AAB has appointed Simon Bachelor to lead its hotel accounting division, succeeding Ian Bremner, who has retired, a move that matters broadly because it maintains continuity in a specialist practice serving hotel chains and hospitality investors across the UK and Ireland, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because it shows a Goldman Sachs-backed platform continuing to invest in sector-specific expertise even while pursuing rapid geographic and acquisitive growth elsewhere in the business.

AAB is an Aberdeen-founded professional services group backed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives since 2025, providing accounting, tax, audit, corporate finance, HR, payroll and wealth advisory services, employing more than 1,900 staff and reporting revenues exceeding 267 million dollars across the UK and Ireland.

Bachelor brings more than 20 years of experience across hospitality finance, management and hotel operations, including nearly eight years in direct operational roles, and will lead a division working with family-owned enterprises, hotel chains, management companies and sector investors.

AAB Regions head John Beevers said the firm's strategy rests on "combining strong local relationships with deep specialist expertise," positioning Bachelor's appointment as reinforcement of an existing capability rather than a new venture.

That reinforcement sits alongside rapid growth elsewhere in the business. AAB tripled in size between 2021 and 2025 under previous owner August Equity, completing 16 acquisitions and passing 100 million pounds in revenue, growth that has continued under Goldman Sachs Alternatives with further deals this year including FM Accountants in Dublin and LSMQ in Carlow.

That combination, maintaining named sector specialists like Bachelor while continuing to acquire across regions, mirrors a pattern already visible elsewhere in mid-market consolidation, where platforms increasingly compete on defensible niche expertise rather than scale alone.

For the sector, AAB's existing Irish footprint, built through acquisitions including Ormsby & Rhodes and FPM Accountants in Newry, means specialist practices like hotel accounting are now available to Irish hospitality clients through the same platform serving comparable UK businesses.

Source: International Accounting Bulletin / Citywire / Consultancy.uk