The CISI last night announced the winners of its annual Financial Planning Awards at its Gala Dinner at the CISI Financial Planning Conference, with Acumen Financial Planning taking the trophy for Accredited Financial Planning Firm of the Year.

Acumen is based in Aberdeen, with offices in Edinburgh, Elgin and Peterhead, and is headed up by Sandy Robertson CFPTM Chartered FCSI, who was the first Scottish Financial Planner to become an IFP Fellow.

Many of its team have long track records in financial services. Acumen is one of the few Financial Planning firms in the country which is both a CISI Accredited Financial Planning Firm and PFS Chartered Financial Planning Firm.

Among the other awards, Jenny Ryan of Baigrie Davies won the Paraplanner of the Year award and Antolijs Babanovs won the Financial Planning Student of the Year. Former IFP President Jane Wheeler, Chartered FCSI, won the Tony Selling ‘Good Egg’ Memorial Award for her contribution to Financial Planning.

IFP and Prestwood Software founder Paul Etheridge was given a special CISI Lifetime Achievement Award.

The awards were presented at the Celtic Manor Resort in South Wales, the venue for this year’s three day event, the first to be run entirely by the CISI since the merger last year between the IFP and the CISI.

You can read our Planner Case Study from Acumen’s Bill Saunders here: http://bit.ly/2dIuTUV

Jacqueline Lockie, CFP^TM Chartered FCSI and CISI’s deputy head of Financial Planning, said: “We congratulate all our winners as these awards are a testament to their professionalism and overall dedication to putting the client at the centre of their businesses.”

The list of award winners is:

· CISI Lifetime Achievement Award 
WINNER: Paul Etheridge MBE, CFP^CM

· Tony Sellon ‘Good Egg’ Memorial Award WINNER: Jane Wheeler, Chartered FCSI

· Financial Planning Student of the Year
WINNER: Antolijs Babanovs

· Jonathon Timms Memorial Award
WINNER: James Lee CFPTM MCSI

· Recognising Excellence – Accredited Financial Planning Firm^TM of the Year
WINNER: Acumen Financial Planning

· Paraplanner of the Year
WINNER: Jenny Ryan, Paraplanner, Baigrie Davies

• Comprehensive coverage of the conference is available on Financial Planning Today website