As the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland celebrates its 10th anniversary, Chief Executive June Butler, FCA, tells us about its evolution and the outlook for SMEs today The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) was established in 2014 following Ireland’s exit from the EU-IMF programme, which was initiated to support the Irish economy due to the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. Launched formally on 31 October 2014 by the Department of Finance and the National Treasury Management Agency, the aim of the SBCI at the outset was to ensure businesses could access funding where the private sector could not provide it. Today, the SBCI aims to help Ireland’s SMEs continue to grow, innovate and prosper. June Butler, FCA, was appointed Chief Executive of the SBCI in September 2021.  Tell us about the SBCI, what it does and how it has evolved over the last decade?  Starting out in 2014, the purpose of the SBCI was three-fold: to make access to finance easier for SMEs; bring down the cost of borrowing; and increase competition in the market, giving businesses more finance options. We have really evolved from our initial start-up phase as a provider of low-cost funding to On-Lending Partners to become a promoter and distributor of risk-sharing lending products that meet SMEs’ current financing needs. One of our key strengths is our ability to act as a conduit for EU-wide supports and bring them to the Irish market for the benefit of SMEs here. We have been successful in promoting competition in the SME financing market, by supporting new entrants and helping non-bank lenders diversify their product offering. We now have close to 40 On-Lending Partners, ranging in size from the main banks to smaller providers and Credit Unions. We provide our partners with low-cost funding and, because we can access lower-cost funding from a variety of sources, we can pass this benefit on to them, and they can then pass it onto their SME clients by way of reduced interest rates. Since the SBCI was first established in 2014, we have channelled more than €4 billion in low-cost flexible funding to over 60,000 SMEs in Ireland. You also offer risk-sharing guarantee schemes – how do they work in practical terms? Our business model has expanded from purely providing low-cost liquidity and wholesale funding at the outset to now offering risk-sharing schemes.  We do this in partnership with Government departments, which also provide funding for these schemes, alongside the banks, non-banks and Credit Unions that distribute them.  We have introduced several risk-sharing guarantee schemes, whereby we share the credit risk with the lender. The key benefit here is the availability of lower-cost and longer-term loans for businesses.  Our risk-sharing schemes also reduce the need for security for businesses, which helps more of them access loans because it reduces a “blocker” they might otherwise have faced when seeking finance. We access counter-guarantees from either the European Investment Bank (EIB) or the European Investment Fund. We structure this into a guarantee-type product whereby we provide an 80 percent guarantee to both bank and non-bank lenders. This means they can then provide better funding access to SMEs. Can you tell us about some of the loan schemes you have launched in recent years? In more recent years, I think we have been instrumental in responding to various crises that have limited the availability of credit to businesses in Ireland. Where there is uncertainty, the availability of credit tends to tighten up and our role here is counter-cyclical: we step in to provide guarantee schemes to make sure that credit continues to flow to businesses. We launched the Brexit Loan Scheme in March 2018, for example, in partnership with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It was a €300 million scheme aimed at helping SMEs implement necessary changes to address the challenges posed by Brexit. We offered an 80 percent guarantee and that scheme was supported by the InnovFin SME Guarantee Facility, with financial backing from the EU under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments. We launched the Ukraine Credit Guarantee Scheme in January 2023 – again, in partnership with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. That scheme facilitated the provision of working capital and medium-term investment finance to businesses adversely affected by the conflict in Ukraine, facing supply chain disruptions and increased input costs. Other examples include the Covid-19 Working Capital Loan Scheme, launched in March 2020, and our Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme, which offered an 80 percent guarantee to participating lenders for SME loans. If you look back to the pandemic and its impact on everyone, including SMEs, there was so much uncertainty in the economy at that time.  Many businesses had to close their doors, but they still needed working capital. There were businesses that spotted opportunities to expand or take advantage of opportunities that arose. That is where we were able to step in with a State-backed guarantee scheme.  The reactive aspect of our role in supporting SMEs and the wider economy is very important. When there is a crisis, and the flow of credit slows, we can step in, make sure the flow of business funding continues, and encourage lenders to provide it. We also take a more strategic view of gaps in the market. Our Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme, for example, supports SMEs, including farmers and fishers, investing in growth, resilience and climate action. It has been designed to encourage longer-term strategic investment. The SBCI has more recently moved into consumer lending. Can you tell us more about this? Just this year, we have evolved into providing a consumer lending product for the first time, launching a new low-cost Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme. The €500 million scheme is designed to help homeowners invest in energy efficiency.  They can borrow between €5,000 and €75,000 on an unsecured basis for a term of up to 10 years, availing of interest rates significantly lower than those available elsewhere in the market. We worked with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications on this scheme, which is underpinned by a loan guarantee from the EIB Group and a Government-funded interest rate subsidy. It is the first scheme of its kind for both Ireland and the EIB Group.  Our aim here is to address a gap in the consumer lending market and help promote Ireland’s energy transition by providing low-cost finance for homeowners who want to retrofit their properties to help with both energy efficiency and decarbonisation.  We have also just launched a new Green Transition Finance product for Irish businesses in partnership with Business Venture Partners. It is a €50 million debt fund to support Irish businesses investing in sustainable and green projects and assets, as well as those already operating in a sustainable manner. The loans on offer under this scheme range from €500,000 to €5 million for terms up to 10 years, with competitive interest rates and flexible repayment terms. What is your take on the outlook for SMEs in Ireland today, 10 years after the SBCI was launched?  It is a tale of two halves. On one side, there are a lot of opportunities out there for businesses to explore right now in areas such as digital transformation. Lots of businesses came a long way on this front during the pandemic, when we were working remotely and connecting and doing business online. During that period, we saw investment in things like e-commerce platforms and digital marketing, but there is still quite a way to go.  Digital tools and technologies can really help businesses with customer engagement and efficiency through investment in automated manufacturing and back-office functions, for example.  The second opportunity I would highlight for SMEs relates to sustainability. We are seeing that the SMEs investing in sustainability – be it solar panels, heat pumps or retrofitting their offices – are absolutely reducing costs. This kind of investment has a direct impact on the bottom line, and it is attractive to consumers who are increasingly prioritising green credentials when they choose products and services. The third opportunity for SMEs lies in export markets. We are seeing a lot of smaller businesses looking to identify new revenue streams and they often lie in markets outside Ireland. On the flipside, SMEs in 2024 are facing the challenges of labour market pressures, rising input costs and inflation. All these factors create pressure. The banking landscape has change significantly in the past five years, with the exit of KBC and Ulster Bank from the Irish market impacting the availability of finance.  We have worked hard to establish partnerships with more non-bank finance providers, such as Finance Ireland, Fexco and Linked Finance, so SMEs can have more access to alternative finance options. We are also focusing on Credit Union partnerships. Credit Unions have a national footprint, they are known and trusted in their local communities, and they are now developing into providers of SME finance, which we welcome. The need to focus on attracting new finance entrants, and helping existing players expand their product offering, is important to us at the SBCI.  Talk us through your own career path as a Chartered Accountant prior to taking up your current role with the SBCI. I studied law at Trinity College Dublin and, after that, trained as a Chartered Accountant with PwC. When I left practice in 2003, I joined Bank of Ireland. I started in the Group Internal Audit division and then spent many years in finance in a variety of roles. My last role with Bank of Ireland was in the Business Banking division and it was at that stage that I really developed a passion for working with Irish businesses.  I got to know them. I got to see how driven and innovative they are, so I was honoured when the board of the SBCI selected me for this role, which is also focused on serving Irish businesses, just from a different angle. What do you enjoy most about your role as Chief Executive of the SBCI? I really enjoy working with Irish businesses and feeling like we are genuinely making a difference, because our role is to fill the finance gaps for SMEs and make it easier for businesses to access funding for a whole range of reasons, be it working capital or finance for expansion or exporting into new markets. Every day, we see the benefit of what we are doing. We often hear that SMEs are the lifeblood of the Irish economy, and they really are. They provide significant employment, contribute to their communities and the whole team at the SBCI feels like we are making a difference to this critical sector every day. The part of my job I enjoy most is meeting the people we are helping – be they businesses owners, farmers or fishers – and hearing about the positive impact of what we do. We support a broad cross-section of the SME sector. 

Tom O’Brien, Managing Partner at Forvis Mazars Ireland, talks to Barry McCall about his plans and priorities for the growing firm On 1 June this year, international audit, tax and advisory firm Mazars and Forvis, the eighth largest public accounting firm in the United States, formally joined forces to create a new global network positioning both firms for continued growth. Looking back on the development, Forvis Mazars Ireland Managing Partner Tom O’Brien says it was a natural progression for Mazars. “Obviously Mazars was largely a European Group,” he explains.  “The American issue had been an important strategic question for us for some time. As we grew – and given the size and nature of some of the mandates Mazars were winning – the need for a stronger presence in the US became more pronounced. We had offices in New York and in other cities on the eastern seaboard, but we wanted to expand to have a coast-to-coast presence with a full-service offer for clients.” The question was whether to do that organically or through acquisition and it was answered by the conversation with Forvis. “Forvis was the eighth largest accountancy firm in the US and was of similar size to Mazars,” O’Brien notes.  “It also had a similar offering and capability and approach to client engagement. There was an alignment of views and clear synergies to be had. We saw it as a good fit straight away. It was a win-win for both organisations. Mazars would get a US coast-to-coast presence while Forvis would get a significant presence across Europe.” The deal was not a merger, O’Brien emphasises. “The two firms have retained their independent ownership but operate under the same brand with a common approach to client service, quality standards and work methodologies. Everything is the same in terms of the client experience. This has created a new global top 10 network, the first new entrant into those rankings for a very long time.” He is enthused by the potential of the new network, both for Forvis Mazars Ireland and its clients.  “It is a very exciting time. For our clients with a presence in the US or ambitions to expand into that market, we have a really strong presence there now as well as access to all of the expertise and sectoral specialisms they had come to expect from Mazars here in Europe,” O’Brien says.  “From an Irish perspective, our expectation is that the network will open the door for FDI business and underpin our growth plans for the future.” James Byrne & Company merger Closer to home, Forvis Mazars’ recent merger with James Byrne & Company in Cork marked another important milestone for the firm.  “However hard it was to break into the US, it was even harder to break into Cork,” O’Brien notes with some humour.  “It was always our ambition to be a truly national firm, and you can’t claim to be that without a significant presence in the country’s second largest city.” Once again it was a question of whether this aim would be achieved through organic growth or partnering with another firm.  “When we first met Fiona and John Byrne, we came to the view that partnering was the way to go. When they say that people do business with people, it really is true. Straight away we could see the alignment of culture and values with both sides sharing a common approach to professional practice and client service. It is a really good fit.” Further growth plans O’Brien’s growth ambitions do not end with the merger. “We have a full-service capability in the Cork office with 30 staff at present. We aim to grow this to 60 very, very quickly. With our offices in Galway, Limerick, Cork and Dublin, we really are a national firm now.” Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have long been part of the Forvis Mazars’s growth strategy. “We’ve never been afraid of it,” O’Brien says.  “More recently, we have been very active in hiring teams where they can add to our existing service offering to clients. We have been quite nimble and open to a variety of options when it comes to growing the practice.” This growth strategy will continue. “I have been with the firm for 20 years and it’s been a very exciting time. We have a very young partner group with an average age in the mid-40s. They are a very ambitious and energetic bunch, and they certainly keep you on your toes. We have achieved high double-digit growth over the last number of years.  “When I became Managing Partner in 2022, I set a target of growing the firm to 750 people and a turnover of €75 million by 2025. We were at €55 million in revenues at the time.  “This year we will exceed the target when we breach €80 million for the first time, and we are now quickly closing in on becoming a €100 million firm. We have grown to 920 staff around the country and are on target to reach 1,000 next year.” This growth is coming from all areas of the firm, but O’Brien highlights recent successes in winning audit business with blue-chip clients, including Bank of America and Wells Fargo among others.  “These types of clients were the traditional preserve of the Big Four, but, as clients see what we can do, they have invited us to pitch for that work. We are very much playing in that sphere now. The market was crying out for alternatives to the traditional large firms, and we are providing that much needed competition.” The Forvis Mazars M&A team has also been involved in several significant transactions this year. “That space is very interesting and has been very strong for us,” O’Brien says.  “In May, we held the inaugural Mazars Irish Private Equity Awards. It was the first event of its kind for the private equity and corporate finance sector in Ireland. We had 500 people in the room and could have had double that, such was the response. That is an indication of our standing and profile in the market.” O’Brien attributes this standing to the firm’s unwavering focus on the client experience. “We strive to ensure it is superior to anything else in the market while delivering the levels of technical excellence our clients have come to expect,” he says. “We are also focused on doing the little things right – things like responsiveness to calls and queries, proactive client engagement, meeting deadlines and a partner-led approach to all client engagements. They all matter. The challenge for us now is to continue to grow our team and invest in technology and emerging business lines to respond to changing client needs.” Economic outlook Looking to the wider economy, O’Brien sees some challenges ahead for Ireland, particularly in the battle for foreign direct investment (FDI).  “When we look back at the various issues that have hit Ireland over recent years, the domestic economy has proven to be remarkably resilient. The FDI sector is strong, but there are certainly headwinds on the horizon,” he says. “The Apple case sets a precedent on competition and state aid rules and there is strong and growing lobbying in the EU from some of the larger member states for an easing of state aid rules across sectors like technology, chips and semiconductors, which will potentially make it more difficult for countries like Ireland to attract that business. “Domestically, everyone knows we have infrastructure, housing and public services issues. When it comes to deciding what to do with the €14 billion Apple windfall, there is an argument that we should listen to the FDI community to address some of its pain points in areas like housing for staff and transport and other obstacles to growth. This perhaps would be a good starting point in deciding what to do with the Apple money.”

As SD Worx plans further expansion in Ireland, Country Lead Eimear Byrne, FCA, talks to Barry McCall about her role in the Belgian company’s entry into the Irish market and ongoing investment In February this year, payroll and HR solutions provider SD Worx announced plans to create 40 jobs in Ireland over two years, growing its team to 115 as part of a €2.9 million investment in its workforce.  More recently, the company unveiled a separate €3 million investment in its payroll offering, which will now be made available to SMEs in Ireland.  Historically, servicing medium and large enterprises with over 250 employees, SD Worx will now offer its payroll solution to smaller businesses across all industries. The move comes as SMEs in Ireland continue to face mounting challenges, including intense competition for top talent, increasing regulations and rising costs. For Eimear Byrne, FCA, Country Lead at SD Worx Ireland, it marks the beginning of a new chapter in a career that has seen her move from the Big Four environment into industry where she played a key role in readying Irish company Intelligo for its 2022 acquisition by Belgium-headquartered SD Worx. “We have scaled up our capabilities so that businesses that may lack the necessary internal resources can keep pace with evolving payroll trends and requirements,” says Byrne. “Our new offering means SMEs can continue to grow and thrive with on-hand payroll support and cost certainty.” Preparing for acquisition The SD Worx brand may be relatively new to Ireland, but its service offering is already well-established here, Byrne says: “Our enterprise-grade payroll solution pays one-in-five employees in Ireland’s corporate sector.” Byrne was appointed as SD Worx Country Lead for Ireland following the Intelligo acquisition, having formerly held the role of Intelligo’s Head of Finance and Operations.  “I was on maternity leave when the approach came from the founders of Intelligo to manage the sale of the company to SD Worx,” she recalls.  “It was a pivotal moment – managing the disposal and preparing for a new chapter in my career. I took charge of every aspect of the process, becoming the key point of contact between the founders and SD Worx. It stands out as a highlight in my career, showcasing what can be achieved when you step up to new challenges.”  Byrne began her career in 2004 in the tax department of KPMG where she dealt with a wide range of clients across a variety of sectors.  “I qualified in accountancy and tax between 2004 and 2008 and got fantastic exposure to the commercial world. It is a great foundation for a career. I have only positive things to say about working for a Big Four professional services firm,” she says. Byrne left KPMG in 2008 to travel for a year. “I felt I had been sitting too long at a desk,” she explains. Moving into industry On her return to Ireland, she decided to move into industry. “While I loved the exposure to a lot of different companies, I wanted to drive one company forward,” she says. “I joined Atlanco Rimec in 2009. It was an Irish-owned and headquartered temporary labour provider, with customers in several overseas countries.  “I was the group accountant and prepared consolidated accounts for the different countries and was also involved in commercial contracts. I decided to move on in 2010. I worked with some fantastic people there, but I felt ready for new opportunities and to pursue the next stage in my career.” From there, Byrne went to work with the late solicitor and businessman Ivor Fitzpatrick as Finance Director for his private businesses.  “Ivor Fitzpatrick owned a number of different businesses in addition to his prestigious law firm, which included telecoms for aviation and maritime industries, the Christina O yacht formerly owned by Aristotle Onassis and hospitality, commercial property, debt management and other interests,” she says.  “Through managing these businesses, I got involved in operations and really enjoyed it. Working with a fascinating visionary like Ivor with such incredible intelligence was a learning experience that shaped my approach to business and management.  “I made the decision to move on when I was starting a family as there was a lot of travel involved and I couldn’t do both.” Improving structure and processes This decision brought Byrne into the next phase of her career when she joined the payroll software company Intelligo in 2016.  “They had always used external accountants and weren’t sure if they needed someone internally, but had been advised to take on a financial controller and I quickly saw opportunities to help the two founders drive the business forward,” she recalls. “I focused on harnessing data that hadn’t been explored, which led to some immediate but significant improvements.  I standardised processes and brought more structure.  “With improved processes and better resource allocation, we were able to respond to customer needs more efficiently, deliver higher service standards and ensure consistent quality across all channels.” The impact on revenue and EBITDA was quite dramatic. “We had compound annual growth of almost 20 percent every year and higher post-COVID.” Byrne also set up other departments to professionalise the management of the company. “The employee base grew by more than 50 percent from when I joined up to our acquisition,” she says.  “I first set up the finance function and then HR. In 2018, I led a project to obtain an independent valuation and complete the buyback of shares to put the entire shareholding into the founders’ hands.  “To facilitate the buyback, we did a corporate restructure and we took on debt finance to ensure the continued growth of the company. It was an invaluable experience for the subsequent acquisition by SD Worx.” Next up for Intelligo was a new legal department. “We had outsourced our legal work but that wasn’t always the best fit for our business. External advisors might not fully understand internal operations,” explains Byrne.  “Evergreen contracts set out ways of operating that no longer align with the business or the industry, for example. I took the lead and revised our contracts, becoming the point of contact for negotiations with every client.  “As a result, we were able to streamline client interactions, reduce operational headaches and ultimately enhance the overall customer experience. We appointed an in-house legal counsel after that to support our continued growth.” Delivering optimum profit Looking back, Byrne says her biggest achievement was ensuring every revenue stream yielded optimum profit.  “It was about getting more structured every year and understanding how to drive efficiency in the business,” she says. The next chapter for Byrne was preparing the exit plan for Intelligo’s two founders. “There was a lot of consolidation in the market. COVID was a big driver of that as it introduced a lot of new payroll regulations overnight.” SD Worx has been providing payroll services across Europe since 1945 and, up until the acquisition, had been using Intelligo software for payroll processing in Ireland.  “They didn’t own payroll IP in Ireland, and they wanted to de-risk their payroll offering to clients. Intelligo had a very impressive client base of over 300 medium-to-large-sized enterprises, many of them international,” Byrne says.  “SD Worx saw Ireland as a hub of business interaction with an excellent crossover with their pre-existing international clients.  “Through acquisition, we still deliver exceptional payroll solutions but can now offer much more by expanding our product portfolio to include workforce management, HR, talent management, data and analytics. We can support in-house service as well as provide outsourced solutions and consultancy.” M&A trajectory in European markets SD Worx has 90,000 customers across Europe and employs 8,000 people. “It is a huge company, which is still growing,” Byrne says. “It is on an M&A trajectory with the aim of being the European leader in integrated payroll and HR solutions, supporting clients along the whole employee journey from recruitment to retirement. My role as Country Lead is to deliver that vision in Ireland.” This vision was the driving force behind the company’s recent entry into Ireland’s SME market for the first time.  “We have taken our mid-market and large enterprise knowledge and expertise and applied that to SMEs,” Byrne says.  “We are also adding new products. Last year, it was workforce management. This year, it is an HR solution. Talent management and an academy for learning and development are next. We will continue to add products as we establish ourselves as an integrated provider of payroll and HR solutions for Ireland.” SD Worx will also continue to innovate and enhance its flagship payroll technology, MegaPay. “Payroll is complicated, and it changes very fast,” Byrne says.  “We need to pivot very quickly to accommodate things like statutory sick pay change, auto-enrolment pensions and enhanced expense reporting, which was as big a change as PAYE modernisation.  “The increased administrative burden makes it difficult for SMEs to stay abreast. As a result, we are seeing demand for webinars and newsletters to keep our clients updated.” Demand for outsourcing integrated payroll and HR services is also on the rise. “If a company does this in-house, there can be a point of exposure,” Byrne says.  “If a person looking after payroll in-house becomes sick, there are compliance and other risks. Outsourcing to SD Worx removes risk and deals with compliance.  “We deliver better data and analytics to our clients who get a more holistic view of how their business is operating and performing. Our integrated HR and payroll and talent management solutions help them manage people costs to drive efficiencies and profitability.”

IDA Chair Feargal O’Rourke, FCA, talks to Accountancy Ireland about the inward investment agency’s plans and priorities at a “critical juncture” in Ireland’s FDI journey Feargal O’Rourke, FCA, assumed the role of Chair of IDA Ireland in January 2024 at a significant time for the inward investment agency, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year – and, he says, a “critical juncture” in Ireland’s foreign direct investment (FDI) journey. O’Rourke joined the board of IDA Ireland after stepping down as Managing Partner of PwC Ireland in October 2023 following a storied 37-year career with the firm. In his new role, working alongside IDA Ireland Chief Executive Michael Lohan, time is, he says, “of the essence.” “The one thing I am always paranoid about is complacency, and I think you really do need to have a paranoia about that,” O’Rourke tells Accountancy Ireland.  “Right now, I think Ireland has ‘amber lights’ on infrastructure and we need to put the foot down. We need to invest in more housing. We need to invest in the grid. We need to invest in offshore energy.  “My biggest concern is speed. There are plans in place, but I constantly ask myself, ‘Are we moving fast enough? Can we move faster?’ “I think there is a broad consensus emerging that infrastructure is moving up our list of priorities.  “I take the view that capital spend on infrastructure is an investment. It is not an outflow of money. Deferring a project is a cost. It is not a saving because we will have to do it at some point, and it may cost more then.” New five-year strategy The single biggest task for IDA Ireland as an organisation currently is finalising a new five-year strategy, which will run from 2025 to 2029, O’Rourke says.  “We are doing this against the backdrop of significant geopolitical uncertainty. There is a more muted pace of growth in the global economy and more active industrial policy from some competitor nations,” he says. “There is also the challenge of climate change and the opportunity of the green transition, companies globally grappling with the next step on their diverse digitalisation journeys and, of course, the revolution that is taking place in artificial intelligence.” Ireland’s ability to continue competing in this fast-changing world will be dependent on having the right set of enabling conditions in place”, O’Rourke says.  “As we face challenges in terms of our national competitiveness relating to energy costs and renewable energy provision, housing, infrastructure and utilities, countries around the world are vying to win the race for the next generation of FDI growth. “The opportunity cost of not addressing these issues in a timely manner – particularly sustainable energy supply – risks being sizeable,” he warns. Storied career in practice A native of Athlone, O’Rourke studied commerce and accounting at University College Dublin and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC in 1989. He is also an Associate of the Irish Tax Institute and current Chair of the Institute of International and European Affairs, the Irish-based international think tank. “My father left school at 16, so he always placed a big emphasis on education and business,” O’Rourke says. “He thought I should qualify as a Chartered Accountant and the ‘Chartered’ bit was very important to him, because he felt it had a cachet. That was back in the eighties, and I think the qualification still holds a distinction today. “I remember sitting my final accounting exams thinking, ‘I wonder what this bit of paper will do for my life?’ “There is no doubt that having the Chartered Accountant qualification contributed so much to me living out my professional dreams in the years that followed. The status it brought with it is hugely important and I think the standing of the qualification is as strong today as it was when I qualified.” O’Rourke joined PwC in Dublin in 1986 and remained with the firm for 37 years, holding the position of Managing Partner for the last eight. “I joined what was then Price Waterhouse on 8 October 1986, with the intention of qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and then returning home to Athlone,” he recalls. “Thirty-seven years later – to the day – I retired from PwC having had a wonderfully fulfilling career that was beyond any expectations I had when I joined.” His experience with the firm instilled in O’Rourke the importance of strategic planning for long term success – and it is a lesson he has brought with him to IDA Ireland. “You can’t just think about an organisation as it exists today, and the current generation. You must ask yourself, ‘when I’m 20 and 30 years gone, will I have seeded the fields to ensure it continues to succeed long into the future?’” With Central Statistics Office figures released earlier this year predicting Ireland’s population could grow to over seven million by 2057, O’Rourke’s vision for IDA Ireland is equally long term. “In my role with IDA Ireland today, I am thinking ahead to 25 or 30 years from now and asking, ‘what will Ireland look like then?’ “We have got to play our part in advising the system today if we want to have the right industrial base in the years ahead, not just to continue to attract FDI but also to support indigenous businesses and wider society at a time of ongoing population growth. “I feel a responsibility, as do many others in the system, to say, ‘okay, how does this organisation contribute to ensuring that we will have a successful society in which there are plenty of jobs for people? Do we have the infrastructure we need – both societal and industrial – whether that be in terms of housing, energy supply, water or transport?’  “These are as much societal issues as they are business issues and IDA Ireland will play its part. Building capacity is crucial. Ireland is facing infrastructural capacity issues, and they are a priority for IDA Ireland, particularly over the next five to six years.” FDI and global tax developments Having been appointed as a Tax Partner in 1996 and Head of PwC’s Tax Practice in 2011, O’Rourke spent a significant portion of his career working in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).  “I worked extensively – but not exclusively – with household names from the West Coast of the US. I was privileged to work with many of the companies that now rank among the largest FDI employers in the country,” he says. “I still have the memo in which my then Partner Tadhg O’Donoghue said, ‘I’m going to ask you to focus on a particular area of tax – FDI.’ That one line in a memo almost 40 years ago completely determined my career and my life thereafter.” O’Rourke saw the evolution of Ireland’s FDI landscape firsthand over that span of time. “Tax became central to Ireland’s FDI proposition, delivering a major competitive advantage for us back in the eighties and nineties. It has really played a central role in how Ireland has positioned itself to attract FDI,” he says. As Head of PwC’s Tax Practice, O’Rourke also collaborated extensively with companies, officials, governmental bodies and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on the Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) initiative introduced in 2013 to curb tax avoidance among multinationals operating across different jurisdictions. “Successive Irish Governments over the past 15 years have really got it right on our FDI-related tax policy and we are now seeing the benefits of this in terms of our corporate tax take,” he says.  “That contribution to the State coffers is being used to build hospitals and schools, but other countries in the post-BEPS era are moving fast on their own FDI-friendly tax strategies, and I think we need to move quickly as well and make sure we continue to be agile and responsive, looking around the world and asking, ‘what lessons can we learn here from what others are doing?’” “A world-class organisation” Just over 10 months into his role with IDA Ireland, O’Rourke’s pride in the organisation is palpable. “In sporting terms, IDA Ireland is like Limerick in hurling or Manchester City in football,” O’Rourke says. “We have a fantastic record of success, but once the season is over, we must do it all again. We can survive a year where we are not top of the pile, but we can’t afford to enter a period where we are living off past glories. “You wouldn’t say to the Limerick hurling team, ‘you need to ease off the training for a few years and let everyone else catch up,’ nor would you say to Manchester City, ‘you shouldn’t buy any good players for now.’ “I don’t think IDA Ireland as an organisation should ever say, ‘we are doing really well, we could pull back a bit’. Life doesn’t work like that. Michael Lohan, our Chief Executive, often says, ‘when you turn off the tap, there is no guarantee that, when you turn it back on again, water will come out.’” As it stands, O’Rourke sees IDA Ireland as a “world-class organisation.” “This is not just my own view,” he says. “Over the course of my 37 years in professional services, I was repeatedly told this by clients who had experience of being ‘courted’ by a variety of inward investment agencies from around the world. “Today, our IDA Ireland clients tell me time and again, ‘we feel welcome in Ireland; we feel supported’.” These IDA Ireland client companies employ 300,583 people directly, accounting for 11 percent of total employment in Ireland currently. They spend a combined €35.8 billion annually on payroll and Irish-sourced goods and services, and €15.5 billion in capital expenditure. In total, 248 investments were approved by IDA Ireland in 2023 and a further 131 in the first six months of this year, with the potential to create some 27,000 jobs. “While I expect the pipeline of projects to continue to be strong as we move through 2024, the challenges we face to stay at the forefront of attractive locations to invest in are significant,” O’Rourke says. “If we stand back, there is no doubt that FDI flows have slowed a bit compared to, say, four or five years ago.  “This is, in part, because we have probably already seen the high watermark in globalisation. In retrospect, I think that occurred somewhere towards the end of the last decade.  “The good news for Ireland is that we are continuing to win FDI projects of substance and the 300,000 FDI direct employment figure is a new plateau for us.  “For many years, the benchmark for direct employment was 200,000. Now, our focus is on keeping that figure above 300,000 as we look to build on the next FDI cycle.” Emerging opportunities As IDA Ireland looks to future FDI growth, its focus will be centred on emerging opportunities in the ongoing green and digital transitions reshaping the global economy, O’Rourke says. “We recognise the need to help the Irish operations of global firms transform to thrive in a world that is changing fast.  “We actively partner with client companies on investments in talent development, digitalisation, research and development, innovation and sustainability, including decarbonisation,” he says. “When I was Managing Partner at PwC and we were at our most profitable and successful, we decided we needed to invest heavily in digitisation.  “It wasn’t just an investment in technology, it was an investment in our culture. Even though there were no clouds on the horizon, we could see that, if we stayed still, we might have another few great years – but, really, we needed to invest in the technology to continue growing beyond that. “Our focus now at IDA Ireland is on helping our clients to invest in the areas they need to focus on to do the same – to prepare to continue succeeding in the future. This means supporting them on investment in digitalisation and sustainability.” Collectively, IDA Ireland client companies spend over €7 billion on in-house research, development and innovation (RD&I) annually.  IDA Ireland approved 25 sustainability projects last year, focused on carbon abatement and building Ireland’s green economy.  New RD&I projects won by the semi-state agency in 2023 came with associated client spend commitments of €1.4 billion.  “With the requisite enabling conditions in place at a national level, aligned to emerging FDI attractiveness factors – such as AI skills and renewable, reliable and affordable energy – I think we will be well-placed to capture new investment opportunities,” O’Rourke says. A particular focus is Ireland’s future capacity to generate renewable energy – specifically, offshore energy. “We have been very vocal about the importance and potential of offshore energy. If Ireland gets its offshore energy strategy right – both fixed and floating – we could be in a surplus energy position in 10 years’ time,” he says. “That could transform our capacity to attract energy-intensive multinationals from various industries, because we would potentially be in a situation where have no constraints in relation to our ability to supply green energy.” O’Rourke is, he says, a born optimist. “When it comes to our strategy at IDA Ireland over the next five years, I do genuinely and fully believe that our best years are ahead of us.”

Lindsay Russell, a Partner with EY Northern Ireland, talks to Liz Riley about the evolution of her career, professional inspiration and constant thirst for knowledge, variety and challenge in her working life  My interest in accountancy was first sparked as a teenager. During school holidays, while doing my GCSEs and A Levels, my parents encouraged me to gain valuable work experience, which led to a job with WHR Accountants in Armagh under the tutelage of Ken Harrison, one of the founding partners.  WHR had a fantastic team of about 15 who took me under their wing and got me started with the basics of accounting.  After writing out many cheque journals, cash books and extended trial balances manually, I learned that “balancing” numbers gave me a great sense of satisfaction. Something clicked and I realised that accountancy was a career I wanted to pursue.  This summer job continued for four years and greatly influenced my decision to study accountancy at university in Scotland. After graduating, I was fortunate to secure a position with EY Northern Ireland in 2004 and completed my professional exams in 2006. It has been a real privilege to become a Chartered Accountant, specifically an auditor in practice.  As auditors, we are afforded an insight into so many successful organisations across sectors and industries and are in a unique position to support and work with talented individuals through complex and interesting transactions and business initiatives.   The trust we provide as accountants, auditors and business advisors is something that is often underplayed, but is vital to the capital markets and the success of organisations, and I still consider myself lucky to say I play a part in that.  Almost 20 years later in this profession, and I have not looked back. Championing women In those 20 years, I have seen significant changes in the gender profile of our profession, particularly in the last decade.  I am pleased to have been part of this change personally, but what I am really proud of is being able to champion and sponsor female talent within our profession to ensure that others can share in the experiences and opportunities I was afforded early in my career.  As a female partner and leader, I am acutely aware of the responsibility I have in championing other women in our profession. In the long term, my goal is that we create a profession, industry and world in which such an active focus on gender diversity is no longer essential because we have created an environment where opportunities are afforded equally to all people and are fulfilled based on the right person for the role, regardless of gender or any other characteristics.  However, I know we still have some way to travel to make this a reality. I fully appreciate and understand that we must create the right environment for all our talented people to flourish.  For example, organisations must take parental responsibilities and flexible working into consideration. They must do all they can to provide a workplace in which working mothers know they can have a sustainable and rewarding career. I would also highlight that, while gender diversity is important to me as a female leader, I believe that diversity of thought, background and experience is the basis for excellence in any team.  It is not only the experiences of diverse groups, but also their willingness to be open to the views and experiences of others, that creates the best and highest-performing teams, delivering the most for clients and helping to build a better working environment for all.  Embracing education in your career I believe professional development is achieved via a combination of formal learning and on-the-job development.  Formal learning is very important, particularly in our changing regulatory environment, and I find it useful to check my own Continuing Professional Development (CPD) monthly and quarterly to ensure I am on track for compliance.  However, I also find on-the-job learning critical in putting all the theory we learn into practice, and developing the wider skill set that is so valuable and necessary for the accountants of today and tomorrow.  We are living in a world in which technology and the way we work is continuing to evolve, particularly with the advent of generative artificial intelligence. My advice is to embrace change and learn as much as you can from those around you.  Lastly, I would say it’s important to remember that the accountancy skill set remains as valuable today as it ever was and will remain a key part of the workplaces and businesses of tomorrow.  The fluidity of work-life balance There is no magic answer to work-life balance. For me, work-life balance is something that is fluid and needs to be reassessed and flexed regularly and continuously.  I learned an important lesson early in my career: your work-life balance will have ebbs and flows depending on what is going on in both your work and home life.  It is important to be flexible at times and, at others, to know and stand by your “non-negotiables.”  I recognise that at certain times I will have busier and more demanding times in the office, and that it is important to stay focused for the benefit of my teams and my clients.  Equally as important is the need to have planned downtime. I am protective of this downtime when it arrives so I can make sure my family and friends get a fully committed version of me. Everyone will have different styles and different ways of working. My advice is to ensure you understand your own style. Know your peak times, take time out and ensure you communicate clearly with those around you, both personally and professionally, about your work-life balance needs.  Stepping outside your comfort zone When I look back over my career, I can see that my biggest development has come about when I have embraced new opportunities (or challenges) and have been pushed out of my comfort zone.  It is very easy to stay comfortable, but trying new things, seeking out new learning opportunities and working with different people and teams is what accelerates our development, and ultimately, our career prospects.  My career advice is to say “yes” and give it your all. You will always be amazed at where it can take you! It is sometimes the tasks or roles that you think you didn’t want – or didn’t think you would be good at – that are the ones that help you progress and move on to your next role.  I also like to remind people that variety and new opportunities can come from staying in the same job or profession and do not always require drastic change.  I have been with EY for almost 20 years now, which feels increasingly rare in a world where new opportunities are everywhere. I am proof that you can have a varied career with many different roles and opportunities all with the same employer and within the same profession. My final piece of advice is to be honest and true to yourself. Someone once told me to hold a mirror up and be honest with myself about my strengths and weaknesses and what I ultimately want from my career.  I realised early on that I get easily bored and need variety in my work. I know that I am competitive, hard-working and need to feel I am adding value. I recognise that this combination of attributes means I often work too hard.  However, it also means that I am continuously rewarded with challenging opportunities for development, which keeps me motivated and stimulated.  Everyone in our profession must figure out what works for them and remember that their career path, regardless of direction, should be unique to them. Your career doesn’t have to replicate what anyone else before you has done, or what those around you are doing today.

Rory Mulvaney talks us through a multi-faceted career that has taken him from law to accountancy and on to entrepreneurship as the founder of his own corporate and compliance service firm  Belfast-born Rory Mulvaney, FCA, is founder and Managing Director of VANTRU, an independent provider of corporate and compliance services with a presence in Ireland, Britain and the Netherlands. Established in 2017 under the name Mulvaney, the company underwent a rebrand in 2023 to become VANTRU and employs a 20-strong team comprising accounting, tax and legal professionals. Here, Mulvaney tells Accountancy Ireland about the evolution of his career and path to entrepreneurship. Tell us a bit about yourself. Why you decided to become a Chartered Accountant? I was born in Belfast and my family then moved to Newry where I grew up and went to Abbey Grammar School. I now live in Rostrevor with my wife, Seana and our four children, Jack, Rory, Olivia and Charlie.   Starting out, I studied law at Queen’s University Belfast and, from there, undertook a Diploma in Legal Practice at the University of Law before joining Bank of Ireland and then McCartan Turkington & Breen in Belfast. At that stage, I decided that a career as a Chartered Accountant would give me the knowledge needed to one day become a business leader and I went on to train with John MacMahon & Co in Northern Ireland and undertook further training as a Tax Consultant with KPMG in Dublin. Looking back now, are you glad you made the decision to qualify as a Chartered Accountant?  Yes, absolutely! I wouldn’t say I had a career plan starting out, but I’m naturally ambitious and driven to succeed, so I always had a desire to do well and to do something meaningful with my life.  When I first decided to qualify as a Chartered Accountant, I could see that it would give me the freedom to work anywhere in the world for any type of organisation and possibly, one day, for myself.  After qualifying, I moved into industry with Bruce Shaw, now known as Linesight, a global cost management consultancy firm, where I was Group International Tax Manager for five years. What was it that prompted you to set up your own business? My first industry role with Bruce Shaw was inspirational. Working with a successful Irish business that was growing at pace and expanding overseas gave me confidence and a wealth of experience. In 2017, I decided to set up as a Corporate Service Provider (CSP) and established Mulvaney as part of Trustmoore, a global corporate services firm which had worked with Bruce Shaw on corporate services outside Ireland.  Trustmoore viewed Ireland and the UK as strategic jurisdictions for business growth. We established a two-year co-operation agreement after I pitched to the founders in Amsterdam in 2016. This was a pivotal moment in my career and a valuable opportunity to learn about the inner workings of the business. I was able to travel to global offices, attend internal academies and spend lots of time with Trustmoore’s founder and owners. Come March 2019, I established Mulvaney Corporate Services. I wanted to launch Northern Ireland’s first locally established, independently owned corporate services provider and to lead the market by providing a unique set of corporate and compliance services to foreign organisations across key jurisdictions. Today, we remain the first and only company of our kind in Northern Ireland. That makes me very proud. What prompted you to rebrand the business to VANTRU in 2023? We mainly service clients with foreign direct investment needs, both inward and outward, for trading and investment purposes, as well as clients in the capital markets space for whom Ireland is a relevant and attractive jurisdiction. As the company has grown, we have had opportunities to work with some high-profile global organisations and last year, seven years after our initial launch, I felt that the time was right to establish an identity and brand that would enable us to compete at the highest levels. What do you regard as your proudest achievements as a business owner? I am extremely proud of the fantastic team of qualified professionals who have chosen to work with VANTRU. It is also a massive achievement for me personally that VANTRU is recognised by many highly respected law firms, auditors, tax advisors and asset managers. We are in the very fortunate position of having financial institutions and CSP firms in other jurisdictions refer work on to us.  What are some of the most important lessons you have learned over the years?  Someone once told me: “people buy from people.” As a business owner, surrounding yourself with great people who can bring something unique to the table is key. In my wider career, I have had the privilege to work for and alongside people who have taught me valuable lessons. John MacMahon is a well-known Chartered Accountant from County Armagh who has built a fantastic all-island practice and property empire. John was always generous with his time, giving me plenty of valuable advice when I was starting out in my own career. Brendan O’Mara, Derry Scully and Gerard Campbell of Bruce Shaw also stand out. A natural entrepreneur, Brendan was the Founding Partner of Bruce Shaw in Dublin over 40 years ago.  Derry was the Group Chair during my time with the firm. He was both technically gifted and able to maintain a lot of key client relationships globally, including with some of the world’s biggest companies. I worked very closely with Gerry, as CEO, and learned a great deal from him also.  In my own journey, I have found myself adopting a lot of their habits, especially Gerry’s, with his little black books and knack for “getting things done”.  In the world of corporate services, I have learned a lot from two Dutchmen – Trustmoore founder Steven Melkman, who is an inspirational and charismatic leader, and Jan Jaap Kuipers, the former CEO of the BK Group.  Who do you most admire right now in business or public life? In business, it has to be Phil Knight, founder and former CEO of Nike Inc. I recently read his memoir, “Shoe Dog,” and was very inspired by his story. I found myself relating to his experiences, especially in the early days. In sport, despite being a Manchester United supporter, it has to be Pep Guardiola. I also read his biography, “Another Way of Winning,” by Guillem Balagué. Guardiola is so much more than just a football coach.  How has the role of the accountant evolved since you first joined the profession? The role of the accountant has been impacted by ongoing advances in technology, including the introduction of new and improved accounting software and cloud-based tools, which automate routine tasks such as bank reconciliations.  We are now also starting to see the impact of artificial intelligence, which will remove the need to carry out routine tasks for finance departments and accounting teams, such as data entry, reconciliations and generating reports.  The daily work patterns of accountants have also changed dramatically. At VANTRU, all of our employees have adopted hybrid working with some team members working remotely on a full-time basis. We recently hired a new team member who is based in Germany! There are many positives to this way of working for our business. We are moving towards a fully cloud-based business model, which will mean that we can hire people from anywhere in the world.   What are your plans for VANTRU in 2024 and beyond?  We have fulfilled most of the goals outlined in our 2019 business plan and we are in the process of agreeing our strategic plan for the next five years with the help of John-George Willis, our Non-Executive Director.   These plans will centre around improving our brand awareness, IT systems, processes and people. We will also consider growth by acquisition if the right opportunity arises.  Put simply, I want our company to continue to grow. I am very involved in developing new business opportunities and, every day, we talk to prospective clients from all over the world.  I am really looking forward to what we can achieve over the next decade.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to usher in a bright new era for Chartered Accountants who could enjoy an elevated role in business and finance Having recently closed a €60 million funding round, AccountsIQ founder and Chief Executive Tony Connolly, FCA, is preparing for significant investment in artificial intelligence (AI), which will, he says, allow the Dublin-headquartered tech venture to “shape the finance function of the future.” The Series C funding from Axiom Equity, a London-based growth fund, has come at the “perfect inflection point” for AccountsIQ, Connolly says. “We’ve just hit a critical milestone with over 1,000 customers and users in 80 countries and now we’re poised to take AccountsIQ to the next level,” he says. The investment will allow AccountsIQ to leverage AI tools into practical, easy-to-adopt services for finance teams, Connolly says. The firm will also use the funding to double its headcount to 200 people in Ireland and other markets. It is an exciting time for AccountsIQ, which was launched in 2004 by Connolly, with founding members Darren Donohue and Gavin McGahey on board. By that time, Connolly had qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and then studied systems analysis and design at Trinity College Dublin. It was while working in practice consulting, designing complex finance systems for large organisations, that he spotted a gap in the market and decided to set up his own company, bringing Donohue and McGahey on board as his first employees. AccountsIQ is a financial management system (FMS) for international businesses operating across multiple locations and entities. The platform handles complex financial processes, such as multi-currency consolidation, multi-level approvals and third-party integrations while also automating daily processes for finance teams.  Looking beyond the hype The emergence of the web in the early 2000s was the catalyst for the business and Connolly sees similar potential in the emergence of AI and its scope to support and enhance the finance function of today. “I remember the advent of ‘the cloud’ and knowing it would be the future for AccountsIQ. The challenge then was convincing accountants that taking their data off-premises and putting it online would be safe and secure, but that has completely changed in the years since,” he says. “Now with AI, we’re seeing a lot of hype and some fear, but we’ve already been on a long journey ourselves with machine learning and automation, so we don’t see AI in 2024 as being ‘revolutionary’. “We view it today as a catalyst for the further development of automation and machine learning and as a digital assistant we can use to help make the work of finance teams easier. I think that is really what it means for Chartered Accountants generally.  “It won’t be replacing them. It will just take the drudgery out of processing and recording transactions and managing things like controls and reconciliations. “That just means that Chartered Accountants and finance teams will have more time to focus on helping to drive their business or organisation forward with access to the right tools and information.”                                                         AI and financial reporting Research released in May by KPMG found that AI is already in widespread use in financial reporting in Ireland, with close to two-thirds (63%) of the financial reporting executives and board members surveyed in Irish companies reporting that they were already using or piloting the technology. AI in financial reporting and audit: navigating the new era surveyed financial reporting executives and board members at 1,800 companies globally, including close to 100 in Ireland. Among Irish respondents, AI is viewed as a “game-changer,” the research found, with two-thirds reporting that their board had already developed a vision or strategy for AI adoption. “The adoption of AI today, and its impact tomorrow, is very much on the agenda at board level among the Irish companies we surveyed and their global counterparts,” Niall Savage, National Head of Audit Markets with KPMG in Ireland, says. The major focus currently is on identifying the most advantageous AI use cases. “Right now, the emphasis is on learning to understand AI, its capabilities, its limitations, the opportunities it may bring and, indeed, the potential threats,” Savage explains. “I was heartened to see in our findings that companies are not focusing solely on AI’s potential to cut costs. That would be a mistake, so it’s encouraging to see that they are instead thinking about identifying the opportunities.” As a technology that is still in its infancy, commercially speaking, AI has scope to encompass much greater capabilities in the future with potential applications of value to companies and their finance teams. “The tools out there and available for use right now – the likes of ChatGPT – are already showing us the great work AI can do in collating and interpreting data from multiple sources to answer our questions in real-time,” Savage says. “This is just scratching the surface, however. What businesses are focusing on now is how they can bring all the relevant data together to enable AI to facilitate much faster strategic decision-making in the future – to spot trends, opportunities, anomalies and potential risks, for example.” For Chartered Accountants and the wider finance team, the upshot will be change – change in the way they work, their capability and their role in the workplace. “For accountants in the future, there will be less need for research, bringing data together and writing up reports – AI will be able to do all of that far more efficiently,” Savage says. “In its place, accountants will have more time to focus on more meaningful work. They will not be under as much pressure to use their time to ‘get the numbers right’. “They will be even more involved in key decisions. They will have even more opportunities to have a place at the top table. The profession could change radically and, I think, very positively.” Upskilling for the AI world To benefit from this transition, Chartered Accountants will need to upskill and align their knowledge and experience with AI, a technology that has the potential to elevate their role in business and finance. “It’s a bit like the rise of Microsoft Excel in the nineties. At that time, even the finest technical accountants had to learn to use this technology – and learn to use it well and use it quickly. AI is the same,” Savage says.  “There will always be the need for the accountant to verify the information AI is giving them and, ultimately, to make the decisions. The need to exercise caution, judgement and governance will always be the remit of the accountant, even as AI evolves into the future.”   He continues: “The top use case identified by respondents in our survey was AI’s potential to provide critical, real-time information that can then be interpreted to deliver tangible benefits – for businesses, this might mean understanding where to allocate capital, where to invest or where they might have a problem. “This will really put Chartered Accountants and Chief Financial Officers across the globe at the coalface of business commercially. We will be the people who interpret the data to bring real value to the organisation. We will continue to be custodians as we are today, but with much more powerful tools at our disposal.” Chartered Accountants Ireland Chartered Accountants Ireland welcomes the advance of AI and sees it as a significant opportunity for the profession.  With every advance in technology over the course of the Institute’s 136-year history, the profession has adapted.  “The pace and advancement of AI is an aid to the accountant who can entrust the tools to perform functions that previously required manual input,” says Ian Browne, Director of Education at Chartered Accountants Ireland.  “In this way, we see the advancements in AI as an enabler for new economic activities for the profession.” Since 2017, the Institute’s Education Department has been reforming the educational syllabus for its primary qualification, with the introduction of principles-based teaching materials in several areas. This work has spanned data analytics, data visualisation, robotic process automation, blockchain, cryptocurrency, sustainability – and AI.  Launched in 2019, the evolved syllabus reflects the lived experience of the accountant in practice and industry, Browne says.  Two years ago, the Education Department formalised the findings of a major research project. Project Athena proposed to teach the latest advances in technology and emerging accounting practice, while incorporating emerging trends in accountancy, using a blend of the most up to date technology and teaching pedagogy. “The Education Department has been preparing the output of Project Athena with the launch of a new multi-disciplinary qualification beginning in September 2025,” explains Browne. “Part of the remit of the Education Department is to ensure that we keep abreast of technological developments, assess their future value and determine how they will affect the lived experience of a Chartered Accountant.  “Only then do we consider when to add the underlying principles of these advancements to the Chartered Accountant qualification. It can be easy to get carried away by the hype cycle attached to new developments in technology, but we only add new elements to syllabi that can meaningfully add tangible value to our students and economic value to the profession.” AI and attracting younger candidates In June, Belfast-based RBCA announced a £50,000 investment in AI. Partnering with Xero, the Chartered Accountancy firm will use the technology to reduce manual tasks and administration, automate bookkeeping and generate reports and forecasts. RBCA founder Ross Boyd believes the investment will allow his team of 20 to focus more on servicing and consulting with existing clients, while also building new business relationships. “When used correctly, I think AI can transform the professional services sector for the better by removing the focus on repetitive, routine tasks, such as data entry and document processing. It can free up employees to focus more on complex and relationship-led tasks,” Boyd explains. However, while AI can learn from data and make predictions, it will “never replace the value of human judgement,” Boyd says. “Chartered Accountants will need to respond to AI, and its increasingly prevalent place in our work, by adapting, training and upskilling. There is no way around that, as far as I can see, but AI will not replace the role of the Chartered Accountant. “It may remove the burden of repetitive and time-consuming activities for Chartered Accountants, giving us more capacity to tackle the challenges only the human condition can master, but I cannot see it replacing what we do.” Boyd believes the emergence and uptake of technologies such as AI in the profession may even help to attract younger candidates in the future. “At the end of the day, we live in a technologically minded world, so it’s time to accept new opportunities,” he says. A survey of 2,000 accountants in the UK carried out last year by Intuit QuickBooks found that 92 percent had experienced hiring challenges.  “We have to provide the right learning environment for young people who have grown up using technology to do tasks and solve tasks. Gen Z, now aged up to 26, are becoming more present in the workforce and will account for 27 percent by 2025,” Boyd says. “To continue to attract young people to accounting, I think it’s important that we harness the benefits of technology to position the role – not as monotonous and gruelling – but as interesting, varied and strategic. That is where AI comes in.” Elevated role for Chartered Accountants Brian O’Malley, Senior Manager, Private Client Services – Tax and Law, at EY Ireland, agrees that AI will bring a more strategic, higher value focus to the role of the Chartered Accountant. “Generative AI (GenAI), in particular, is a revolutionary tool for the accounting profession that has the potential to boost productivity, increase revenue and manage risk,” O’Malley says. “As GenAI becomes more prevalent in the years ahead, I think we will see a shift in the role of the ‘traditional’ accountant as the technology assists more and more with quantitative and routine tasks. “We will instead be freed up to spend more time on qualitative work requiring a focus on communication, leadership and ethical decision-making skills.” Accountants who embrace AI by developing the necessary skills to manage and interpret the output of AI systems will be well-positioned to offer greater value.  “Navigating the intricacies of AI outputs responsibly and ensuring that AI-generated insights align with overall business objectives and regulatory requirements, will become a key aspect of our role,” O’Malley says. EY has invested more than €1.3 billion in AI globally, encompassing technology and services, and last year launched EYQ, its own large language model. “I use EYQ myself regularly to assist with administrative tasks and carry out research safely and securely,” says O’Malley, who is based at the firm’s Southeastern headquarters in Waterford city. “AI has brought a sense of excitement to the Southeast in that both large multinationals and SMEs are keen to explore it and ‘unlock its power’ to enhance their everyday business operations,” he says. “This was evident at our recent EY Waterford Generative AI event, which was aimed at helping our local business community to better understand how they can implement it.  “The event was attended by many local businesses, demonstrating the strong interest in the technology and its potential.” This eagerness to harness AI among businesses in Ireland will only benefit Chartered Accountants in the future, O’Malley believes. “If you consider the world in which we work, it is fast-paced and constantly changing, especially from a regulatory perspective. AI has the potential to provide us with the necessary resources to thrive in the modern business world.  “It can help Chartered Accountants to meet our clients’ changing needs and act as strategic partners to businesses as they seek to capitalise on opportunities.  “By effectively harnessing  AI, I think many Chartered Accountants will see their role expand beyond financial statements to encompass that of trusted advisor, strategist and business solution provider.” 

Mark Scully founded his own executive coaching firm to raise awareness of the benefits of neurodiversity in the workplace and support young professionals. For Mark Scully, his path to entrepreneurship as the owner of his own consulting business has been a highly personal endeavour. A qualified barrister, Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor, Scully launched Braver Coaching and Consulting (gobraver.com) in February 2024 to promote neurodiversity in Irish workplaces and provide executive coaching to young professionals. The move followed his own autism diagnosis in 2021, which prompted Scully to leave behind a successful career as a Tax Director with KPMG in Dublin to set out on his own. “I’m passionate about organisations becoming more neuro-inclusive for the benefit of all employees and this is very much down to my own experience,” Scully explains. “Before I set up Braver, I found I loved coaching people at KPMG and raising people up. Looking out for others and wanting to help them – that was really the start of my focus on people development.” Originally from Cork, Scully studied law at UCC and was called to the bar shortly after. He went on to join KPMG aged 22 to train as a Chartered Accountant specialising in tax. Following his qualification, he worked elsewhere as a tax lawyer before rejoining KPMG 18 months later. “KPMG and Chartered Accountants Ireland had been brilliant to train with, especially as I had zero accounting knowledge before joining. I found I really missed the sheer scale of support on offer in a Big Four tax department, so I decided to go back to KPMG in 2016 as a manager,” he says. Overcoming challenges Scully was promoted to Associate Director in 2018 followed by Tax Director in 2021. Despite this impressive career progression, however, he found himself struggling with some aspects of his work and his mental health took a hit. “I had a perfectionist mindset and would sometimes find myself researching to the ‘nth degree’, getting into the details without seeing the big picture. I also didn’t realise that multitasking or shifting from one task to another ate up a lot of mental energy for me, but I wasn’t approaching work in a way which factored that in,” he explains. At times, Scully says he also found it difficult to navigate social dynamics in the workplace. “I was very social, but certain dynamics I just didn’t ‘get’ and I was expending a lot of energy trying to get that right, which I didn’t realise at the time. I just had this notion in my head of, ‘It’s coming so easy to others but not me. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.’ “I stopped taking proper care of myself, working long hours, and in the end that really impacted my mental health, so I sought out professional counselling and coaching.” The experience was, Scully says, “transformational”. “It really opened my eyes to the meaning and importance of mental health. I realised I was in a hole and, once I got out of that hole, I had this drive to help other people avoid the same. “Mental health was a big thing on my agenda, and I was always looking out for others in the department and making sure that their mental health was being looked after.” Scully became a mental health advocate at work, co-leading a wellbeing committee in his department. “I also received some excellent coaching which I found to be such a powerful tool for helping me implement positive changes in work and my personal life. So I studied it and became a coach myself and joined KPMG’s internal coaching panel to provide those benefits to others.” Genesis of Braver It was during a counselling session that the prospect of autism was first raised to Scully. This started him on his journey to educating himself about neurodiversity. This journey, combined with his years spent leading teams and coaching experience, formed the genesis of Braver, which he would go on to found in February 2024. “Getting the diagnosis really allowed me to have compassion for myself. Others may not need the diagnosis to feel that way, but I did. It allowed me to understand, ‘okay, this is why I am the way I am. I don’t have to berate myself for these areas I feel like I’m falling down’. “In fact, maybe I can learn to ask for help or focus more on the things I am good at. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the year I was diagnosed was also the first year I received a top rating in my annual performance review at KPMG, and I got that rating ever since,” he says. “I had dropped my own negative coping strategies and started playing to my strengths. I had also started opening up to people about my diagnosis. “The feedback I was getting was pretty much entirely positive, and I count myself lucky for that. At the same time, I could see that awareness of neurodiversity in Irish workplaces simply wasn’t there yet and I wanted to do something to change that.” Neurodiversity awareness and training In addition to executive coaching for individuals and teams, Braver offers a range of neurodiversity awareness and training services for organisations, teams and individuals. “When I go into an organisation for a neurodiversity awareness session, I bring them through some of the traits of various neurodivergences, but also their strengths,” Scully explains. “I then go through some useful, high-level dos and don’ts everyone in the organisation can take away with them. I also deliver a more in-depth neuro-inclusion management training workshops for HR, people managers and leaders. As Scully sees it, neurodiversity is “just a way of saying we all have different ways of thinking and experiencing the world. “For some people, these different ways of experiencing the world have been medically pathologised as autism, ADHD, dyslexia or dyspraxia, for example,” he says. “All have been framed purely in a deficit-based manner historically. However, we can adopt a different lens and view them simply as ‘difference’. For people like me who are neurodivergent, viewing our experience as a difference rather than a deficit can change our entire outlook. “When I was first diagnosed, I thought, ‘I can’t be autistic’. I had preconceptions of what autism looked like, and it looked nothing like me, so I was taken aback. “Once I looked into it further, however, I realised those autistic traits had always been there, and I was drained from masking them. I came to terms with it and I was kinder to myself and learned to adopt ways of working that suited me and changed my environment. “I knew I wasn’t going to be good for two intense meetings in one day, for example, so I learned to move those things around to expend my energy more wisely. “I learned that I needed a lot of certainty when it came to communication, expectations and timelines, so I was very clear with my bosses and team about this and requested communication in a way that would leave nothing ambiguous.” Implementing these different ways of communicating and introducing clear boundaries around expectations allowed Scully to work more effectively. “At this point, I hadn’t told them I was autistic. They just accepted I was trying out a new way of working. It was really just good people management on everyone’s part, and it made a massive difference to my ability to perform.” Benefits for all employees Above all, Scully says he wants his work with Braver to make employers in Ireland realise that a neuro-inclusive workplace doesn’t just benefit neurodivergent employees, it benefits everyone. Scully sees neurodiversity training as “just one step” towards a more inclusive and adaptable management framework for all employees. “We spend so long training people to be subject matter experts, but I don’t think we dedicate enough time to training them how to be effective managers,” he says. “Learning to be a neuro-inclusive manager and leader is all about communication and adaptation – handling sensitive conversations and approaching adjustments to ways of working or communication that best suit the individual, for example. “When you’re training your managers to be neuro-inclusive, they will be better managers to all staff, not just those who are neurodivergent.” First steps for employers For employers considering neurodiversity for the first time, it can be overwhelming. There are many organisational and environmental aspects to be considered, such as removing barriers to the recruitment process, workplace accessibility and the adequacy of policies and procedures. “I believe there are many employers out there who want to make their workplaces more neuro-inclusive but don’t know where to start. I want to help and Braver is my way of doing so,” he says. Scully says a good first step is simply letting your people know you want to have a conversation about how you can be more inclusive. “Make neurodiversity a topic of conversation and create a space where your employees, particularly your neurodivergent employees, feel safe to participate in that conversation,” he advises. “As part of this, train your people on how they can exercise inclusive management so that both the manager and the employee feel safe and confident to approach different ways of working that suit that individual. “It’s a small step, but such an important one, and you will be on your way to supporting greater inclusion in your workforce and realising the benefits.”

Three Chartered Accountants consider the Government support on offer to SMEs in the North and south and the wider environment for entrepreneurship on the island of Ireland Shaun McGlade Managing Director SMCG Ltd Homegrown businesses in Ireland, North and south, face a myriad of challenges. These include geopolitical, environmental and economic uncertainties in addition to the impact of digital disruption, skills shortages and the evolving needs of the workforce – and all while they continue to grapple with inflationary pressures.  Government-backed organisations such as Invest Northern Ireland and Enterprise Ireland provide valuable support to businesses, with a focus on export-oriented companies and high-potential start-ups, both of which are seen as vehicles to boost the economy of the island of Ireland. Businesses across Ireland have been navigating the post-Brexit landscape, while businesses in Northern Ireland are also dealing with challenges and opportunities presented by the Northern Ireland Protocol – now the Windsor Framework – which provides access to both the British and EU markets.  This represents a significant opportunity for businesses in Northern Ireland, but it also introduces complexity and uncertainty in completing transactions across borders.  One key strand of Government support for businesses in Northern Ireland has been the establishment of the Trader Support Service. This is aimed at helping companies to contend with changes in the way goods move under the Windsor Framework.  Thousands of businesses have registered with the free-to-use platform since its launch in 2020. This service is due to end after December 2024, however, and this is something the recently restored Northern Ireland Executive must lobby the British Government to retain so that businesses in Northern Ireland can continue to avail of it beyond the end of the year. As a relatively small practice, we at SMCG Ltd have found that the professional network built over time with colleagues in the profession, along with professionals in other industries, has been a source of great support.  This is reflective of the ethos and culture prevalent in Irish society down through the generations to “help your neighbour” even though they may also be a competitor.  It is even more imperative, therefore, that the governments in the North and south proactively address the challenges facing our community of SMEs on the island of Ireland.  This requires a strategic approach, avoiding reactionary politics, and fostering an environment that encourages business investment and provides critical infrastructure for homegrown businesses to flourish. Susan HayesCulleton Managing Director The HayesCulleton Group Our company started in September 2010 and in the years since, I believe Ireland has steadily improved as a place to do business. The entrepreneurial ecosystem has become far more inclusive. In the past, the broad supports offered by the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) were tailored towards internationally traded services and manufacturing, but this has changed drastically.  The Local Enterprise Offices Policy Statement 2024–2030, released in May, stated that the LEOs would have an increased capital budget of €44.8 million in 2024 available to 37,000 businesses, excluding those supported by IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Udarás na Gaeltachta. Further, we are now seeing far more trade missions, funded initiatives for environmental and social sustainability, and opportunities to build relationships across borders.  At the time of writing, Enterprise Europe Network has 5,659 available partnering opportunities, enabling us to partner with distributors and procure goods from around the world.  InterTradeIreland has a target to help 10,000 businesses every year with comprehensive online cross-border trade information. The expanding diplomatic footprint of the Department of Foreign Affairs – with 57 Embassies and 108 Consulates – also offers a landing pad for Irish businesses that want to export. While Ireland is perhaps better known for accommodating foreign direct investment, I think the ecosystem for homegrown businesses here is hugely supportive. Enterprise Ireland does a fantastic job in the provision of seed investment, advice and – in my experience – has a passionate team of people at home and abroad who take as much pleasure in seeing homegrown businesses win in international markets, as the business founders themselves.  At HayesCulleton, we have encountered some wonderful people and they have led us to engagement opportunities that have resulted in new business for our firm. If I were to make one change, however, it would be to making it easier to navigate the SME support system in Ireland.  Kealan Lennon Chief Executive CleverCards Ireland has tax incentives to drive investment in research and development and well-educated talent coming out of our universities and colleges.      The big challenge for homegrown business support in Ireland is not at the early seed stage, however, but at the scaling stage – particularly for ambitious founders with a global vision.  The number one challenge for businesses scaling up is access to capital. The Government and Enterprise Ireland have funded several venture capital funds in Ireland to deploy investment at the seed and Series A stages. There is a complete gap from the Series B stage and onwards, however, and this has been the case for years.  Bridging this gap, in my view, would be the difference between scaling companies “exiting” through acquisition by international players (in the absence of capital to scale further) and continuing further along the journey themselves to build global businesses that are “homegrown” in Ireland.  CleverCards has developed a digital payments platform that enables businesses and public sector organisations to configure digital Mastercard accounts themselves.  By serving many multinational companies headquartered in Ireland, the US is our nearest market to the west while Britain and the European Union represent a huge market to the east.  So, our experience is that Ireland is a great place from which to scale internationally. However, early-stage growth and expansion requires risk capital to bridge the gap where later-stage private equity and debt markets are more readily available.

Brian Feighan, FCA, set up LearnAltus to help executives from all backgrounds understand the key financial drivers underpinning business decisions. I think most people yearn to be their own boss at some point and I was no different, but the reality of following your dream can be very daunting initially. There is no “mothership” and nothing happens unless you make it happen. You realise quickly that you will have to work harder than you have ever worked before just to get your business off the ground. Above all, you need to be passionate and commit completely. Otherwise, you won’t have the motivation to persist through the start-up phase. I started my own business in 2015. At the time, I was Head of Asset Finance with Ulster Bank. I had started my career with Ulster International Finance in Dublin after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with EY Ireland. I was part of a specialist team designing solutions to help multinationals centralise their global financing activities in Dublin. I really enjoyed the work and spent the next 14 years working in the sector, including stints as a Director with AIB International Financial Services and Executive Vice President at Demica, an international financial advisory firm, before rejoining Ulster Bank in 2006 as an Investment Director in its wealth management division. Business inspiration Throughout those years, I noticed something: I would be sitting in a board room in London or New York closing a major financing transaction, but – apart from the CFO – the other (non-financial) executives around the table often had significant blind spots in their understanding of what was really happening. It might be a failure to appreciate the implications of taking on additional leverage, not grasping the opportunity cost of a commercial decision or not realising how a thinly capitalised entity carries very high financial risk. It struck me that many executives rise to leadership positions due to their talent and success in non-financial disciplines like sales or relationship management. As managers, however, they must also assume responsibility for key financial decisions such as capital expenditure, management of working capital and ownership of financial performance and budget delivery. It can be a scary position to be in if you don’t have a solid foundation in finance. While most leadership training programmes include a financial component to upskill non-financial managers, in my experience this training tends to be light and conceptual – when it actually needs to be deep and practical. The result is that many managers have a poor understanding of the key financial drivers in their business and lack the confidence necessary to make good financial decisions – and the inevitable poor decision-making that ensues can prove very costly for companies. LearnAltus mission That experience was really the inspiration for LearnAltus, the financial training business I established in 2015, branded initially as ProTutor. By that stage, I had decided I wasn’t getting any younger and, if I was ever going to set up my own business, now was the time. So, I left the corporate world and jumped into the unknown. I had no grand plan at the outset and it took me a while before I settled on building an online financial training platform. LearnAltus’ mission is to help organisations improve their financial decision-making. We design and deliver training programmes that, we believe, can transform an organisation’s financial capability. Our training is centred around ensuring managers can understand and interpret key financial indicators and that they are confident enough to challenge and contribute to the financial aspects of key business decisions. We build immersive decision-making scenarios and game these scenarios out in our training to help managers grasp the potential financial implications. Lasting relationships One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned running my own business is the importance of building high quality, lasting business relationships. You will always achieve much more through collaboration than you can on your own. You need to identify good people to partner with and work continuously on enhancing the value of these relationships – your team, your business partners and your clients. Ultimately, success is defined not by how you see yourself but by the value you create for others. Being a Chartered Accountant has been a big advantage in this sense. I have been fortunate to develop close relationships with key personnel at the Institute. Much of the work I do aligns with the strategic goals of Chartered Accountants Ireland so there is a natural fit. A key milestone was the introduction of the Finance for Managers suite of qualifications, developed in partnership with the Institute’s Professional Development team. With over 33,000 members worldwide, the Institute has an exceptional reach in the business community. Before I set up my own business, I was oblivious to the capabilities the Institute has, which has been a key enabler for the success of the Finance for Managers programme. We have been fortunate to work with some very committed clients too, which is key to ensuring employees are engaged learners. Boot Camp I have supported the Institute’s outreach work with secondary schools for many years. It is a fantastic initiative, which helps promote the accounting profession and make it more accessible to students. Back in 2018, we learned from conversations with business and accounting teachers about their growing concern of the perception of accounting among students and parents, particularly in senior cycle, where the current Leaving Certificate Accounting syllabus is nearly 30 years old. This led us to develop the Institute’s online Boot Camp programme. Boot Camp provides a foundation in accounting fundamentals for Transition Year and Senior Cycle students. It also incorporates an online, interactive business simulation called “Be the Boss” where students take on the role of CEO of a “real life” company faced with a major strategic decision. Since its launch in 2019, Boot Camp has exceeded all our expectations, with over 8,000 students enrolled to date. It has become a prerequisite for many schools as part of their Transition Year programmes. Further, a growing number of accounting firms now incorporate Boot Camp into their internship programmes for Transition Year students during their work placements. We also run “Be the Boss” as a national school competition. This provides a fascinating insight into the level of entrepreneurial talent and business leadership capability out there in Gen Z. Foundation for success As a business owner, I have learned that you really need to be very disciplined about how you allocate your time. There is a view that success in business comes from achieving that big breakthrough, be it a key product innovation or a major customer win. In my view, however, overnight success is a myth. The truth is that those breakthrough moments happen only because you’ve been plugging away, improving and refining your proposition every day for a long time. If you look under the bonnet of any successful enterprise, you will find a lot of hard yards being fought every day. This is what positions you to execute well on the opportunities when they arise – and they always do.

Accelerate Accounting Solutions partners with clients to help them make better business decisions, explains founder Edel Hayes. Accelerate Accounting Solutions founder Edel Hayes, FCA, describes her business as an accounting service with a business partner approach. “Bookkeeping is very transactional,” Hayes explains. “It’s something that has to be done. End of year accounts and CRO returns are the same and business owners can get an external accountant to do them – but it’s the bit in the middle that really makes the difference.” This piece in the middle is using financial information to provide insights to support budgeting, goal setting, performance analysis, forecasting and other key business decisions. “Finance flows through the business. A lot of people don’t get that and it’s to the detriment of their business,” Hayes explains. “We work with our clients as a genuine business partner. It’s about understanding their business and what they want to achieve and supporting them in that.” Hayes established Accelerate Accounting Solutions in 2018 having worked as financial controller with several firms. Her decision was prompted by a few factors, not least of them family. “I’m originally from Dublin but live in Kildare. We have two young children, and I was commuting to Dublin every day. It became a nonsense for me,” Hayes says. “I was looking for something with no dead time spent in traffic or on trains. Time is precious. You need time to spend with your children and on outside interests. I didn’t want to waste that time and I got to thinking about starting my own business.” She also wanted more flexibility in her life. “Monday to Friday, nine-to-five. It doesn’t need to be that way for certain types of work. I was thinking that way pre-COVID even before everything changed.” Entrepreneurial spark The entrepreneurial spark was there as well. “I always had that,” Hayes says. “I had been involved in a small way in several businesses owned by family and friends. I gave them support and advice. I was dipping my toe in and out of the water but had never gone in the whole way.” The decision to strike out on her own was very much a family one. “I had a chat with my husband,” she recalls. “We decided that I should give it six months. If it didn’t work out, I would go back into employment. The jobs market was very good at the time.” She needn’t have worried. “I got clients straight away. I had a good reputation in the market and once people knew I was open for business they came to me.” Business vision Hayes’ vision for the business was to provide a lot more than just a bookkeeping or statutory accounts services. “A lot of SME owners are focused on keeping the tax authorities happy, they are ticking boxes and not going any further with finance,” she says. “A bit of effort and more commercial thinking can really make a difference. Business owners can be very reactive because they don’t have time to think. In many cases, they can’t afford a full-time accountant and they need a bit of external support. “That external help can make so much of a difference. It can give the business new insights, improve cash flows, and help with business planning and the business model. It can also help to identify areas for improvement.” Hayes initially cast the net quite wide in search of clients but this quickly changed. “I ended up with clients from a lot of different industries who were using different platforms and so on,” she notes. “Within a year, I realised that a lot of my clients were women who found me online or through referrals. I have focused on that since.” Today, the majority of Hayes’ clients come to her through referrals. “Referrals really started to take off in year two, just before COVID,” she says. “Sometimes, it was people coming from an existing external accountant who didn’t quite understand the business and where it wanted to go. Accountants in practice sometimes don’t understand new industries or the motivations of entrepreneurs. “A lot of entrepreneurs are motivated by multiple factors – time, impact, creativity – it’s not just about profits. We understand our clients at a much deeper level. We wouldn’t recommend a target of a million euro in revenue if a client wants to manage a small team and work a 30 hour week. It’s about finding what motivates the business owner and building that into our plans.” Hayes says she always advises potential new clients to shop around. “There are lots of accountants out there and it’s very important to find the right fit for your business. We want to be a proper business partner and be able to have non-judgemental frank conversations with clients. You need to be comfortable with each other to do that.” Investing in technology An early decision to invest in technology and cloud-based systems that could support a much larger practice paid dividends during the pandemic. “We had the technology platforms and standard operating procedures in place almost from the beginning. When COVID came, because we were already online and had a client portal in place, it was business as usual for us,” Hayes says. “Clients who were not yet in the virtual space felt a sense of calm from me. This is what we do. The concept of virtual accounting firms was already well established in the US but not so much here at the time. Some people got the idea, some didn’t. When COVID came, everyone got it.” Hayes gets real satisfaction from seeing the positive impact her service can have for clients. “You can see amazing results from tracking the numbers. For example, a business owner can see if they are leaking profits in certain areas and do something about it. They can see if people are working in the wrong areas,” she says. “They could spend months making the same mistake over and over again because they are not tracking the numbers. If that’s costing money, it could push the business into trouble.” It is also important to adapt to clients’ changing needs, she adds. “A business in year one has completely different needs than it will have in years three or four. It will have grown and changed. We understand that and adapt with our clients’ needs.” Crucial lessons Looking back, Hayes believes she probably cast the net a little too wide at the outset. “That can have a detrimental effect on a business. That was a lesson learned. It took me two full years to realise it.” Hayes advises those contemplating starting a business to take advice where they can get it and to leverage their own networks where possible. “People think it’s easy to set up and get running, but it’s not. I had a chat with Chartered Accountants Ireland’s Practice Advisory Team, and I found I was clueless. They were a great help. “You need to lean into your existing network. You will get clients through that. One hard lesson is not to be afraid to let a client go if they are a bad fit. It’s better to clear the space for other clients who are the right fit.” Another piece of advice is not to undercharge. “Everyone is tempted to do it but try to avoid it. Also set up your systems as if you have a bigger business from the start. That will set you up for growth.” Accelerate Accounting Solutions is continuing to grow. “Demand is twofold. We have people looking to switch accountants for a better fit and people starting up their own businesses,” Hayes says. “The entrepreneurial spirit is there. COVID made people realise that they can take a risk and set up their own business. If it doesn’t work out, it’s not the end of the world. “There is a lot of consolidation in the accounting market. Smaller practices are being bought up. Many clients don’t want to move to a bigger firm because they want a more hands-on approach from their accountant. People come to us for our model, which offers a more individualised service.” Interview by Barry McCall.

Pure Telecom co-founder and CEO Paul Connell talks ambition, business strategy and lessons in entrepreneurship. Paul Connell is Chief Executive of Pure Telecom, the Irish-owned provider of high-speed broadband and fixed line telecoms to homes and businesses nationwide. Established in 2002 by Connell and his business partner Alan McGonnell, Pure Telecom employs 80 people and has annual revenues of about €30 million. Connell is also Chair of the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Here, he talks to Accountancy Ireland about his experiences as an entrepreneur and co-owner of a successful business. Question: Can you tell us a bit about your early career? I qualified as a Chartered Accountant with BDO Simpson Xavier (now BDO Ireland) in the nineties and worked in accountancy and finance for a few years. In 1996, when I was Group Accountant with Iretex Packaging, I brought the group to a full public listing on the London Stock Exchange and, after that, I joined Global Telesystems (GTS) as Financial Director for Ireland. Global Telesystems was an American multinational supplying telecom services to the European market. At its peak in the late nineties, it supplied over 25 percent of telecoms services in Ireland through other national carriers. That’s how I got into telecoms. It was very exciting at that time because the Government deregulated the market in Ireland and opened it up to competition. Sean Bolger set up ITL and Denis O’Brien started Esat Telecom. I nearly blessed myself that I was a Chartered Accountant when I joined GTS because they understood numbers. I spoke their language, so I got on very well with them. It was a great place for me and, from there, I decided to partner with Alan to set up our own telecoms business in 2002. Question: What was your experience like going from being an employee to a business owner? I said to myself at the time, ‘I’ll give this a year and, if it doesn’t work, I’ll give it up.’ I had a young family and I needed a steady income. It doesn’t matter how big your bucket is if there is a hole in the bottom. We needed to make money like any other business. We actually lost money in the first year, but we were profitable in year two and we never looked back. It was all terribly exciting. As a business owner, you are everything – financier, salesperson, HR manager, cleaner – all rolled into one, so we stuck at it and we were very lucky that we didn’t need to draw any money for the first year or two. I don’t think I have ever worked as hard as I did in those earlier years. Question: Why do you think Pure Telecom was so successful from the get-go? We just kept it tight. When I worked with GTS, the company was losing money every quarter. I remember asking them, ‘Would we not be better investing the money rather than losing it? Just shutting things down would make more money’, and they said, ‘You don’t understand telecoms – we’re all about market share’. When we set up Pure Telecom, we knew we didn’t have that luxury. We weren’t big enough and we needed to have a profitable business. We went after everything that moved. If a guy in Kerry wanted to talk to me about giving us business, I’d get into the car, drive that morning to Kerry, meet him, get the business and come back to Dublin. Once we acquired any new customer, we wrapped them up in cotton wool. Customer service was a very big priority for us. We started out selling to businesses and then, in 2007, an Australian company selling residential services approached us and we acquired their business here in Ireland. That’s how we got into the residential telecoms market. It was completely different. Selling to domestic customers is a volume-based business, so you can’t look after every single customer like you can with business customers. It took us about two years to get a handle on it. We brought it back down to basics and, over time, our base started to grow by 25 percent every year. It was phenomenal. Today, we employ about 80 people and we have an annual turnover of approximately €30 million split roughly 15/85 between business and residential. The telecoms market has changed a lot since we started. We could just as easily be called ‘Pure Broadband’ or ‘Pure Data’. Voice and ‘plain old telecoms’ are gone and our big focus now is on higher broadband speeds for customers. Question: What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs starting a business? When I was leaving BDO Simpson Xavier, I remember the Managing Partner David Simpson sitting me down and asking, ‘what are you thinking of doing?’ I told him I might start my own business and he said to me, ‘look, if you do that, you must have no fear. Don’t be afraid to gear up. If you don’t, you’ll just become a bookkeeper. You have to be prepared to take risks with any business’. So, when we started Pure Telecom, I knew we would need to have the courage of our convictions. I’m very lucky that both Alan and I were prepared to take the risks we needed to take. We both had young families at the time, but we were in it to win it, so the only way was forward. I have a great wife and I remember her saying to me, ‘the worst thing that can happen is that you fail and, if you do, you just get up, dust yourself off and start again’. When you start a business, you find out very quickly who is friend and who is foe. More often than not, people are your friends and they will help you, support you and keep you going. It’s a big learning curve though so, these days, when someone starting a business asks for my advice, I try to make time to help them. Question: Were you ever afraid your business might fail? We were lucky in that Pure Telecom was making money from a very early stage, but I wouldn’t say I was afraid of failure either. In Ireland, we admire people who try something and fail. If they put their best foot forward and it doesn’t work out, we support that. You can only do your best. If you look into the past of any one individual in this country who has done well for themselves, you will find failures. That’s how we learn. When we started out, I remember saying to Alan, ‘maybe this will fail but, if it does, we won’t leave anyone in debt. We will move on, but we won’t leave a bad legacy behind us.’ As long as you are honest and you don’t try to cheat the system, there is nothing to be ashamed about if it doesn’t work out. Question What was the biggest challenge you faced building the business? Trying to get finance initially to get the business off the ground was tough. When I worked with GTS, I had bank managers offering me tens of millions of euros. Then, when we started Pure Telecom, I was dragged over the coals looking for just €100,000. In the end, I went elsewhere. I think a lot of people will tell a similar story. That’s where the courage and determination really comes in. If you want to fulfil your dreams of starting your own business, there are people out there who will help you to do it. There are ways and means of getting your project up and running. My advice is follow your gut. Don’t be afraid – just go for it.

Challenging herself to be open to new experiences has helped Hostelworld CFO Caroline Sherry excel in her career as a Chartered Accountant. My journey into accountancy was not linear. While I had a passion for science during my school years and pursued chemistry at college, the idea of working in a laboratory didn’t quite align with my career vision. It wasn’t until I had the opportunity to intern with Davy Stockbrokers one summer that I discovered the type of career path I really wanted to pursue. During my internship, I was exposed to finance and accounting in a real-world setting. Seeing firsthand how analytical skills were applied to complex financial matters, combined with the varied nature of the work and dynamic environment, all really appealed to me. This experience, coupled with conversations with my sister, who is also a Chartered Accountant, helped me envision a career in accountancy. What attracted me most to a career as a Chartered Accountant was the perfect blend it offered between my analytical nature and my interpersonal skills. Of course, the road to becoming a Chartered Accountant wasn’t without its challenges. The daunting prospect of the exams initially gave me pause. I had to sit every exam with no exemptions! I got through it all with the knowledge that the Chartered Accountancy qualification would equip me for a commercial career, which was ultimately my goal. Fostering gender equity in the profession One of the most significant changes I’ve observed throughout my career is the recognition of gender equity as a pressing issue. People now openly acknowledge the lack of representation and are more willing to question and challenge the status quo. Gender equity has become a legitimate reference point for companies’ cultural ethos. While finance is an attractive career path for women, the sector’s demanding nature poses challenges, particularly concerning work-life balance. Many face obstacles such as long and inflexible hours, which make it challenging when trying to balance career ambitions with family responsibilities. Financial recompense often fails to adequately compensate for these sacrifices, leading some women to step back from their careers at a crucial stage for progression. It’s very challenging, as male counterparts typically do not take time out and, therefore, continue to advance. It’s disheartening to consider the potential, talent, intellect and creativity that companies lose because of this dynamic. As one of a handful of Chief Financial Officers who are women among the 32 companies listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, I am aware of the significant underrepresentation of women in key decision-making roles. This disparity extends to senior leadership positions, highlighting the need for systemic change across all stages of the career lifecycle. Rethinking traditional work practices and policies is essential to addressing these challenges and fostering greater gender equity. Everyone, irrespective of gender, has the right to progress in their career and achieve their career aspirations, whatever they may be – and what people need to achieve this will differ. Flexibility is key: more flexible work arrangements that accommodate the diverse needs of the workforce. Traditional structures, presenteeism and pay disparity require changes to create a more inclusive and supportive environment where everyone, irrespective of gender, has equal opportunities to progress. Moreover, initiatives aimed at encouraging girls to pursue subjects like finance and accounting from an early age can help bridge the gender gap and cultivate a pipeline of talented female professionals. By addressing these issues comprehensively and proactively, we can create a profession that reflects the diversity of our society and harnesses the full potential of all individuals. Understand your strengths Career advancement opportunities were not always immediately apparent to me. However, I knew that working on interesting projects and taking on new challenges would round out my skills and help to determine my next career step. I always challenged myself to be open to new experiences and to use them as learning opportunities. Working on cross-functional projects was a great way for me to deepen my understanding of the business and build relationships with colleagues. I tried to learn from line managers and peers, soaking up as much as I could along the way. Feedback is a gift, as they say! It allowed me to understand my strengths and gave me the confidence to know where I could add value to and where I needed additional support. My advice is: When the opportunity arises, back yourself and go for it. Mentoring for perspective and advice Personally, I have gotten a lot from mentoring, and I’ve found informal mentoring works best for me. My mentors have included friends, peers and line managers. I’m very fortunate to have a great friendship group from my time at PwC; a group of fellow working mothers who can empathise with the daily demands we all face. This varied group of mentors has given me valuable guidance, insight and encouragement. The best mentorship conversations are those that give you perspective and advice to help guide you through the obstacles and tougher times. Positive mentoring relationships can help you develop a sense of self-assurance, resilience and invariably provide context. On the other hand, networking has always been a bit tougher for me. It can be daunting to put yourself out there, particularly if you walk into a ‘networking opportunity’ function and you don’t know anyone! I’ve had to push myself to do more of it. Networking offers a valuable opportunity to engage with industry peers and leaders, expand your sphere of influence, stay abreast of industry trends, and access new career opportunities. I would really encourage people to look for both networking and mentoring opportunities. They don’t necessarily need to be very formal. Both serve as powerful tools for career development. By harnessing the collective wisdom of your support network of mentors and peers, individuals can unlock their full potential, gain confidence and achieve their professional aspirations. Know what you need One question I wish I could answer is how to obtain a good work-life balance! Acknowledging how challenging it can be to achieve ‘balance’ is critical. I am more mindful of balance and the need to establish boundaries for both my team and I. I have a great team and encourage open communication about our individual needs, fostering a supportive environment where people can be at their best. When you can’t find balance, I think the the best course of action is to acknowledge the challenge and to try not to be too hard on yourself. By acknowledging the difficulty in finding balance and practising self-compassion, you can alleviate some of the pressure you put on yourself. Establishing boundaries when working has been one of the toughest challenges I’ve faced in my own career. In the past, I was not forthcoming about what I needed to attain a better work-life balance. I endeavour to do this now and look to support my team so that we can all be at our best. About this series Last year, Accountancy Ireland introduced a new series in collaboration with the Gender Working Group of the Institute’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee. Focused on the women in our membership, we are relaunching this series this year under the new banner ‘My Story So Far: Women’s Career Series’. It follows the 2022 publication of a global Chartered Accountants Worldwide survey which explored opportunities for women in the profession. The survey found no obvious gender-related barriers to entry into the profession but revealed that a growing number of women were making the decision to leave or pivot within the profession mid-career. ‘My Story So Far: Women’s Career Series’ seeks to highlight the experiences of the women in our membership and provide a forum to share their insights into how they have managed their careers in tandem with their lives and overcome the challenges and obstacles they have encountered along the way.

GRID founder Derek F. Butler has used his training as a Chartered Accountant to provide alternative finance to Ireland’s SME community. It was during his time working with GOAL in Uganda that Derek F. Butler, FCA and founder of GRID, learned about microfinance – a type of financial service aimed at those with little or no access to commercial bank lending. Butler had studied business and economics at Trinity College Dublin before going on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant and Registered Auditor with PwC, working first with the firm in Ireland and then in the US. “Qualifying as a Chartered Accountant provided me with a life-long skill set. It allowed me to have those formative experiences that would eventually lead me to set up GRID,” Butler says. “I worked with PwC in Boston and Los Angeles. It was my time in Boston, in particular, that was really insightful. We were auditing investment funds and it made me aware of just how tightly held some of the world’s capital is by big institutions and funds.” Butler left PwC in 2009 and relocated to Uganda to join GOAL, the humanitarian charity, as finance manager followed by financial controller. “I couldn’t have made that move without my training with PwC. It allowed me to use my skills to make the greatest possible impact I could think of at that time,” Butler says. “There were these Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) in post-war Northern Uganda pioneered by an organisation called Care. “It was an extraordinary model. Groups of women would come together every week to save and lend together. All they needed was a lockable box, a small ledger and some training. It was microfinance in its most basic form. “There were hundreds of these VSLAs in Northern Uganda and they were transforming their communities because they were able to get the little money they had working more effectively.” Alternative forms of finance The experience opened Butler’s eyes to the potential of alternative forms of finance. “The ‘red thread’ in my career has been the desire to make a positive impact,” he says. “We have spent centuries putting banking on a pedestal and making the banking system more and more complex. “In reality, banks are supposed to play the same role as the VSLAs, which is to clear capital from those who have it to those who need it.” Butler moved from Uganda to Haiti in 2011 to take up the role of Country Director the year after the country had suffered a devastating earthquake. “I spent two fantastic years in Haiti and then decided to return to Ireland to do something positive here,” he says. “It was 2013, the Irish economy was still very much in cold storage and many small businesses were struggling with the credit crunch. “I had a long-held passion for small businesses and really wanted to do something to alleviate the small business banking problem.” When Butler established GRID in 2014, it operated initially as a peer-to-peer lending platform. Peer-to-peer lending allows individuals and businesses to lend money to each other without using an intermediary, such as a bank. “We launched 18 months after I came back to Ireland. I wanted to use a digital platform to support the Care model of connecting those who have capital with those who need it,” Butler says. “We wanted to focus on small business, because they are really the lifeblood of most communities in Ireland, but people often fail to realise how hard it can be to make a small business work in a world that’s built for scale. “I felt SMEs were worthy of support and a critical ingredient in getting the Irish economy back on track.” At the time, peer-to-peer lending was new to the Irish market but more established in the UK, where the first peer-to-peer lending platform had been launched in 2005 by Zopa. “Our big challenge with the model in Ireland was the lack of regulatory certainty. We were monitoring its progress in the UK where the government had gotten firmly behind peer-to-peer lending,” Butler says. “We expected that the same would happen in Ireland and we advocated for the Irish Government to introduce a regulatory regime here, but they kept deferring to the European regulatory agenda.” The Central Bank of Ireland would not announce a regulatory regime for crowdfunding service providers until 2022. “It took a full 10 years for that regulation to be introduced and we couldn’t wait because we couldn’t scale our business without regulatory certainty,” Butler explains. “So, we decided to pivot to a more traditional balance-sheet lending model in 2017 – still fully digital, but we started lending the money ourselves. “We also pivoted our core product from a traditional term loan to a cash advance loan. We were really the pioneers of cash advance or flexible lending in Ireland.” €135m lent to Irish businesses To date, GRID has lent €135 million to more than 2,500 businesses in Ireland. “The pivot to being a balance sheet lender and cash advance provider was the right decision. It has allowed us to help a lot of businesses very effectively,” Butler says. Now, he is focusing on developing new non-lending services for businesses, including an accounting solution and analytics platform. “Our analytics platform is a bit like a ‘robo-CFO’, which can help small businesses to understand their business – and the financial ‘health’ of their business – in a much smarter way, particularly those that don’t have an in-house accountant, let alone an in-house CFO,” says Butler. GRID lends to companies operating across all sectors in Ireland. “Where we fit is in the small and micro end of the business market,” Butler explains. “Larger and medium-sized businesses either have the resources internally to fund growth or easier access to bank finance. “Our solution sits alongside bank finance, but we find that most of our clients are small businesses with a turnover of less than €10 million.” His ‘North Star’, Butler says, is to help at least 10,000 businesses in Ireland. “Our new analytics offering will allow us to service a lot more small businesses much more quickly, helping them to grow their business day by day.” Current outlook for SMEs The outlook for small businesses in Ireland has improved in 2024, Butler says. “It’s a lot better than it was six months ago for two reasons: first, there is clarity now about tax warehousing and, second, I think there is finally a recognition that Government-driven cost inflation has had a hugely detrimental impact on small businesses.” The Department of Finance introduced tax debt warehousing in May 2020 in response to pandemic-related challenges facing many companies in Ireland. The scheme allowed businesses to temporarily defer VAT and Employer PAYE, certain self-assessed income tax liabilities, and Wage Subsidy Scheme and Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme overpayments, on an interest-free basis for an extended time. Finance Minister Michael McGrath TD, FCA, announced in February that the three percent interest rate applying to warehoused debt would be reduced to zero. “There had been a huge overhang in the SME sector from tax warehousing,” Butler says. “As long as the repayment capacity of small businesses for their warehoused tax was unclear, it was difficult for them to grow. “Now, we have clarity and those that can repay their warehoused tax have agreed arrangements with Revenue. “That’s important because SMEs typically transact with other SMEs, so the ongoing uncertainty over tax warehousing created wider uncertainty in the sector and slowed business.” In May 2023, GRID released the findings of a survey of 300 small businesses in Ireland, carried out with Red C, the research firm. Just 61 percent of respondents said they were making a profit at that time, and about four-fifths said higher energy prices and the cost of raw materials had negatively impacted their business. “That research was really about awareness of Government-driven cost inflation among small businesses,” Butler says. “The majority of the respondents said, ‘We don’t believe the Government understands what it is doing with big policy announcements that are driving inflation and cost pressures for SMEs’. “I think it’s only now that the Government has become fully aware of this reality. With the change in leadership, there is a genuine recognition that SMEs are under pressure and I think we can now thankfully expect a policy response that benefits the country’s small businesses.”

Whiterock Finance CEO Paul Millar explains why innovative homegrown businesses have the creativity and drive to unleash Northern Ireland’s true potential. As his year-long stint as Chair of Chartered Accountants Ulster Society draws to a close, Paul Millar is reflecting on his key priority in the role to “embrace entrepreneurs and unleash Northern Ireland’s potential.” “Entrepreneurship is close to my heart,” Millar says. “I’ve come across a lot of entrepreneurs during my career in professional services, banking and now at Whiterock Finance. I have been inspired by them and I can see the challenges they face as well.” Millar believes it is important for Chartered Accountants, in particular, to have an entrepreneurial mindset. “Sometimes as accountants, we don’t recognise that so many of our members are entrepreneurs in their own right,” he says. “They are leading businesses and running their own practices, which are businesses as well, but they tend to see an entrepreneur as ‘someone else’ who is leading a tech start-up or something. If you are 30 years of age and working in one of the Big Four or in the finance function of a business, you need to have an entrepreneurial mindset because, one day, you could be leading that organisation yourself.” As Millar sees it, all Chartered Accountants should be thinking entrepreneurially both for their own career and for their clients. “They need to be able to go on a risk journey with their clients. They need to be able to go on the entrepreneurial journey either personally or with their clients,” he says. Path to accountancy The Whiterock Finance Chief Executive took the traditional route into his own career in accountancy. “I did an accounting diploma at Queen’s University Belfast and spent eight years with KPMG after that. I was Audit Director there when I moved on to Deloitte, working in audit and transaction services, and then spent seven years in corporate and business banking with Bank of Ireland.” Millar made the move to fund manager Whiterock Finance in 2012. “It was a start-up providing riskier finance to businesses in Northern Ireland and, since then, the management team has been successful in buying the business out from its original corporate owners,” he says. “Today, we provide loan finance of up to £2 million and, through our new Growth Capital Fund, equity finance of up to £5 million to businesses in Northern Ireland.” His role as Chief Executive of Whiterock Finance is, Millar says, “hugely positive.” “We have £225 million in funds under management and have deployed £125 million to over 150 companies. I get to meet lots of business owners who are pitching to us, but the impact is not just that amount of money. “Generally, we do deals alongside other funders. That cocktail of funding helps make things happen. It is great to see companies develop and grow and some of them move onto exits either through trade sales, funding events or IPOs on the Alternative Investment Market. Having a positive impact on the success of other businesses is the most enjoyable part of the job.” Whiterock Finance has just launched the £75 million Growth Capital Fund, which will focus on investments of between £1 million and £5 million in return for minority shareholdings in scaling companies. “We have a debt fund of £30 million and that will be topped up to £60 million in the near future. This fund provides loans of up to £2 million to businesses,” Millar says. “We saw a need for an equity fund and have been working on that for the past two years. The British Business Bank provided £45 million in funding and the rest of it came from us going around Northern Ireland to get funding from high net-worth individuals and others. “We got 18 others to make up the £30 million. We put in the hard yards. It is interesting being on the other side looking for money. There is a real opportunity to be a market mover. We will close out our first three investments in the summer.” Opportunities for Northern Ireland Millar is firmly focused on opportunities for Northern Ireland and believes it is “in a good place” at the moment. “The Executive is back up and running now. Its closure was a drag on the economy. We also have the advantage of having dual trading access to the British and EU markets,” he says. “In terms of sectors, some specialisms in areas like cybersecurity, IT and digitalisation, are doing very well. In advanced manufacturing and engineering, we have a hotbed in mid-Ulster, and fintech is also doing very well.” Promoting Northern Ireland as a location for inward investment is important and activity has been ramping on this front, Millar says. “The UK government hosted an investment summit last September. There were lots of businesses in the room along with a number of foreign investors, mainly from the US. That was followed by US Government Envoy Joe Kennedy hosting a trade summit.” In attracting inward investment, Millar says Northern Ireland should leverage the strength of its very well-educated workforce as well as its dual market access. “If there is one thing that could really help, it is having a corporation tax rate the same as the Republic of Ireland. It is currently 25 per cent here, double the 12.5 per cent rate for all but the very largest companies in the Republic of Ireland. That would be really impactful,” he says. Funding advice for entrepreneurs Drawing on his experience as an investor, Millar advises business owners seeking funding to engage early. “It takes longer to get to a funding decision now,” he explains. “You need to know your business, know your markets and where the growth opportunities lie – and you need to know your numbers. “Chartered Accountants play an important role there. When we see Chartered Accountants on the other side of the table presenting a business plan that hangs together, it gives the business a much better chance of funding. The drive and enthusiasm of the people pitching is important as well, of course.” Promoters seeking equity funding should also keep their future exit in mind. “It could be a sale to another company, another private equity investment or a floatation,” Millar says. “Investors want to see a growth and exit plan as that is how they will get a return on their investment. It is different if you are looking for a loan – in that instance, the lender will want to see hard evidence of your ability to repay.” Interview by Barry McCall.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Peter Burke TD, FCA, outlines his plans to ensure Ireland’s SMEs have the support they need to succeed and flourish. Just three weeks into his tenure as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Peter Burke TD, FCA, had already hit the ground running, unveiling a pre-budget SME support package to provide a boost to Ireland’s small- and medium-sized businesses. This “sense of urgency” will, he says, continue to inform his work in the months ahead as he advocates on behalf of SMEs and traders up and down the country. “SMEs are vital to Ireland’s success and central to our ability to build a broad-based and successful economy,” says Burke. “While there has been some moderation in the rate of wholesale price inflation, and measures to date have helped many vulnerable but viable firms, these new measures will help SMEs’ long-term financial sustainability, and aid them to grow and thrive so as to sustain good jobs into the future.” The need to support and champion SMEs is a cause close to Burke’s heart. He grew up on a family farm close to Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, and went on to study commerce at NUI Galway, graduating in 2004. “We had a suckler farm, which is a bit unusual in that you only get paid once a year, and I would have watched my dad over the years managing cashflow around that one annual payment,” he says. “I was always very interested in figures at school – trying to plan into the future to meet cashflow demands – and I really enjoyed studying business for Junior Cert. That enticed me into accountancy and, when I went on to NUI Galway, I chose to major in the subject.” Early interest in business Burke also nurtured a wider interest in business and, in particular, “understanding the mechanics of business – looking under the bonnet and taking a deep dive.” “I wanted to understand where the revenue is generated and how to invest and spend in a sustainable manner that doesn’t leave you with the red light on at the end of the year,” he says. Following his graduation, Burke went on to train as a Chartered Accountant with Stephens Cooke & Associates in Mullingar, qualifying in 2009. “I didn’t apply to the Big Four firms because I felt that I had a better chance of gaining a solid understanding of everything in a medium-sized practice with a wide dispersal of clients,” he explains. “I would be working on a capital acquisitions tax return one day, dealing with an estate the next, then looking at stamp duty or advising a client on VAT and carrying out Revenue audits – it was complete exposure to everything – an A to a Z take on business, and that’s exactly what I wanted.” Political career Before his election to the Dáil in 2016, Burke served as a Councillor on Westmeath County Council. “I was elected to both Westmeath County Council and Mullingar Town Council in 2009, which gave me my first platform in elected politics and, at that time, Chartered Accountants Ireland agreed to defer my exams,” he says. “That allowed me to run in those elections and I wouldn’t be where I am today without it, so I really appreciated it. I continued post-qualification with Stephens Cooke & Associates right up until I got elected to The Dáil in 2016 as a TD for the Longford-Westmeath constituency. “It took a few attempts to get there but, if you really want to do something in life – if you feel it’s for you – and you don’t succeed the first time, you have to try again. Persistence and determination do pay off.” Leaving behind his career in practice came with a “tinge of sadness” for Burke, who had built strong working relationships with SMEs across the country through his work as a Chartered Accountant. “I really missed that, but getting elected to the Dáil also brought an exciting new horizon and a fresh challenge. I was delighted to be appointed to the Finance Committee and the Public Accounts Committee. Those roles gave me unbelievable insight into how government departments operate and how decisions are made.” Burke was appointed Minister of State for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in 2020 and served as Minister of State for both European Affairs and the Department of Defence from 2022 to April 2024, when he took up his current role as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. “It has been a priority of Taoiseach Simon Harris to support our small businesses since he took office. When I got the call from Simon and sat down face-to-face with him, one of the first things he said to me was, ‘I really want to get a package together to support our SMEs’. “We were both very much at one on this, because I fully understand from my work as a Chartered Accountant that SMEs employ 70 percent of people right across our country. They are central to economic activity in all our communities.” Key SME measures Key measures outlined in the pre-budget SME support package put forward by Minister Burke in May include reopening the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) scheme for an additional 14 days, introducing a second ICOB payment for businesses in retail and hospitality, and doubling the lending limit for Microfinance Ireland loans from €25,000 to €50,000. The package also doubles the Innovation Grant Scheme to €10,000 and increases the maximum amount available under the Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme to €10,000 while halving the business contribution rate to 25 percent. The employer PRSI threshold will rise from €441 to €496 with effect from 1 October 2024, ensuring that employers with employees earning the weekly equivalent of the national minimum wage will pay the lower rate of employer PRSI at 8.8 percent. Eligibility for both the Digital for Business Consultancy Scheme and Trading Online Voucher have also been extended to businesses in all sectors employing up to 50 employees while the value of the grant itself has been doubled to €5,000. “As a politician and policymaker, I have to look ahead and ask, ‘how am I going to make life easier for our businesses every single day in the future?’” Burke says. “We have approved capital schemes for upgrading infrastructure like LED lighting, refrigeration and kitchens, which could cut some companies’ monthly energy bill by up to €1,500. We are offering a €10,000 grant whereby the business has to put up just 25 percent of the total cost. “We are focusing on innovation and supporting investment in innovation among SMEs by various means, including collaboration with tertiary institutions, so that they can continue to adapt and remain competitive into the future.” An enhanced ‘SME Test’ has also been introduced by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in conjunction with the Department of An Taoiseach. “This means that when a statutory instrument or new regulation is under review, we think small first and ask, ‘how is this going to impact our SME sector?’ This test will be very important for policymaking into the future.” Burke has published the first ever Local Enterprise Offices (LEO) Policy Statement, which will run to 2030, providing “clarity and certainty” on the role of the nationwide network for 31 LEOs in administering measures outlined in his SME support package. “Over 370,000 businesses are eligible for some type of support from the LEOs, such as assistance in starting and growing a business, as well as expert guidance on how to save time, money and energy, mentoring, training and general business advice,” he says. “A number of these measures will be actioned by the LEOs – including increasing the Energy Efficiency Grant, opening up grants to help more businesses to digitalise, and launching Ireland’s Best Emerging Entrepreneur Programme to encourage entrepreneurship and start-ups in under-represented groups.” Outlook for Irish business The “sense of urgency” Burke describes at the beginning of this interview will, he says, continue to guide his work in the months ahead. “I’m very much aware of where we were in the government cycle when I got this job and that creates a sense of urgency that will underpin everything I do,” he says. “You will see a very strong impetus to ensure that businesses have all the supports they need to succeed and flourish and keep our economy growing and continuing to employ the 2.71 million people we have currently working in Ireland.” The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office, published in May, revealed continued growth in Ireland’s labour market. Some 50,500 jobs were created in the year to the end of March 2024 bringing employment to 2.71 million, up about 1.9 percent year-on-year. “I’ve talked about the sense of urgency I feel in this role, but equal to this is the importance I place on evidence,” Burke says. “I always base my decisions on evidence-driven data. You need to ensure that you’re fully informed and the Chartered Accountant qualification will help with that. Some of the things I love most about accountancy are very much aligned with my interest in politics. As a Chartered Accountant, I really enjoy working with people – going into a business, meeting the directors, the senior management team, and helping them to plan for the future. “The same applies in politics – you’re working with people, planning ahead and balancing different demands, trying to work out the viability of various plans and proposals and thinking ahead so you can deliver the best outcome.” The outlook for Ireland’s SME sector, business generally and the wider economy is broadly positive, Burke believes, but no measure of growth and success should, he warns, be taken for granted. “I am heartened to see employment continue to rise this year and I absolutely see a bright future for Ireland’s SMEs, particularly those that innovate and grab emerging opportunities – but you can’t take anything for granted,” he says. “No matter how healthy the economy, we must always be looking ahead, considering all the evidence and putting in place the guardrails and incentives to protect and support business in Ireland well into the future.”

Tackling systemic hurdles to the long-term economic health of Ireland’s SMEs will be a top priority for Barry Doyle, the new President of Chartered Accountants Ireland. As Investment Director with MASV, the entrepreneur-led investment firm, Doyle brings considerable experience in advising and scaling successful businesses. He took up the office of President on Friday, 17 May, following the Institute’s 136th AGM. At just 37, Doyle is the youngest President in the Institute’s 136-year history, but already he has gained deep expertise in the start-up environment in Ireland and overseas and continues to work with scaling businesses from their earliest stages through growth and exit. The need to support and champion these businesses is a cause close to his heart. “I’ve worked mainly with start-ups and early-stage companies throughout my career,” Doyle says. “I’m drawn to entrepreneurs – for me, it’s about building something from scratch and seeing it gain traction, grow and succeed. It excites me. The start-up environment can be tough but it is also incredibly rewarding.” In his role with MASV, Doyle supports ambitious start-ups scaling internationally. “I’ve gone from working in hands-on roles within these businesses to now guiding them as a board director, observer and advisor and investing in people’s ideas at MASV,” he says. “I really enjoy it. There is a lot of variety in working with international companies of different sizes and at different stages of development.” Shining a spotlight on SMEs During his term as President, Doyle is keen to focus on those members of the profession who own, support and advise Ireland’s SMEs in both the North and south. “Many of our members run SMEs. We have practitioners out there running their own businesses the length and breadth of the country,” he says. “Not only do they support other SMEs in their day-to-day work, but they are also business owners and entrepreneurs themselves. “They provide employment, often in regional towns and cities. It is important to me that we shine a light on the value these members are providing every day.” Although he believes Ireland offers a broadly supportive environment in which start-ups and SMEs can flourish, Doyle is also acutely aware of the challenges facing this crucial cohort of the Irish economy. “Record corporation tax receipts will not always be with us. There’s a strategic imperative to ensure economic health for SMEs long-term,” he says. Doyle believes this can only come from understanding the unique challenges they face, not simply by virtue of their size, but also related to the sector they operate in – and the supports they need. “We need to be very mindful of new initiatives that are being rolled out, such as pension auto-enrolment, increasing the minimum wage and PRSI costs, so we can ensure that they don’t give rise to prohibitive costs for business.” SMEs are also being impacted by wider infrastructural issues that must be addressed, such as the availability of both housing and childcare, Doyle warns. “The cost of doing business and these infrastructure issues are intrinsically linked and need to be considered in totality,” he says. “The question is: what can we reasonably expect businesses to cope with?” Blueprint for sustained growth Chartered Accountants Ireland has published a new thought leadership paper setting out measures to help achieve strategic, systemic improvements for SMEs in Ireland. These measures include: Further increases to the thresholds for Employer PRSI so all wages up to the minimum wage are exempt and wages up to the living wage are at the reduced rate of 8.8 percent. No extension to the Enhanced Reporting Requirements (ERR) for at least three years and not before an appropriate cost-benefit analysis of the current system has been completed. Reducing Capital Gains Tax from 33 percent to 25 percent to stimulate business and personal transactions that will bring additional funds into the Exchequer. Wider SME eligibility for grants to include more ‘traditional’ industries and the service sector. A more prominent role for the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland in encouraging banks to provide low-cost credit to SMEs, and to underwrite this credit. New opportunities for Credit Unions to increase SME lending by adapting Central Bank regulations – e.g. lending limits. Curbing high business costs “Broadly speaking, I think Ireland is pro-business and pro-entrepreneurship, but there are challenges. The cost of doing business in Ireland is rising and this is becoming quite a big issue for SMEs,” Doyle says. Chartered Accountants have first-hand experience of the cost and administrative burdens SMEs are encountering, Doyle adds, and the proposals outlined in the Institute’s new thought leadership paper are tailored to address these. The publication of the paper followed extensive engagement with members, two-thirds of whom work in business. “Government commitment to the SME sector in Budget 2025 is welcome, but this is a commitment that will need to endure even as we move towards a new Government next year,” Doyle says. “Our thought leadership paper offers a blueprint that in the long-term will effect change if implemented. We must ensure that a strategic lens is adopted in tackling what are stubborn, systemic hurdles for SMEs.” Successful career path Originally from Rosslare, Co. Wexford, Doyle studied accounting and finance at Dublin City University, interning with EY Ireland’s tax and audit divisions in his second year of studies. After graduating in 2006, he returned to EY to train in assurance and went on to join the National Geographic Channel in Sydney. He was Regional Finance Manager for National Geographic Channel in Australia and New Zealand for two years as it expanded to become Fox International Channels. In 2013, after returning to Ireland, Doyle joined Storyful in the role of Chief Financial Officer. The online news and content verification company founded by former journalist Mark Little was acquired in 2013 by News Corp for a reported $25 million. Doyle then went on to work with e-commerce start-up xSellco for two years, again in the role of CFO, followed by a two-year stint as Chief Operating Officer with recruitment firm Mason Alexander. He joined MASV in 2020 shortly after the entrepreneur-led investment firm had been established by Dan and Linda Kiely who sold Voxpro, their business process outsourcing firm, to Canadian company Telus International in 2017. Doyle is also currently a Director of Republic of Work and Board Observer for both OpenforVintage and Johnson Hana. “I think my own career is testament to the sheer range of roles open to Chartered Accountants – and to how far your qualification and training can take you from a relatively early stage,” he says. “The knowledge you have means you can add value from the get-go and this can propel your career along a very exciting path.” Vibrancy and diversity of profession During his year as President of Chartered Accountants Ireland, Doyle is keen to shine a spotlight on these opportunities and the vibrancy and diversity of a profession that continues to play such an integral role in all sectors on the island of Ireland and overseas. “It’s really important that we highlight the many opportunities our profession offers globally, but also increasingly here in Ireland. Every single business and organisation has an accountant at the heart of their decision-making,” he says. This reach means that the profession is also inherently valuable to the economy, as demonstrated by research carried out recently by Oxford Economics. A report published by Oxford Economics in January on behalf of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies, found that the Irish accountancy profession – comprising the accountancy sector and accountants working across the wider economy – contributed €19.8 billion to the Irish economy in 2022. The report further found that the profession generated €1.8 billion in tax revenues in 2022. In Ireland and Britain combined, the profession contributed €114 billion to both economies in 2022, generating €13.7 billion in tax revenues. Behind these headline figures, there are over 83,000 individuals employed by the accountancy profession in Ireland, driving and servicing business in all sectors. “One of our USPs as Chartered Accountants is the high ethical standard we are held to as professionals,” Doyle says. “People look to us as trusted advisors. We act in the public interest and I think this is very important in terms of driving the economy towards sustained growth in a well-thought out manner.” Engaging with members at grassroots In addition to championing and supporting SMEs, Doyle is keen to engage with as many members as possible at grassroots level at a time when membership is set to swell from 33,000 to 38,000. Members of Chartered Accountants Ireland and CPA Ireland voted in favour of a proposal to amalgamate the two Institutes earlier this year. This will see the creation of a single Institute, named Chartered Accountants Ireland, which will be the largest professional body on the island of Ireland. The proposal was endorsed by the Councils of both Institutes who believe it will better position the profession for the future, driving new growth opportunities while also being stronger to meet challenges. “As the Institute grows, it is more important than ever that what we offer is relevant to as many of our members as possible – and that it speaks to the reality of their professional lives, needs and priorities,” Doyle says. “The Institute exists to support and elevate the profession, to uphold our professional standards in the public interest and to continue to educate members and future members. Ultimately, everything we do begins and ends with our members.” Doyle has served as Deputy President of the Institute for the past year, supporting outgoing President Sinead Donovan alongside Vice (now Deputy) President Pamela McCreedy. “Sinead is an inspiration to so many and a fantastic leader,” he says. “I will be continuing her focus on the future of the profession and our ‘next gen’ during my own term as President and also picking up on our predecessor Pat O’Neill’s very valuable work during his time as President in calling for reform of the Leaving Cert accounting syllabus.” The power of connection Doyle has been a member of the Council of Chartered Accountants Ireland since 2015 and has chaired the Institute’s Digital Steering Group and Members Board as well as the Members in Business and Strategic Communications Committees. “I made the decision to go for Council when I was just 27. It goes back to my time in Australia and the power of the Australian society and sense of community I found there,” he explains. “We came together as Chartered Accountants and I always knew that there was a group there to support me. That sense of connection is really powerful when you’re so far away from home. “It’s not lost on me that I will be the youngest President in the history of the Institute, but I think that’s a good thing. “Sixty percent of our membership is now aged 44 and below. The profile of our membership is changing and I think it matters that our members can see this represented on our Council.”

Three Chartered Accountants tell us how they use performance metrics to enhance organisational efficiency beyond traditional benchmarks Niamh McCarthy Finance Business Partner Primark Relying solely on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can mean ignoring the human elements that impact performance. Focusing only on a project’s outcomes might meet KPIs, but it can also make people feel that their wellbeing or personal development is not a priority. In my experience, the best way to ensure a balance between quantitative metrics and qualitative assessments is to set clear expectations when setting annual goals, provide feedback and coaching more regularly than in one-off annual reviews so that everyone is aligned, and add weighting to both quantitative and qualitative metrics based on their importance to the company.  Subjective factors such as employee behaviour, teamwork and communication skills are crucial in performance evaluations.  These measures can influence a company’s culture as employees feel heard and that they can collaborate with their peers. These positive behaviours drive a positive culture. The more positive employees feel, the more productive they tend to be.  Careful consideration is required before implementing alternative performance measures to ensure clear definitions of the metrics. Transparency is a must to ensure everyone understands the metrics that are being used.  A standardised approach is also needed for all employees. To achieve this, the managers setting these performance measures need adequate and uniform training to ensure consistency for everyone.  Employees should be involved in their goal-setting every year, of these goals must align with the company’s values and objectives. There should be a sense of ownership over these so that they are not just ‘given’ to the employee but they instead feel that they have created them, can drive them and ultimately achieve them.  These goals should be reviewed regularly – not just annually – to ensure that they are still relevant. Otherwise, you risk employees feeling disconnected from their own objectives or those of the business.  Unlike traditional performance metrics focused solely on quantitative outputs, alternative performance measurement methods often take a more holistic approach.  Various factors are considered, such as skills, behaviours, contribution to the team and alignment with company values. This comprehensive assessment provides employees with a more nuanced understanding of their strengths and potential areas for improvement, facilitating targeted development efforts.  Employees who feel they can grow and develop within a company are more likely to actively contribute to the business. The more you give back to employees in terms of recognising their development and wellbeing, the more they will give back in turn. Mark Riseley Strategic and Financial Consultant/Fractional CFO My lens is formed from a career working for high-growth scale-ups where change is constant, requiring systems, data, processes and (most importantly) people to flex as the company grows.  Traditional KPIs are often unsuited to measuring capacity to scale efficiently, for both people and companies, and do not capture a company’s true enterprise value along that path. Some alternate measures of performance include: Time management – In high-growth environments, time may be a team’s most valuable commodity. Does the company measure time, quantity and output generated by meetings?  Data – What is high-quality data, and what is just noise? Instead of just measuring data output, measure the speed and efficiency of decisions to determine which data is worth keeping. Adaptability to a culture of change – Identify, hire and measure based on key personality traits, such as decision-making capacity, adaptability/flexibility, resilience, trust, diligence and communication skills, rather than just the known skills of the profession. Effectiveness of organisational design – Is the organisation’s design scalable, or does it need to pivot to enable growth? Does it allow executives to delegate/empower decision-making? Check employee turnover to determine the effectiveness of your organisation’s outlay. Common goal – Is the common goal clear? Do companies measure the clarity of messaging, such as doing spot checks on the elevator pitch, for example? Do performance measures flow from the corporate to departmental and individual level? Make sure all messaging is aligned. Enterprise value – Is enterprise value (EV) clear, measured and reported? Is there a consequence to hitting forecasts? The ability to do this can mean the difference between a rear-view EV and a front-view EV. Are margins increasing, thereby demonstrating the effectiveness of scaling systems, processes and people? To ensure that alternative performance measures align with organisational goals and contribute to overall success, companies must clearly define their goals, objectives and values so that employees fully understand and can align them with their own goals, objectives and values.  Alignment and collaboration between different departments and teams within the organisation will ensure alternative performance measures are consistent and mutually reinforcing. Success is more likely if all employees feel they are working towards a common goal aligned with the company’s goals.  Yier Hu Senior Associate in Management Consulting KPMG   There are certain limitations to relying solely on KPIs for performance measurement. Although KPIs provide quantitative metrics to measure performance, they tend to overlook crucial perspectives essential for a comprehensive evaluation.  At KPMG, we recognise the importance of looking beyond KPIs to ensure a thorough approach to performance measurement. The quantitative matrix can fail to account for a series of subjective factors, such as employee behaviour and communication skills. These intangible elements offer valuable insights into employee performance and should be considered alongside quantitative measures. KPMG employs its own separate benchmark for performance measurement, analysing performance from six distinct perspectives: client, people, innovation, financial strength, public trust, quality and development. We advocate for measuring performance from multiple perspectives, recognising the importance of a holistic approach. These alternative measurements assess the benefits an employee brings to clients while also evaluating their contributions to the working environment.  From the people perspective, we focus on how the team studies and improves, how to be a strong mentor to the team, how to build internal communication and culture and how to make everyone feel like a part of the team.  From an innovation perspective, we prioritise building trust with the team and client, supporting the team to identify opportunities, and leading by example. This is crucial and creates long-term value while also enhancing overall satisfaction within the company.  By embracing a multi-dimensional approach to performance measurement, organisations can gain a more nuanced understanding of their employees’ contributions and foster a culture of continuous improvement and growth.

John Hansen talks us through his career as a Chartered Accountant and new role as Chair of the Institute of Directors in Northern Ireland John Hansen is the newly appointed Non-Executive Chair of the Institute of Directors in Northern Ireland. Formerly Partner in Charge at KPMG in Belfast and KPMG’s international representative to KPMG Greece for two years, Hansen is also currently Non-Executive Chair of Titanic Quarter Limited. He sits on the business funding committee of Invest NI and holds directorships in several other companies. Tell us a bit about yourself and why you became a Chartered Accountant?  I grew up in Belfast. My father worked at the Ulster Museum and my mother at the Royal Victoria Hospital. I am married to Linda and have two daughters and four grandchildren. I studied economics with accountancy at Queen’s University but wasn’t really sure at that time what I wanted to do after graduating. I drifted towards accountancy because people told me it was a versatile qualification that could provide a solid grounding for lots of different business-related careers and would give me options. They were right!  I took part in the graduate recruitment process in my final year at university and opted to join Coopers and Lybrand, which would eventually morph into PwC.  I started out working in insolvency for a year or so, which I really enjoyed. Then I requested a move so I could gain more accounts experience and was sent to Omagh for a year – another great experience. After that, I returned to insolvency and stuck with it for the rest of my career, eventually moving into forensic work, which became my greatest interest. I went on to head up Coopers and Lybrand’s Insolvency Division before joining the Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland (now Invest NI) on secondment. The secondment opportunity gave me fantastic consultancy and commercial experience and became a real turning point for me professionally.  I was able to expand my skill set significantly, learning so much about business and what makes companies ‘tick’. I also met some wonderful people during that time, some I still count as friends today.  Did you have a career plan starting out? Has your career unfolded as you anticipated? I wouldn’t say I had a career plan as such. I wanted to pass my exams – and I did, apart from one small hiccup, which I put down to too much partying! – and then see where opportunities might take me. Work life led me down the insolvency and forensics path, and my career sort of developed from there. I recall when I was approached with an offer to join McClure Watters by the firm’s two partners. The idea of moving from a safe environment to a start-up division was daunting, but I decided to accept and believe it was from there I developed a reputation as a leading insolvency practitioner. Due to the firm’s relatively small size (compared with the Big Four), the really big jobs didn’t tend to come my way. So, when I was approached to join KPMG in Belfast to head up its restructuring and forensics division, I again opted to make the move.  It wasn’t an easy decision from a personal perspective. I had a wonderful time working with McClure Watters, but my time with KPMG turned out to be equally fulfilling, and I ultimately became Partner in Charge of KPMG in Northern Ireland. On retirement from that position, I was approached to take on the role of KPMG International’s representative to KPMG Greece for two-and-a-half years during the Covid pandemic. Some of the biggest challenges for me in my career have been the difficult decisions to leave existing roles and move to new organisations. It wasn’t easy. Every move involved serious soul-searching, but with hindsight, each move propelled my career forward.  What is your proudest achievement during your tenure as Partner in Charge of KPMG in Northern Ireland? I was Partner in Charge at KPMG in Northern Ireland from 2015 to 2019 and, during that time, we moved the business to fantastic new premises in the Soloist Building at Lanyon Place while also delivering business growth of over 30 percent.  Relocating to the new office really reinvigorated our people and allowed me, in part, to leave a legacy for those who continue to work with KPMG in Northern Ireland now and in the future. Among the people you have worked with, who has been your biggest inspiration?  I remember my first meeting with John Ross, my boss at Coopers and Lybrand. He asked me a technical question, I answered it and he then enquired as to whether I had checked all relevant legislation, guidance notes and checklists before arriving at my response. There was just one technical note I had overlooked. John told me to go away and research the subject matter “properly”.  My answer to the issue remained unchanged, but this time around, John accepted it because I had done the research “properly”! Never again in my time with him did I make the same mistake. Since then, my approach has always been to leave no stone unturned in arriving at any decision. Is there any career advice you would offer your younger self if you could? Do whatever you can to surround yourself with good people, whether you are starting out (which can be challenging, as you tend to inherit people at this point in your career) or when building a team.  I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with fantastic people and that has only ever benefited me.  It is important to be transparent and open in your work and to operate with integrity at all times. Your reputation is everything.  I have always worked hard to build lasting relationships and have always picked up the phone to answer calls – you just never know who might be calling!  What I’ve learned is that the smallest leads can develop into the biggest assignments. I have also tended to deal with what I can see in front of me – viewing each ask as a number of small, manageable tasks, even when others may have viewed it as a major challenge. As a result, throughout the years, I hope I have developed a reputation as someone who can solve difficult problems and who is honest, trustworthy and direct. I consider myself commercially minded and have always had a reasonable amount of common sense (I hope!).   The experience I gained in my career, together with the esteem in which the Chartered Accountant brand is held, are the reasons I believe I’ve been approached to take on non-executive roles in the years since leaving KPMG.  In your experience, how has the role of the accountant evolved since you first joined the profession? The accountancy profession has become more regulated over the years and accountants today tend to work in silos more than might have been the case when I started my career, driven by considerably more lines of business. With the emergence of new service lines and increasing public and professional accountability, the role of the accountant – in Northern Ireland, in particular – has become more challenging. I would view the whole area of risk management for accountants in a very different light today than I did when I started out. What prompted you to become involved in non-executive directorships? My first directorship was with Wilsanco Plastics in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. I had worked with the owner previously and he got in touch.  I remember the conversation well. I said, “You want me to help you and you will pay me for something I have never done before?” and he said, ‘I trust you,’ – end of conversation!” I have been Non-Executive Chair of Titanic Quarter Limited for close to three years, working with two great executive directors pioneering sustainable development at Belfast’s Maritime Mile. We have an ambition to increase investment to over £2 billion. I am now also taking on the role of Chair of the Institute of Directors (IoD) in Northern Ireland. I have been on the committee of the IoD in Northern Ireland for four years and I am looking forward to my new role. I find non-executive work very enjoyable. I don’t need to be ‘full time’, and I enjoy the interaction with executive teams.  I can focus on strategy, relationships and the bigger picture – knowing the detail, but without having to get into the execution of that detail.  Being able to advise and challenge based on the experiences I have gained over the years really allows me to add value.  Tell us about the work of the Institute of Directors in Northern Ireland? The Institute of Directors in Northern Ireland has a small team of great people delivering big things, led by Kirsty McManus and Heather White who are fantastic.  We represent our members’ views on policy, economic and business activity in Northern Ireland.  We offer great networking opportunities covering topics like governance, legislative and governmental developments, which are essential to ensuring that those who hold directorships do the best job possible.  We take ‘the pulse’ of our membership and represent their views, needs and priorities in the political arena.  We also offer professional development opportunities and a pathway to achieving Chartered Director status.  Gordon Milligan, the outgoing Chair of the Institute of Directors in Northern Ireland, carried out fantastic work in developing the organisation during his tenure.  I want to continue to grow our membership and continue to develop the fantastic training and certification opportunities we offer our members. Ultimately, we are all about connecting, influencing and developing. 

Maria O’Connell talks to Accountancy Ireland about how, through resilience, adaptability and the support of a strong female network, she has achieved career success I decided to become a Chartered Accountant when I was 16 after reading an accountancy career brochure. I didn’t know any Chartered Accountants at that stage and my school didn’t teach business subjects.  When I was growing up in Cork in the 1980s, career opportunities were scarce and often viewed through the lens of emigration. Qualifying as a Chartered Accountant seemed to offer an exciting career path with many opportunities, travel options and income security.  I qualified with PwC in 1989. The foundational skills underpinning my career – business management, communication, problem solving and technical knowledge – were laid during these years.  The Chartered Accountants Ireland training programme nurtured a highly transferable and versatile skillset, which has been integral to my career success.  Drawing on my bank of achievements  Keen to travel, I moved to PwC in Milan, Italy, in 1989. I learned to speak and work in Italian, integrated into a new working environment and experienced a beautiful country, people and culture. Then, in 1992, I interviewed for a junior finance role with JP Morgan in Milan but was offered the role of Bond Settlements Manager. I had no experience working in the Italian government bond market – a prerequisite for such a role.  However, the Director of Operations at JP Morgan in Milan was a Chartered Accountant and understood the value of my training and related skills. He could see an alternative approach to filling the position.  I took a chance and moved into this entirely unknown world. The job was exciting, challenging, fascinating and demanding. I loved every minute of it. My role at JP Morgan was the start of an exciting career journey, leading me to other incredibly fulfilling financial services roles in Italy and Ireland – roles that rarely followed the traditional accountancy career pathway. When I returned to Dublin in 1994, I focused my job search on companies in the developing International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and that took me into the asset management industry. Always curious and genuinely interested in people, I continually seek new challenges and opportunities to add value and learn. These traits have propelled me to leadership positions covering strategic, business-critical, transformational and governance initiatives in global-facing organisations, such as Bank of Ireland Securities Services, Bank of Ireland Asset Management, Irish Funds and State Street Global Advisors. I have also been extremely privileged to work with highly talented people with vision and foresight who have always focused on my abilities, experience and potential. These role models provided me with precious opportunities for further development. Of course, I also encountered hurdles as I navigated my way, but every hard-earned success added to my internal bank of achievements, which I draw on to this day when my confidence falters or a challenge seems insurmountable. I remind myself routinely that I can do anything I put my mind to. As women, I think we often tend to focus on what we can’t do rather than what we can. Drawing strength from our bank of achievements will always direct us to our ‘can-dos’. Aligning my career with my life priorities  By 2004, I had three children aged six, eight and 10, and a fourth on the way. I decided to take a career break to focus on my family.  This decision was tough as I had invested so much in my career. Despite having a husband who shared the family workload and a flexible employer, I felt I was always letting someone down – my children, colleagues or clients.  Every family is different and we make our choices based on our unique set of circumstances. My decision to take a career break at that time was the choice that worked best for my family and me. Throughout my career, I have always tried to align my career with my life priorities. This choice was one of many steps on that alignment pathway.  Rebooting my career When I decided to return to work in 2013, my first port of call was Karin Lanigan, Head of Members Experience at Chartered Accountants Ireland, who gave me practical advice and guidance. I was lucky to secure a place on the first Reboot Your Career Programme, run by the Institute to support those returning to the workplace.  The course was invaluable in providing me with the confidence, toolkit and ready-made network to kick off my job search and set me on the next stage of my career journey.  It was not easy to return to the workplace after a nine-year break. Colleagues had passed me out on the promotion ladder, and the world of financial services had changed significantly following the financial crisis of 2008. I faced a very steep learning curve.  I was determined to learn as much as possible, however, concentrating on what I could achieve rather than on others who had moved ahead of me.  All the traits that had propelled my career forward in the past, resurfaced and I was able to move forward again in a senior leadership role at the EU headquarters of one of the largest asset managers in the world.  My advice to anyone rebooting their career would be to leverage the supports available from Chartered Accountants Ireland, your own network and to tap into your existing bank of achievements.  Don’t compare your career with others; focus on your own motivations, what you want to achieve and then go for it. The power of the female network As a trainee Chartered Accountant, many of my new female friendships evolved quickly into a highly supportive and powerful network in which experiences, challenges and solutions were openly shared.  This precious network of women, built up over many years, now extends to diverse roles and disciplines beyond the accountancy profession as well as different generations and geographies.  Building positive relationships as we move throughout our lives ensures that we stay connected with each other – and that we are not merely connections on a list.  None of us signed up to this network ‘overtly’, but we all understand the unwritten rule that anytime we reach out for advice, we will find support. Our natural empathy as women, innate ability to connect with and learn from each other and openness to share experiences are powerful tools in driving and embedding change. More women are holding senior decision-making roles, yet we are still navigating structures designed to cater to a single gender order.  Our networks are critical in harnessing our collective strengths as we and our male colleagues reimagine more equitable, diverse and inclusive structures.  I am grateful to be part of a network of diverse, insightful, talented and kind women. Our networks are intrinsic drivers of positive change and sustain us through tough times. Key lessons as a Chartered Accountant My career as a Chartered Accountant has far surpassed anything my 16-year-old self could have dreamed of. A kaleidoscope of experiences has gifted me these key lessons: Seek out those exciting, diverse, non-traditional roles. Don’t let others discourage you.  Stay curious, always looking for new challenges and new things to learn. Draw strength from your bank of achievements. You can do anything you want to.  Periodically assess how your career aligns with your life priorities. Don’t be afraid to make changes when they fall out of sync. Focus on what you want to achieve and what motivates you. Don’t compare your career with those of others. Value, nurture and leverage your female network. It is a precious resource.  Enjoy the journey. It will take you to amazing places. Maria O’Connell  B.Comm., DPA, FCA, is a consultant specialising in board governance and business strategy. She was formerly Vice President of Business Strategy and Governance at State Street Global Advisors Europe Limited

Niall May, the new Managing Partner of RSM Ireland, outlines his strategic plans for the firm at a pivotal point in its evolution Niall May, FCA, was appointed Managing Partner of RSM Ireland in January following the recent announcement of a strategic investment in the firm by RSM UK. A partner and Head of Audit at RSM Ireland for close to 10 years, May has more than 25 years’ experience in professional services. He succeeds John Glennon, one of RSM Ireland’s founding partners, who will remain with the firm as a board member and Head of Strategy. Here, May talks to Accountancy Ireland about RSM Ireland’s plans to accelerate investment in service offerings and increase its share of the middle market. Can you give us an overview of RSM Ireland as it stands currently? We have 200 employees and ambitions to grow our headcount significantly in the short term.  We are an independent member of RSM International, the world’s sixth largest network of assurance, tax and consulting firms, and our business is centred on three key service lines – audit, tax and consulting, with a particular focus on middle market businesses, both locally and globally.  We work with domestic and international clients across a range of sectors, particularly life sciences, financial services, public sector, technology and media and telecommunications.  More than 65 percent of our audit and tax clients are active globally. Key for us is delivering innovative services to help them achieve their business goals.  The strength of RSM globally means we can work with member firms in other countries to serve our global clients with a presence here in Ireland and our domestic clients active in overseas markets. Our consultancy business spans a wide range of solutions, which include transformation, HR and change, finance support solutions, forensic investigations, restructuring advisory, technology and corporate finance services.  It is my ambition as Managing Partner to position RSM Ireland as the advisor of choice to the middle market and drive competition in the professional services sector. Talk us through the firm’s evolution since it was established in 1987 as Ryan Glennon & Company. The firm was established nearly 40 years ago by John Glennon and Liam Ryan and continues to have deep roots in the Irish business community.  We made the strategic decision to join the RSM International network in 2016 and that has been a game-changer in the firm’s evolution.  The RSM International network spans 120 countries with over 64,000 people in more than 800 offices. It has a very wide reach, particularly in the key markets we serve globally. Since 2016, RSM Ireland has doubled in size in both turnover and headcount and we have significantly increased the strength and depth of our services.  Our view is that all business now is essentially global and Ireland, in particular, is a very open economy. RSM is also very integrated and collaborative across borders, so we benefit from sharing skills, insights and resources.  RSM International saw record year-on-year growth in revenue of 16 percent with global revenues of US$9.4 billion for the 12 months to December 2023, and a 13 percent increase in global headcount.  Over the same period, RSM Ireland achieved revenue and people growth of 19 percent and 21 percent respectively. Tell us about RSM UK’s recent investment in RSM Ireland. We announced the strategic investment from RSM UK in November 2023. It is very significant for us because it will drive greater access to talent, technology, support and the services we can offer the corporate market. It will accelerate our ability to create long-term growth and drive increased competition in the professional services sector in Ireland. It also underlines the wider confidence in Ireland’s economy and the opportunities that exist in this market.  As well as increasing our physical footprint, the investment gives us access to greater resources, while better positioning the firm to target investments, invest in talent and technology and offer new services.  It will also allow us to create more opportunities for our staff, both new and existing. We aim to increase our graduate intake this year to over 50 while also creating exciting opportunities for experienced hires. What are the biggest changes you have seen in your market since joining RSM Ireland?  While Ireland remains an attractive destination for global companies to locate, build and grow their businesses, we are facing challenges right now relating to our infrastructural capacity, housing and energy supply.  We need to accelerate our response to overcoming these challenges so that Ireland can remain competitive.  Within the accountancy market, we are seeing a definite trend towards consolidation. For RSM Ireland, we could see that the investment from RSM UK offered a natural route to supporting and accelerating our next phase of the growth of our business. What will your strategic priorities be in your new role?  Looking first at developments in the global economy, I see opportunities to further grow our international client base.  A key ambition is to expand our teams across all service lines and develop new services, particularly in response to rising demand for environmental, social and governance, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence services.   We will be looking to develop our sector expertise further across financial services, life sciences, technology and media and telecoms.  Building strength in our global network will also be key though the RSM International network and expanding our International Desk Programme in key markets including the US. For the accountants you employ, what emerging skills are you focusing on now to future-proof their roles?  Embracing technology and adapting to ongoing changes in the world of work is key for all professionals.  Accountants, in particular, are very good at understanding the latest changes and developments and, more importantly, understanding the wider developments in business operations and the related risks.  We invest quite significantly in supporting our people as they adopt new technologies, and we will continue to do so. This is key for our business, because we absolutely must be able to understand our clients’ needs, and support and bring value to their business through meaningful, in-depth knowledge. I anticipate greater sustained spend on technologies to support further process automation and data analytics. This will be key to enabling our people to deliver rich insights to help clients improve business performance and stay ahead of developments in their markets.  What are your expectations for the economy in Ireland and globally in the months ahead?  On a positive note, current trends and projections point to calming inflation. There is now an expectation in Europe and beyond that interest rates will start to come down as soon as June.  I think we can expect to see a loosening of Central Bank fiscal policy and improved GDP forecasts, which will be positive for business. Business resilience will be tested in other ways, however. The war for talent will continue to rage and global tax developments – for example, Pillar Two tax reform and other initiatives – will bring their own challenges. We will also potentially have a new US administration, which may see changes in certain US policies. Despite all of this, I genuinely do believe that business leaders have good reason to feel more optimistic as they look ahead following a particularly turbulent period.