enhance traditional skills to improve value-added services to customers.

ACCOUNTANCY AGE AWARD WINNERS

Accountancy Age Personality of the Year: Anne Redston, Ernst & Young

Big Five Firm: Ernst & Young

Medium Firm: HLB Kidsons

Small Firm: Ford Campbell

Finance Team: Reed Business Information

Financial Director: Craig Bennett, The Caudwell Group

Annual Report and Accounts: The British Land Company

Accounting Software – Off-the-Shelf: TAS Software for TAS Book-Keeper

Accounting Software – Mid-Range: Exchequer Software for Exchequer Enterprise

Accounting Software – Enterprise Systems: OpenAccounts

Public Services Achievement: David Allcock, Birmingham Heartlands and Solihull NHS Trust

Recruitment Advertisement: Hays Accountancy Personnel for the DTI

ACCA New Accountant: Jennifer Atkinson, Rawlinson & Hunter

CIMA New Accountant: Judith Law, PricewaterhouseCoopers

CIPFA New Accountant: Catherine Stewart, PricewaterhouseCoopers

ICAEW New Accountant: Jonathan Clark, Ernst & Young

ICAS New Accountant: Scott Wallace, KPMG

Trainee Accountant: Helen Lillington, District Audit.