Historic Scottish accountant French Duncan with 200 staff acquired by AAB in major sector consolidation

Aberdeen-headquartered accountancy heavyweight AAB has snapped up a historic peer in what it says is its largest acquisition to date and sees it take on more than 200 additional staff.

The firm has swooped on accountant French Duncan, which has served Central Scotland for more than a century with offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling, for an undisclosed sum. The company being acquired is described as providing various accountancy and business services to support small and medium-sized enterprises as well as individuals – and it will henceforth trade as AAB.

It comes after AAB’s financial firepower was boosted by securing investment from private equity house August Equity in October 2021, with this latest acquisition marking the eighth business to join the group in the past 18 months. That includes the announcement in August last year of its purchase of an English customs consultancy firm.

Additionally, accountancy and business advisory firm AAB says the deal brings the headcount of its Central Scotland team to more than 350, “strengthening the team to deliver client-focused services to businesses and individuals across a key growth region for the AAB Group”. It also brings on board more than 50 leisure and hospitality finance specialists who provide bespoke hotel accounting services to clients across the UK.

From left: AAB CEO Graeme Allan and French Duncan managing partner Graeme Finnie. Picture: contributed.

AAB added that the addition of French Duncan will build on the existing AAB Group specialist teams in audit, tax, business advisory, corporate finance and payroll/HR (including health and safety), and doubles the size of the AAB restructuring and recovery team across the UK and Ireland.

Graeme Allan, AAB Group chief executive, said: “This is our largest strategic acquisition to date and significantly strengthens our market position in Scotland. [French Duncan and AAB] share a passion for supporting clients to achieve their goals by offering an unparalleled range of services to the businesses and individuals who choose to work with us, and I know our teams will be able to provide an even better service to our clients as a result of this deal.”

Superb

Graeme Finnie, managing partner of French Duncan, will take on the role of managing partner, Glasgow, for AAB following the deal, which he hailed as a “superb next step” for the team of the professional services firm being taken over. “We have admired the journey AAB has been on, and by joining the group ourselves we will create unmatched opportunities for our teams and our clients through enhanced technology, investment and expertise,” he added.

In terms of specific French Duncan units rebranding, the transaction will see FD Hotel Accounting trading as AAB Hotel Accounting and FD People trading as AAB People, while French Duncan Wealth Management and FD Intelligence do not form part of the transaction. AAB Group – formerly known as Anderson Anderson & Brown – recently premiered its new, expanded office in Edinburgh city centre, and has now also pointed out that it now has more than 1,000 staff across the UK, Ireland and internationally, adding that its “rapid growth journey is expected to continue across the UK and Ireland in 2023”.

The AAB-French Duncan deal marks the latest consolidation in Scotland’s accountancy sector, with George + Co, a firm based in Edinburgh’s West End, recently taken over by Opulus, the firm that also bought Glasgow outfit Nicolson Accountancy in 2022.