Aloha from Hawaii!

Anne, Laurena, Chris and Mihir recently returned home from a week in Hawaii on the island of Oahu.

We were there alongside about 100 other representatives from accounting firms from Australia and New Zealand for the Rob Nixon annual conference.  The focus was on goal setting and adapting to change.

The content of the conference was aimed at getting us focused on servicing our clients better through better business planning, improving our range of services and most importantly getting the team involved and motivated.  And of course bringing what we know back to our clients.  One of the team building exercises we encountered was the “Survivor Challenge” where we were to undertake in a team, a series of physical challenges – one of which was making Chris a Hawaiian Princess!

Left:  “Princess” Chris Wheatley.

 While in Hawaii we were inducted into the Rob Nixon Hall of Fame.  This award represents our contributions and commitment to the club.  It also embodies the following attributes:

- Serving as an exemplar to others in the profession

- The highest level of integrity, ethics and accountability

- Revenue growth and profit achievement

- Contributions of intellectual capital to the profession

- Continual, challenging, personal and professional development

- Risk taking and resilience

 Congratulations Team!

Although it was a whirlwind trip, we did manage to enjoy a cocktail or two…

 ….. and hire a couple of Mustang Convertibles to explore the island and the famed North Shore.

And we haven’t just come away with fond memories, we have developed brand new business services and introduced better processes to improve our standard of service.  We have experienced first hand the enormous impact a focused strategic planning session can be on an organisation and we intend to bring it back to our clients.  The process we went through can be compared to turning on the lights in a dark room. 

Sheryl the Retiree

We have been keeping in contact with Sheryl and she is taking to retired life just fine.  Sheryl’s days are filled with going to the gym, swimming and sight seeing!

Now that Sheryl has retired she has more time to drag Rob to jewellery stores and now Rob’s retired he doesn’t have any excuses not to!

AB Accountancy Wins Business Achiever Award

Anne and the team at AB Accountancy are delighted to have won the City South News Business Achievers Award for 2009 in the Professional Services Category.

The awards evening, presented by Quest Community Newspapers and sponsored by Suncorp Bank, was hosted by Tony Johnston and Miranda Deakin at the Gabba on Friday 13th November. In accepting the award Anne attributed the win to her loyal and dedicated team and their focus on customer service, and thanked all of our clients for their continued support.

Now in its 16th year, the Quest Business Achiever Awards recognise and celebrate excellence in quality, service and customer care. Awards were made in seventeen different business categories including Beauty Services, Formal Dining, Fashion, Hairdressers and Real Estate.

The AB team enjoyed a terrific evening, with entertainment provided by 2008 Australian Idol Finalist Chrislyn Hamilton, the Queensland National Ballet and DJ Cat Kid.

Mihir Joins the AB Accountancy Team

Mihir Patel has joined the team at AB Accountancy. With a background in both public practice and commerce, Mihir brings well rounded business and tax planning experience and skills into the firm. CPA qualified in 2007 and with a diploma in business systems Mihir is able to deliver leading edge tax and systems development advice to our wide client base. Currently living in Forest Lake Mihir enjoys squash, cricket and golf when he can find the time after looking after all of his clients’ needs!

Mihir

City South News Business Achiever Awards 2009 Finalists

AB Accountancy are delighted to confirm that they have qualified for the finals of the City South News 2009 Business Achiever Awards in the Professional Services category. We are therefore entering the next stage of the assessment process along with the other 5 businesses who made the finals in that category. Many thanks to all of our valued clients and professional contacts who voted for us.

Cate and Laurena Win Awards

AB team members Laurena Chambers and Cate Molloy have both received the Griffith Award for Academic Excellence for 2008/09 from Griffith University. The Certificates recognise the achievement of both for being in the top 5% of students studying for the Bachelor of Commerce in 2008/09 at Griffith.

Sheryl Wins SMOFTY

Each year the team at AB vote for the Staff Member of the Year, across a range of different client service, technical and other categories. Coming out on top for 2008/09 was Anne’s longest serving team member Sheryl Robinson. Sheryl received her award from Anne and a bundle of goodies (including a weekend retreat to the Versace Hotel) at the team End of Year lunch at the Story Bridge Hotel.

Client Service Flexibility

When we were contacted by a client drowning in a home office full of disorganised paperwork (what we refer to here as ‘random stack technology’) the team at AB Accountancy sprang into action to put the words on our reception board into action. Our commitment outlined on that board is ‘We make helping our Customers the top priority in our working lives and are constantly striving to improve’. So Leonie volunteered to spend half a day out at the clients premises to start the task of getting this particular clients affairs back in order. Outside our normal area of operation – certainly. But helping the client and something that added value to their business operation – definitely. Cheers Leonie!

Launch of our new website

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website.

Please visit our firm journal for all the news occuring in our firm.