A Financial Planning business in Northern Ireland is celebrating accreditation recognition today.

AKFP Group, which describes itself as a firm of Financial Life Planners, has gained the BS 8577 quality standard and director Roger Kennedy and Financial Planner Michael Kirkwood have received the IS0 22222 qualification.

The firm believes the duo are the only planners in Northern Ireland to have attained this accreditation and reported that the assessors commented on how strong their submissions were.

Roger Kennedy of AKFP Group, which is based in Lisburn, County Antrim, said: “We’ve always set great store by the service we provide to our clients so felt it was important to have our approach and internal processes benchmarked against the British Standard of best practice by entering into their rigorous process of assessment.

“We’re therefore delighted to have achieved this independent ranking, setting us right at the pinnacle of our profession. To be told we were one of just a few businesses to achieve the BS 8577 standard is really satisfying and justifies the work everyone at AKFP has put in to become a truly exceptional, customer-focused business.”

The assessors from Standards International congratulated AKFP on achieving and maintaining such a high standard within their business, saying it was “a fantastic initial assessment!”. It stated: “The business has clearly worked hard, is well organised and has good processes in place. Very well done to all the team!”

The BS 8577 standard was developed by the British Standards Institute in conjunction with certification body, Standards International and industry experts.