“Be grateful for what you have but ready to grasp opportunities”

Cormac O’Shea, Chief Financial Officer with Telegraph Media Group in the UK, talks us through the international career path that took him from Cork to Sydney and on to London 

Corkman Cormac O’Shea combined his passion for maths with his early experience working for the family business to pursue a career as a Chartered Accountant and soon found himself cutting his teeth in the media sector in Australia before relocating to London where he is now Chief Financial Officer with Telegraph Media Group (TMG).

As the publisher of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, The Telegraph Magazine, Telegraph.co.uk and the Telegraph app, TMG operates a subscription-first business. 

Here, O’Shea tells Accountancy Ireland about what led him to accountancy and how he has since forged a successful career in international media over two decades.

Tell us about your career starting out. What made you decide on accountancy?

I was always interested in business. My parents ran O’Shea’s Pharmacy in Blackpool on the northside of Cork city and I began helping out really young, from about the age of 10, alongside my two sisters. 

That sparked an interest for me in how businesses ‘work’; what it means to run a business hands-on, dealing with customers and managing the finances. 
I remember I really enjoyed dealing with the customers face-to-face (under strict supervision from my parents!).

Then, at school, I enjoyed maths and physics, and applying that interest in numbers to accounting. 

So, on the one hand, I had this interest in business and, on the other, numeracy. 
Accountancy was attractive for those reasons. I like dealing with numbers and I like understanding how businesses invest and turn a profit.

After the Leaving Cert, I moved on to University College Cork (UCC) and graduated with a degree in commerce in 1994.

You left Ireland at a fairly early stage in your career, relocating to Australia in 1998 to live and work in Sydney? What prompted the move?

It was my personal life that took me to Australia initially. My wife Jane, who was then my girlfriend, secured a position over there doing post-doctoral work with the Australian Government after her PhD. 

That said, I already had itchy feet and, actually, the mobility of accountancy as a career was a big draw for me. 

I realised that, as a Chartered Accountant, I could work anywhere in the English-speaking world and Australia just looked very attractive. 

I moved over there with Jane safe in the knowledge that I could also develop my career there.

My Chartered Accountant (CA) qualification, combined with my BComm from UCC, gave me an element of certainty from a career perspective. 

I would say that, overall, my career journey has been fairly consistent. I’ve continued to work in financial roles and, given my interest in travel, I have been able to visit different countries and work in different cultures.

What was your first job in Sydney and how did your career evolve from there?

I got a job contracting with an advertising agency for a short while after I arrived, which was quite interesting. Like many Irish Chartered Accountants in Sydney, I took on contracting work where I could, and travelled the rest of the time.

About a year in, I got a call from a company called APN News & Media, the Australian subsidiary of Independent News & Media. 

I met with Vincent Crowley, a fellow Irish Chartered Accountants and the then CFO of APN, and he explained how the business operated across newspapers, radio and outdoor advertising.

I was always interested in journalism and news media, so APN seemed like a good option for me career-wise. 

Also, Australia had been a growing economy for many years with very active population growth and that was the case even 20 years ago when I moved over there. At that time, the population was about 19 million. 

Now, it’s up to 26 million and rising. For me, this kind of fast-growth, multicultural society is a fascinating place to live and work.

Tell us about your interest in the media? What is it about the sector that appeals to you from a professional point of view?

I came from a family with a theatrical background. I have always enjoyed that mix of creativity and business, which is what makes the media interesting to me. 

Media is a creative business. It combines entertainment, engagement and information—and it’s consumer-driven. You have to market your content to the consumer.

From Sydney, you moved temporarily to New Zealand, then back to Sydney and on to London. What was it that kept you moving?

The move from Australia to New Zealand came about because APN bought an Auckland company called Wilson & Horton. 

I worked on the acquisition and then moved into a corporate finance role, which involved raising equity and debt, and debt management for the business.

That experience was great. It gave me exposure to people at the top of the organisation. I was reporting directly to the CFO at APN and putting together presentations, meeting with banks and shareholders.

I was offered the opportunity to become CFO of the Outdoor division, based in Sydney. Up to that point, I hadn’t managed a team of more than two or three people, so it was a big step up.

I think luck plays a major role in how our lives and careers progress and this was a really lucky break for me, because my CFO at the time had a lot of faith in me. With his support, I was effectively able to launch my own career as a CFO. 

After that, I moved to be the CFO of the Australian Radio Network to work with fellow Irishman Ciaran Davis. I enjoyed working in radio, because it is woven into the fabric of our day.

Podcasting has become incredibly popular, and I see it as a return to the most traditional form of audio listening. In the modern environment, it happens to be on-demand. 
Traditional radio broadcasting required you to turn the dial at exactly the right time. Podcasting overcomes that.

Following my radio stint, I headed closer to home in 2013 to join Clear Channel International, a London-based outdoor advertising business, as CFO of its international division. 

It was an elevated role with a different business and the timing was perfect for my wife and I. 

By that time, we had lived in Australia for 15 years, but family life is very important to me, and you really miss it when you’re so far from home for that long. Living in London, I can be in Cork in three hours door-to-door.

You joined Telegraph Media Group in September 2021 in the role of Chief Financial Officer. What was it about the position that appealed to you?

It is a fantastic brand that is recognised worldwide, and I am a great believer in the power of quality brands.

I’m genuinely interested in news media and the role it plays in society, and I want to work in an industry that interests me. 

I am particularly interested in subscription news media and TMG is leading the charge in this space.

The businesses I have worked with have always embraced transformation, particularly driven by digital change. Transformation creates interesting challenges for the CFO because you need to be very focused on the allocation of resources, and on supporting the business in the areas in which it needs to grow, while also managing existing elements.

One of the big learnings that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic was the importance of trusted sources of information for citizens. The professional news media is crucial for society.

Looking back now, do you have any regrets about your decision to become a Chartered Accountant?

It’s one of the best decisions I ever made. I have no doubt about that. The qualification is effectively a ‘passport for life’. It has given me a technical qualification that is respected all over the world. 

The brand of Chartered Accountants Ireland has been respected wherever I have worked. 

In both Sydney and London, we have very active local societies of the Chartered Accountants Ireland family. There is a sense of fellowship among members.

What career advice would you give your younger self based on what you know now?

We all develop relationships with the people we work with, and some endure.

My advice to younger professionals would be to protect and nurture these relationships and make an active effort to build and maintain a network around you as your career progresses.

I should stress here that I’m not necessarily talking about the power of your network in any commercial sense. It has to come from a place of friendship.

The concept of culture in the working world is something I have really come to value over the years. 

The finance function in any organisation is a professional service run by well-qualified people. You have to build a good culture within your team and that means treating people well and with respect. Help other people and thank them when they help you.

Irish people have a good reputation internationally. We are regarded as being sociable and being good communicators. I would advise other Chartered Accountants to take this on board when it comes to their careers. Never be afraid of it. 

Of course, be thankful for where you are and what you already have, but always be ready to grasp opportunities.