Chartered Accountant David Malone, Chief Executive of the Irish League of Credit Unions, believes that credit unions are uniquely positioned to fill the gaps left by the departure of major banks and cater to the needs of small businesses and individuals, offering a personalised and community-focused approach Having recently achieved the top ranking in the Ireland RepTrak 2023 study of corporate reputation, credit unions are now poised to provide a real alternative to traditional retail banks for the full range of financial services products.  The credit union sector’s strong local presence with over 500 locations across the island of Ireland demonstrates a clear community focus now combined with soon-to-be-enacted new legislation, which will see credit unions unlock their full potential to become the country’s primary financial services institution of choice. David Malone, Chief Executive of the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU), an advocacy body for credit unions in Ireland, believes the unique ethos and DNA of credit unions place them in a strong position to fill the void left by the departure of KBC and Ulster Bank, as well as other service gaps. “There have been significant changes in the financial services sector since the global financial crisis,” he says. “Twelve retail banks were operating in Ireland back then. It’s down to three now. That has led to a lack of customer choice, particularly in the mortgage and SME lending markets, where competition is highly concentrated between the three pillar banks.  “Along with that, we have seen bank branch closures, decimating Irish towns and even where branches remain, decision-making has migrated from the local branch to the centre.” That centralisation has created problems for customers, says Malone.  “For example, small businesses have a real challenge trying to get loans from banks,” he notes. “There is limited interaction with local bank branch managers. Many such loans are turned down. A small business owner can visit their local credit union and sit with staff to explain their business and its needs. Our staff have that vital local knowledge and will understand the specific needs of the business that, in many cases, can help in providing the appropriate loan finance.”  Building relationships Malone joined the ILCU as Head of Finance and Deputy CEO seven years ago, after spending over ten years in audit and assurance with PwC.  “I trained as a Chartered Accountant with PwC after doing my degree in Accounting and Finance and Masters in Accounting at DCU,” he says. “I am now a Fellow of the Institute. It’s a great qualification, providing a real platform for your career. “At PwC, I worked with a wide range of clients, from large Irish plcs to SMEs to Irish subsidiaries of multinationals. Going into different businesses and seeing how they are run was fascinating.” Auditing is much more than a numbers game, he explains. “You have to build relationships with audit clients. You are there to add value and recommend improvements to the client’s financial processes.” He was drawn to the business world as a student during his summer job. “I worked for five summers in my aunt’s business, which was a busy tour operator during the 90s. I learned all about customer service and how the true value of timely and reliable financial information is key to decision-making and strategic direction.” Malone was appointed ILCU CEO in July 2022.  “In conjunction with our board, I had been leading the transformation programme for the organisation prior to that,” he says. “The programme aims to deliver on our new purpose to lead, support and sustain the development of credit unions on the island of Ireland. “Our areas of focus include facilitating collaboration of credit unions, repositioning the credit union brand, and effective advocacy to government and regulators. We also provide a significant suite of professional services to member credit unions in areas such as risk and compliance, legal, human resources and training.” The evolution of credit unions “Our transformation has brought significant additional expertise into the organisation with a number of new skill sets adding huge value as we deliver our purpose,” Malone notes. Malone is excited by the evolution of credit unions. “Credit unions have a 42 percent share of the personal lending market. They have issued close to half a million loans in the last year. In addition, credit unions in over 200 locations across the country are now providing current accounts that are potentially accessible by over two million credit union members. These can be accessed through an app and support Apple Pay and Google Pay. Credit unions now account for over 10 percent of new current accounts opened.” The new legislation, the Credit Union Amendment Bill, is a game changer, Malone says. It allows for the establishment of Credit Union Service Organisations (CUSOs) by groups of credit unions. These CUSOs enable credit unions to pool resources to invest in back-office infrastructure that will enable more credit unions to provide a wider range of financial services, particularly SME lending and mortgages. The new legislation also allow credit unions to provide services to members of other credit unions where the credit unions agree and allows credit unions to pool loans and risk between each other. “Credit unions have significant funds to lend,” says Malone. “They are not relying on the wholesale money markets for their funding. Instead, members continue showing confidence and trust in credit unions by depositing their savings.  “A number of credit unions now offer some of the lowest interest rates in the mortgage market. Credit union mortgage lending has increased by 25 percent in the last year. There is circa €11 billion of funds in credit unions that is available to be lent and can be used to fund small businesses, help people buy their homes, and support community organisations. The new legislation will help credit unions significantly increase their footprint in these areas. “Digitalisation presents great opportunities,” he explains. “Credit unions embrace technology by providing online payments, digital membership and loan applications. However, there is an important difference: credit unions are not digital only; they are digital with the essential human touch. Credit unions are omnichannel, so you can go into a branch or call on the phone and get an answer in real-time.” There is also the issue of financial exclusion. “People still need access to cash, and with banks closing branches and removing ATMs around the country, credit unions have an important role to play in providing that access.” Trusted organisations Malone believes that personal service is the chief reason for credit unions’ top ranking in the Ireland RepTrak 2023 study of corporate reputation.  “We got under the bonnet of that ranking, and we found the key contributors are our human, friendly and authentic service. The study emphasises attributes such as trust and respect, which are core to the ethos of credit unions which are locally owned and managed. We are proud to be at the heart of communities nationwide working towards a more inclusive society, where no one is left behind.” That contrasts sharply with some of the other lenders in the market. Malone is concerned about the impact of ‘buy now pay later’ (BNPL) and personal contract purchase (PCP) products on borrowers. “People don’t realise they are accumulating significant amounts of small debts with these products,” he says. “When people get a loan from the credit union, it’s very transparent and open. We want a lifetime relationship with members. It’s not short-term. Credit unions have helped members consolidate debts to deal with issues created by those products.” He explains that credit union loans are very different to other loans.  “For example, credit union loans provide flexibility, including no early repayment penalties. There is also loan protection insurance that effectively repays the loan in the event of a member’s death. This is a unique credit union benefit that you won’t get with the bank.  “I recently learned about a young person in their twenties whose parents had died. The parents had bank and credit union loans. The credit union loans were paid off automatically as they were covered by the insurance. The bank offered a repayment plan. Our approach is so different to other credit providers. We genuinely care about our members.” That membership is ultimately the critical point of difference, he believes.  “Our members are much more than customers; they are part owners of their credit union. They have a say in how it’s run. Members can volunteer to be on the board and committees. The boards are made up of community volunteers who have the locality’s best interests at heart. They selflessly give their time to credit unions. I would encourage any Chartered Accountant to consider becoming a credit union director, as it is enormously rewarding. “We see credit unions becoming primary financial institutions of choice migrating from the periphery to the front and centre of the financial services landscape,” he continues. “We are building on over sixty years of service to communities around Ireland. We are here to stay, not retrenching or closing – quite the opposite. We are growing and moving forward. We are building on a great reputation and great customer experience. We are offering a much wider range of products and services across the country, and that’s great news for members and the people of Ireland.”

As Group Finance Director with Galgorm Collection, Tiarnán O’Neill has learned the value of constant reinvention and reinvestment in the competitive hospitality market In his role as Group Finance Director with Galgorm Collection, Tyrone-born Tiarnán O’Neill plays a leading role in the strategic direction of one of Northern Ireland’s most successful locally owned hospitality groups. Established in 1991 by brothers Nicholas and Paul Hill with the opening of Galgorm, the group has since expanded with the acquisition of two further hotel properties – The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat in Templepatrick and The Old Inn in Crawfordsburn – as well as Fratelli Restaurant and Parisien in Belfast. Even so, Galgorm, now a 380-acre spa and golf resort, remains the flagship property in the group. “We are very fortunate to have a loyal customer base that know Galgorm to be firmly focused on investment and innovation in their product offering. Our owners have invested heavily to establish Galgorm as an award-wining international and world-class tourism destination,” says O’Neill. “When they acquired the original Galgorm site on the River Maine back in 1991, it was a country house with 20 bedrooms. Over the last number of years, we have grown into an award-winning and world-class collection of hotels and restaurants, which will generate revenue circa £50 million this year.” Constant reinvestment Even as the dust settles on two recent acquisitions – The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat in Templepatrick, bought in 2019, and the historic Old Inn in Crawfordsburn, acquired in 2021 – The Galgorm Collection continues to look to the future with ambitious plans for the next five years.   “We’ve invested £20 million in The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat since the property was acquired and now it offers stylish accommodation, a luxury outdoor spa and lakeside walk, an onsite bar and restaurant and an events space for weddings and conferences,” says O’Neill.   “We were honoured to be recognised by the AA at their 2023 awards, with The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat being crowned Northern Ireland Hotel of the Year.  This is a fantastic endorsement of all the hard work that has gone into the extensive redevelopment.” The Galgorm Collection now plans to commence work on an additional 17 guestrooms at The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat at a cost of £2.5 million, following the opening of an exclusive £2.5 million resident-only outdoor Treetop Spa at The Old Inn. All 32 guestrooms at The Old Inn are also being upgraded as part of plans to revitalise and upgrade the historic destination.   “We’re confident that The Old Inn’s new-look offering will deliver a new chapter of growth for us and for Northern Ireland,” says O’Neill. Since 2010, £60 million has been invested into Galgorm and the first phase of a £30 million project to further expand and enhance the resort and spa facilities by 2027 has just been completed.   “Our guests’ appetite for new experiences, and our own desire to build on our reputation, means that the investment has got to continue,” says O’Neill. Early career Before joining Galgorm Collection, O’Neill had begun his career training as an Accounting Technician with PwC in Dungannon, his hometown. “After getting my A Levels, I actually went to Queen’s University Belfast first to study for a degree in economics and management,” he says. “I’d gone to the local grammar school and, if you got the grades there, you were expected to go to university, but it just didn’t suit me.” Instead, O’Neill decided to become an Accounting Technician, beginning his training with PwC and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2012. “I just became a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland last December and it was a proud moment for me, but I’m also very grateful that I started as an Accounting Technician, because I think that gave me some really valuable early-stage commercial experience,” he says. “Right at the very start of my time with PwC, I was looking after the accounts of sole traders, small partnerships, SMEs and a lot of farmers – it was non-audit accounting work, which gave me a firm grounding in debits and credits and the basics generally.  “My start was different to a lot of trainee Chartered Accountants who get sent into audit early on and don’t necessarily get experience in preparing a set of accounts. That’s stood me in good stead in the years since.” In all, O’Neill spent close to a decade with PwC. “After starting off as a technician, I then spent some time in personal tax before settling into the firm’s audit practice,” he says.  “Before I left, I was working with some quite big clients that were among the top 100 companies in Northern Ireland, local success stories in manufacturing, financial services, life science and biomedical – it was fantastic to get experience in such varied industries.   “Once qualified, I got to spend two to three months per year traveling to work in the likes of London, Edinburgh and Jersey in the Channel Islands, and New York.” A fresh challenge In 2017, O’Neill decided to leave behind the world of practice to take on a fresh challenge. “I wasn’t actively looking for a new opportunity, but I got a call one day asking if I would be interested in taking on the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer of the Diocese of Down and Connor,” he says. In this role, O’Neill was responsible for the financial management of the second largest diocese on the island of Ireland, after Dublin. “The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland had come into being, which brought new regulations and the requirement that some organisations, which had been run as charities up until then, be formally recognised as such,” he explains. “Working with the Diocese of Down and Connor, I went from being an audit manager to, overnight, being responsible for a £100 million-plus balance sheet, income of about £30 million and a 330-strong team.” The role involved streamlining operations and was “hugely enjoyable”, O’Neill says now. “It was about bringing the organisation back to its core, which meant divesting excess assets and services. O’Neill reported to a highly experienced Board of Trustees with high-profile members drawn from the legal, financial and other respected professions in Northern Ireland. “It was a tough board to be accountable to, but all of the members were very successful professionals in their own right. They were willing to give me their time, point me in the right direction and I learned a lot from all of them,” he says. Aged just 30 at the time he took on the role, O’Neill learned some valuable lessons in management and communication. “I found myself managing people who were quite a lot older than me in some cases. What I learned is that you have to find out what makes people tick and flex your style accordingly, so you can bring people with you rather than creating conflict.” The COVID-19 pandemic By mid-2019, O’Neill was once again ready for a new challenge, but just six months after joining Galgorm Collection, the pandemic took hold and Northern Ireland was plunged into the first of a series of lockdowns in March 2020. “We went from being a cash-rich business with a constant churn of coming in every day, to suddenly having nothing coming in overnight. We were lucky we had enough reserves to get us through,” he says. Galgorm Collection also implemented an employee assistance programme to support its nearly 1,000-strong team. “Ultimately, the pandemic made us more resilient, and we are extremely proud that we had no COVID-related redundancies throughout the entire pandemic,” says O’Neill. “We kept in contact with all of the team members. We had some employees who were used to working 40 to 60 hours a week in a very busy setting.  “All of a sudden, they were pulled out of this bustling work environment. We wanted to help them with the stresses of finding themselves isolated and locked down at home. The right balance The management team at Galgorm Collection adheres to a stringent corporate governance model to ensure that the right decisions are made, and the correct procedures followed at all times. “Any investment over a certain level has to be approved by the board, which meets bi-monthly. As long as the numbers stack up, we aim to make it work. We are not a highly leveraged business.  “The view is that, while we continue to invest and constantly enhance and add to our product offering, we also keep paying down any borrowings we have and stay lean, so we are in a position to grasp any opportunities that come along.” Galgorm Collection is always on the lookout for acquisitions that might fit, O’Neill says: “If it makes sense for us, we won’t turn down the right opportunity.”

Our Chartered Star 2023 winner Peter Gillen tells us about his work helping companies to reach their sustainability goals and gives us his take on sustainable finance  Peter Gillen, a sustainability manager in Grant Thornton’s Financial Services Advisory Department, was recently named Chartered Star 2023, an annual designation recognising outstanding work in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).   Run in partnership with One Young World and Chartered Accountants Worldwide, the aim of the annual Chartered Star competition is to celebrate the difference-makers in the profession who are helping to combat the climate crisis by bringing real, positive change to their workplaces and communities.  A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Gillen grew up in Dundrum and began his career training with PwC before his passion for sustainability led him to join the Sustainability Team at Grant Thornton in 2021. As Chartered Star 2023, Gillen will attend One Young World Summit, representing Chartered Accountants Ireland and Chartered Accountants Worldwide, in Belfast in October. Here, he tells Accountancy Ireland about his interest in sustainability and gives us his take on ongoing developments in sustainable finance globally. Tell us about your decision to become a Chartered Accountant? What attracted you to the profession? When I was younger, particularly in the lead-up to the CAO application process in sixth year, family and friends told me accountancy was one of those qualifications that would allow me to work in any sector anywhere in the world. This has come to pass in my career so far as I’ve had the opportunity to work in Europe and the US as well as here in Ireland. Travel, in general, is one of the best ways I have found in my own life to learn from others. That’s why attending One Young World Summit later this year is so exciting to me. There will be so many people from many different countries, and we will have the opportunity to learn from both our shared experiences and different perspectives. What is it that initially sparked your interest in sustainability? I’ve always had an interest in sustainability and was frustrated by the slow pace of progress in the last decade or so. During the pandemic, when everyone had more time to reflect, I reconsidered the direction of my career and decided I would try to merge my training in financial services with my passion for sustainability. It was really about finding ways to use my knowledge to bring about real change and help companies on their sustainability journey. Chartered Accountants in general are uniquely placed to be right at the heart of sustainability discussions, and to deliver concrete plans to transition to a greener economy. There isn’t a medium- to large-sized organisation in the world that doesn’t employ a Chartered Accountant and we are uniquely placed to support ESG efforts, because of our problem-solving and analytical skill sets, our ability to take a step back and see the bigger picture, and lastly being able to apply our learnings from financial reporting to the impending sustainability reporting requirements, which will be applicable to companies over the next few years. What do you see as the greatest sustainability-related threats and challenges of our time? In terms of threats, it’s the classic, “the wants of the few outweigh the needs of the many”. Those in power – the few – often have self-interest in mind and their actions can have a disproportionate impact on others – the many. Those who have the power to influence real change are sometimes reluctant to do so. A classic example here is the large oil companies, or sometimes political leaders. Chartered Accountants working in leadership positions in large corporations really do have an important role to play in leading the way and convincing their stakeholders to tackle the climate crisis, not just for the planet but also for their companies’ long-term viability. For me, it comes down to collaboration, both nationally and internationally. Humankind is the single greatest determinant of the fate of our planet. We have the power to save our planet from becoming an uninhabitable place.  The challenge is trying to unite a large group to focus on one shared goal. History has shown us how difficult this can be, but also that it is possible and that it is often at times of catastrophic crisis that we unite. One example is the European Union, which was born in the aftermath of World War II. I’m confident that this time we can unite before it’s too late and introduce sufficient measures to address the issue. What is your take on current progress on Ireland’s Climate Action Plan? I think we have made a lot of progress, but we still have a long, long way to go. There are challenges but there is also immense opportunity for a country like Ireland. In particular, we have a unique opportunity to harness our coastline for the purposes of renewable energy – wind and wave, for example – and become a net exporter of energy instead of relying on imported fossil fuel-based energy sources. Reaching Ireland’s climate targets isn’t just about government action, though. Every single person has a role to play. For example, we have all become too reliant on convenience and this mindset needs to change. We need to learn to repair the goods we have where we can, instead of automatically replacing them – thinking differently about the lifespan of the items we own and the waste we generate. Tell us about Grant Thornton’s sustainability team and your role in it. I am a sustainability manager within our Financial Services Advisory Department. Our team helps our clients navigate all of the new environmental, social and governance (ESG) rules and regulations the EU and other regulatory bodies are bringing out. The world has really woken up to the climate crisis, so our work is evolving on a daily basis as legislators and regulators work to promote the transition to a greener economy. We help our clients to understand these requirements and the roadmap they need to put in place to meet them. My biggest career goal is to continue to help companies to support the UN SDGs, primarily by supporting SDG 13 Climate Action, because, for me, climate change is, without a doubt, the biggest challenge of our time. What do you think of the progress made by the European Commission thus far in progressing the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive? I’m optimistic about the progress they have made so far. The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), the European body drafting these standards, delivered their first set of draft standards to the European Commission last November. In order to ensure companies can implement these new standards, Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, has asked EFRAG to prioritise efforts on capacity-building, basically providing the relevant companies with a support function to help them implement the standards. As a result, EFRAG is pausing the roll-out of sector-specific standards for now, which I can understand given the circumstances. It’s important that companies are given sufficient support so that they may implement the sector-agnostic standards appropriately before moving forward with the sector-specific standards. What does it mean to you to be named Chartered Star 2023? It was an honour to win it and something I wouldn’t have thought possible all those years ago when I started my career in accountancy. The list of past winners is so impressive. To be chosen this year is a privilege and I have a responsibility as Chartered Star 2023 to continue the high standard in everything I do. Ultimately, I hope to continue to work towards the achievement of the UN’s SDGs for many years to come both in my personal life and through my career.

With the concept of a four-day working week gaining traction, three members of Chartered Accountants Ireland give us their take on the potential pros and cons of working fewer hours as standard in the future Kerri O’Connell Principal  Obvio Tax Services The four-day work week is an idea whose time has come! We are all aware that we are living through an era of great societal change, with many people questioning their lifestyle, their desire to buy more ‘stuff’ and the impact all of this has on the natural world around us.  The arrival of more advanced Artificial Intelligence is also likely to have a huge impact on our working lives. From a business perspective, many sectors are struggling to recruit and retain staff. The pressure is on in many aspects of the service industry, including professional, medical, construction and hospitality, and we are all aware of shortages of certain foods, medicines, etc. An economic ‘growth at all costs’ model, and accelerating expectations of ‘always available’ goods and services, create pressures that are doing none of us any good. Neither is a working week model that requires people to work on all of the days during which the services they require are accessible. Consider that the five-day working week (itself only 100 years old) was a sea change from the previously standard six-day week and, at the time, regarded as a great upheaval. That change bedded in over time, just as a four-day working week will too. The opportunity for parents to spend more time with children, for people to have more time available for caring obligations, or volunteer for a social/charitable organisation, is not just a ‘nice to have’ – it would bring fundamental benefits to our society and our environment. Many of us feel very resistant to change and only make a change when we are forced or pressurised to do so. If the past three years have taught us anything, however, it is that we are all more adaptable than we think. Shaun McGlade Managing Director SMCG Ltd. There has recently been a major shift in the perception of a four-day working week, which is now starting to gain real traction as an exciting workplace policy.    At its core, the paradox of shortening working hours for no less pay is in stark contrast to the dominant burnout culture of past decades, where working more was viewed as working better. Pilot schemes trialling the effectiveness of the four-day working week have yielded positive results. The largest to date was carried out last year in the UK by 4 Day Week Global, in partnership with Autonomy, an independent research organisation, the University of Cambridge and Boston College. Sixty-one companies employing 2,900 people took part in the UK’s Four-Day Week Pilot between June and December 2022. More than 92 percent opted to continue with a four-day working week after the six-month study concluded. With many people having adapted to flexible working following the pandemic, and a greater focus on work-life balance, there is a growing need for businesses to think differently about how they operate. A four-day working week could give some a competitive edge in the war for talent.  One of the most interesting findings of The UK’s Four-Day Week Pilot was that, among the 61 participating companies, revenue remained broadly the same over the course of the six-month trial, rising by 1.4 percent on average, weighted by company size.  When compared with a similar period from previous years, participants reported an average 35 percent revenue rise. So, while some employers are sceptical about the potential benefits of a four-day working week, my view is that it holds numerous potential benefits. These benefits range from a competitive edge for employers in the employment market, to higher staff retention, improved well-being, lower absenteeism, less burnout and reduced childcare costs for employees. Teresa Campbell Partner FPM  Around the world, interest in the potential benefits of a four-day working week is on the rise as employers and employees look for ways to improve well-being, enhance organisational performance and reduce the adverse impact of working life on society and the environment.  It is these positive outcomes that could make the four-day work week popular among employers in the future, so I think it is likely that we will see it become increasingly common – including in SMEs and accountancy practices – provided it is introduced in ways that do not adversely affect customer/client service.  In our own organisation, all of our team are actively encouraged to think about how we structure each working day.  We want our people to enjoy a healthy work-life balance, develop their careers and contribute to society in a meaningful way. We support flexible working and have measures in place to ensure that this does not disrupt our client services.  We are largely laptop-led, with a ‘work anywhere, anytime’ culture. We hold monthly virtual team gatherings and have developed and implemented a hybrid and flexible working policy, which piloted a four-day working week. More than 10 percent of our team avail of this option and our people say that the flexibility has changed their quality of life.  This is in addition to the over 22 percent who are working part-time, with the remainder either finishing at 1pm on a Friday or working the standard working week.     Our strategy has enabled some team members to continue to work while travelling internationally, and has also facilitated higher levels of female participation in our leadership teams.    One of the main factors for the success of our flexible working policies is that they enhance job satisfaction and encourage autonomy. Our experience is that team members both appreciate flexible working and are themselves very willing to be flexible, stepping up where necessary to meet urgent client demands.  Overall, it is a two-way process with everyone committed to enhancing, rather than diluting, our clients’ experience. 

Ross O’Connor, CFO with aircraft leasing company Avolon, talks us through the career path that took him from practice to a high-flying career in international aviation Originally from Ballinrobe in County Mayo, Ross O’Connor studied at Trinity College Dublin and qualified as a Chartered Accountant while working with Deloitte in Ireland. After joining Avolon in 2011 as a business analyst, he rose through the ranks at the aircraft leasing company to become Chief Financial Officer. Here, O’Connor tells Accountancy Ireland about the factors that prompted his move from practice to industry and his experiences in a niche sector with international reach. Tell us about your career starting out and how and why you became a Chartered Accountant? I studied Management Science and Information Systems at Trinity College Dublin and then joined the CFO Services Group at Deloitte as an analyst, eventually becoming a senior consultant.  By the time I left six years later, I’d worked across a pretty broad range of projects in the public and private sector and knew I wanted to move into industry, so I could really get to know and progress my career in a specific sector as opposed to working across a range of sectors. I had qualified as a Chartered Accountant as well by that stage, which gave me a structured qualification I felt I could rely on in any professional environment. Why did you decide to move into the aircraft leasing sector?  I didn’t know a whole lot about the sector at that stage, to be honest, but the more I learned about it, the more it appealed to me.  The sector emerged in Ireland in the 1970s and there is now a wealth of talent in the country. There is also an increasing focus on the sector through specialised training courses like the MSc in Aviation Finance at UCD Smurfit School. A big attraction for countries dealing with aircraft leasing companies like Avolon in Ireland is that we have double tax treaties throughout the world. This gives us a big advantage over leasing companies in other countries.  For me, the highly transactional nature of the business is really appealing. There is constant momentum and movement, and when I joined Avolon in 2011, it was still in the start-up phase.  The company had only just launched the previous year, it was well capitalised and key decisions were being made here in Ireland. I knew I would have a really great opportunity to grow and develop my career.  It is a small sector, so relationships are important. It is also competitive. Ultimately, you want to win business. A lot of the aircraft we lease are similar, so how successful you are comes down to how competitive you can be and how strong your relationships with your customers are. How did your career path with Avolon progress from 2011 onwards? I started as a business analyst on the Transaction Structuring Team, which helped me to learn about the various elements of how the business operated and, from there, I moved into a sales role in Aircraft Trading, which involved selling aircraft to global investors and leasing companies. That work allowed me to travel in Asia and the US and gave me a chance to see the world, which was brilliant on both a professional and personal level.  From there, I moved to the Capital Markets Team, which funds the business, raising money from banks, public markets and other investors.  At that time, we were evolving from a bank-funded model through to funding primarily in public markets, which was an interesting journey.  I was appointed Head of Capital Markets in 2020 and then took up my current role as Chief Financial Officer in October 2022. Talk us through how Avolon has evolved since you joined the company? Today, we have $30 million of assets, 578 aircraft flying around the world and customers in 65 countries. It’s a big business with an international presence. It’s taken us a while to get here. We had 20 staff in 2011 and we were private equity backed. We listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 and that was a huge event.  We were public for about a year and then we were taken private again by Bohai Leasing, a company in China, at a 55 percent premium to our listing price. Bohai had a real ambition to grow and injected more equity into the business.  In 2017, we acquired the aircraft leasing business of CIT Group, one of our competitors, for $10 billion. That deal doubled our size and catapulted us into a different realm in terms of global scale.  We’ve continued to grow the business since. Last year, we had $2.3 billion revenue and $253 million net income.  What impact did COVID-19 have on Avolon and on your role as CFO? It was a black swan event where we suddenly had a global fleet grounded across the board. At that time, I was working on the funding side of the business with $18.5 billion of outstanding debt so a lot of our investors were calling and asking what was happening.  We run stress tests on our business all the time and one of our key points is that our assets are usually transferable from a challenging market to somewhere else in the world where there is demand, but COVID-19 was a global phenomenon. Thankfully, we were in the position to leverage a strong balance sheet, investment grade credit rating and high levels of liquidity, so we could protect the business through the challenges.  When airlines started asking for deferrals on their rentals during the pandemic, we were able to support them in a lot of cases because we already had a lot of liquidity.  We started to defer some of our order book to make sure we had enough cash in the business and quantitative easing in the US allowed us to raise capital to support this. Our profitability was hit in 2020 and 2021 when some of our airline customers went bankrupt or restructured, so now the focus is on returning the business to our pre-COVID profitability. It’s going well. Air traffic is back up and the reopening of China has driven increased traffic in Asia. We are seeing rising demand for our aircraft because supply chains for manufacturers like Boeing are struggling to produce aircraft quickly enough. What next for Avolon in 2023 and beyond? We are focused on growth and driving our financial performance following the impact of COVID. The major positive is that the market backdrop is very supportive. Airline demand for aircraft and aircraft leasing has increased dramatically with rising passenger traffic.  Right now, we own a fleet of 578 planes, with a further 252 on order. We have 147 customers spread around the world and about 45 percent of our business is in Asia, with long-term demographic trends that are very supportive of aviation. India and the Middle East are also big growth regions for us.  We issued a US$750 million bond offering in May. We haven’t issued a bond since August 2021 because the markets have been quite volatile due to COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and rising interest rates.  We have lots of different funding channels and we have relied on some of our private funding channels over the last year to 18 months, but ultimately, we see the primary source of our funding as coming from public markets. Getting back into the bond market was an important milestone.  From an internal perspective we’re really focused on further enhancements to the learning and development opportunities we offer the team.  Recently we launched Accelerate, a bespoke leadership development programme for emerging leaders with a particular focus on developing our female leadership pipeline. Looking back now, do you have any regrets  about the decision to train as a Chartered Accountant? No, no regrets. The training you get as a Chartered Accountant gives you a very good grounding in terms of the quality and scope of what you can offer as a professional.  When I was working in sales and trading here at Avolon, I was able to understand how the financials would impact and, when I went on to work in capital markets, I was able to figure out angles on the deals I was working on because of my knowledge as a Chartered Accountant. The world opens up to you because there are so many career options available to you. The appeal for me with Avolon is that it is an Irish-based company with a global reach and outlook.  That creates opportunity. It’s a constantly changing environment and that is what makes it so exciting and fulfilling for me.

Ann-Marie Costello became the first female partner on the Corporate Finance Team at Grant Thornton earlier this year. Her advice to other women? Back yourself and take opportunities I grew up in a family of medical professionals, so accountancy was not necessarily the expected path. I actually changed from veterinary to commerce and German the day before the CAO application process closed, so my career could have been very different.   Opting to do a degree in commerce and German gave me time to decide what I wanted to pursue as a career. I found I really enjoyed the economics and accountancy modules, so it felt like a natural progression to go on to do the Master of Accounting at UCD Smurfit School before taking up a training contract with KPMG Corporate Recovery.  At the time, the accountancy ‘milk round’ was more geared towards traditional audit and tax routes, so joining an advisory team was the path less taken, but I really wanted the commercial experience that came with it.  Hitting the ground running Having a solid background in accountancy meant I could hit the ground running in Corporate Recovery and I had great training working on trading insolvencies. After qualifying and becoming a manager with KPMG, I left Ireland for a year of ‘anti-reality’, travelling the world.  When I returned, I met with Grant Thornton’s Debt Restructuring Team, who were pivoting away from insolvency. I liked the team and the idea of working to bring businesses back onto a stable footing.  After a few years, I transitioned to Corporate Finance and I made Partner in January of this year, becoming the first female partner in the department.  These days, my work is focused on helping shareholders to position themselves for the sale of a business and to maximise value. Most of my work has an M&A or due diligence focus.  So, in my career so far, I have been able to work with businesses across the entire economic cycle. Fall-off in female talent It just so happens that the areas in which I have worked have been particularly male-dominated, especially at senior levels.  My intake and training contract had a healthy mix of female versus male trainees but, from the manager level onwards, I saw a fall-off in female talent.  The reasons for the fall-off vary, ranging from the lack of a clear path for career progression, lack of support or mentorship, and movement from practice to industry, to work-life balance considerations and family commitments.  The diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) agenda was not well-developed when I was training, and as that has begun to change in more recent years, I think that it has brought some significant benefits. I do believe we have seen a move towards greater equity at senior levels – although the pace of change is slower than we may like, I think we’re getting there. We do need more balanced representation to attract younger generations – the ‘if you can’t see it, you can’t be it’ adage.  Greater supports are needed in the form of allyship and mentorship, as well as ensuring the wider conditions to support talent retention are met – these include issues such as childcare, paternity leave (both availability and take up) and flexible working.  There are wider societal shifts that need to become the norm to level the playing field further. Gender pay gap reporting Gender pay gap reporting has been a welcome development in terms of driving good behaviours within business and providing employees with greater transparency.  However, nothing can substitute the conversations on the ground that can provide you with clarity as to where you stand.  Conversations regarding remuneration, promotion and performance are often uncomfortable, so we sometimes tend to avoid broaching these subjects.  Time and time again, recruiters and HR teams tell me that, as women, we often undersell ourselves and have lower expectations for remuneration. We need to value our contributions more.  Do your research, back yourself and don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone to take on opportunities as they present themselves. Learning the skills for success At some point in your career, you will need to do more than just to be ‘good at the job’. At that stage, developing your career becomes about your network, your profile and your leadership. It is important to learn to have confidence in yourself and to value your input. This often comes with surrounding yourself with the right people, so don’t be afraid to talk – to your peers, your friends and your network. You will only ever regret the things you didn’t do, or say, so speak up and say ‘yes’ to opportunities for development. In my own experience, navigating career development and parenthood is not without its challenges. You need all the support you can get and to always try to look after yourself.  We just had our second baby towards the end of last year, a year during which I was also going through the partnership process, as well as taking on the role of Chairperson of Chartered Accountants Ireland Leinster Society.  I took on a lot, but there were several opportunities that presented themselves around the same time and, weighing it all up, I chose to go for them. I am lucky in that I have huge support from my family and, in particular, my husband, who had to pick up some of the slack. The role of mentoring and networking I sincerely believe that mentoring and sponsorship are key to development, and I’m glad to see so many businesses providing necessary resources and supports in these areas.  It’s important to have someone who can mentor you – someone who will tell it how it is, act as your sounding board and provide constructive criticism.  It is equally important to have a sponsor within your organisation – someone who will support you and guide you in your career development. I would encourage these relationships to be with both male and female mentors and sponsors.  It can often be helpful to have a mentor outside of your work environment to speak to about your work and personal development. Chartered Accountants Ireland provides a mentorship programme for members, which is a helpful resource. Networking can seem like a daunting task, particularly with the reopening of society post-pandemic. However, it really is never as bad as it seems.   The network of people Chartered Accountants will have from their time at university and training will be huge, and the Irish accountancy profession is particularly well-connected at home and abroad.  Try to keep this network active. You never know when you might be able to help someone, or when they might be able to help you.