French Duncan accountant scoops national award

An Edinburgh-based chartered accountant has been recognised for her achievements in the insolvency and restructuring sector with a national award win.

Eileen Blackburn, who is a partner at Scottish accountancy firm French Duncan, received the prestigious Scottish Insolvency and Restructuring Recognition Award at the R3 in Scotland annual dinner, which was held at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow.

R3 is the trade association for professionals working in the insolvency, restructuring and turnaround industries, representing a range of individuals including insolvency practitioners and lawyers.

The award was granted by R3 in Scotland in recognition of outstanding contributions and achievements to the profession of restructuring and insolvency. The Committee of R3 in Scotland praised Eileen for the contributions made, above and beyond her day-to-day work to further the reputation, value and standards of the profession overall.

Specialising in the owner managed sector, Ms Blackburn’s professional experience ranges from multi- location retail insolvencies to agriculture, construction and leisure. She also recently worked on the liquidation of the Scotsman Hotel in Edinburgh.

Ms Blackburn is one of 17 partners at French Duncan, which employs more than 200 staff and has five offices in Glasgow, Stirling, Edinburgh, Dumbarton and Hamilton. With more than 28 years of experience in the profession, she is also head of the firm’s Restructuring and Debt Advisory team.

Ms Blackburn said: “It is a huge privilege to receive this award which is recognised across the entire sector.

“My professional career has been devoted to insolvency and restructuring and I am committed to working with partners in the industry to modernise the insolvency and restructuring regime, particularly in relation to devolved matters. Continuous improvement of standards within the sector is one of my top priorities and I look forward to working on that over the year ahead.”

Ms Blackburn is an elected member of R3 Council and chair of R3’s Scottish Technical Committee. She also sits on the Institute of Chartered Accountants for Scotland (ICAS) Authorisation Committee.