President
Paul Henry recently had a conversation with
Conall McGonagle FCA, International Members Representative on Council. Conall has worked abroad for many years and is currently based in New York where he is Chief Financial and Administrative Officer at the Ireland Funds. Here members can read about Conall's role, his observations on the qualification, and plans for engaging with members overseas.
PH: Conall, great to talk to you again. I might start by asking you to describe this new role.
CMcG: The role is International Members Representative to Council, representing and advocating for members outside of Ireland and the UK. About 10% of the Institute’s membership is based overseas and there are already a lot of initiatives underway to connect them. I see this role, for me, and those who come after me, as an opportunity to engage more closely with overseas members and ensure that they can be active stakeholders in existing initiatives, and that they have a clear and effective channel through which to provide their views on future areas of focus for their Institute.
PH: It’s very important because as the organisation expands and increases – we are now at 30,000 members - the key is strengthening and deepening our relevance to members wherever they are in the world. Two thirds of our members are now in business, and coming from a business background myself, you can sometimes feel slightly isolated when you’re outside of the practice environment, often you might be the only finance person in the organisation … any thoughts on that Conall?
CMcG: All of that resonates with me – as an overseas member, the relevancy of Institute activity to your working life, and that sense of belonging are so important. I’ve been based overseas for 12 years, and in the past year we’ve been able to connect more through participation in online, virtual conferences that the Institute has been running than ever before; that’s a positive trend, I think.
PH: I’m keen to explore how we can strengthen that networking potential. We surveyed members recently on the future shape of events, and the feedback shows that virtual events will remain a central feature of business life in the medium and long term. However, while virtual events offered greater time efficiency and flexibility in the last 18 months, for three in four respondents it came at the expense of networking opportunities. We all miss the peer-to-peer engagement, the personal chat over a coffee and we need to look at how we can develop that for international members.
When you have landed in different cities Conall, how have you started your network? And once you’ve started it, could the Institute have done more to support it?
CMcG: I started it gradually. When you land in a city, your focus is on settling in, getting your feet under the desk, and then gradually building that network. I think there are definitely more events being held now by the Institute, with higher visibility. When I first moved abroad, it didn’t occur to me that this is a business network that would be internationally available, and it really is, so that was a pleasant surprise.
I find over here in the US, events at the Institute give amazing access because you’re meeting the senior people in a small networking room, and they’re all friendly, available, accessible. I’ve often thought it would be harder in a way back in Ireland because there’s so many more members.
I will say that via the Institute events that I have gone to, I’ve also made friends over here, because it’s very easy to develop those peer-to-peer friendships…it’s just a natural cultural and professional fit– similar interests, experiences so that’s a very positive thing.
As to your questions on what the Institute can do to better support members in getting established and building this network, they’re the right questions and they’re the questions I’m asking myself as I take on this role. How do you connect members overseas peer-to-peer in a meaningful way that’s relevant for them? Sure, many members are in big cities, but there’s not always scale because we’re spread out everywhere. Some countries might have only one or two members, so we have to look at doing this in a digital and engaging way.
PH: It’s interesting, I have found that people…when you reach out and invite them to something…it’s incredible the level of engagement we achieve, and this has just increased exponentially during the pandemic. There is such a willingness to become involved, and I know that having this additional representation at Council will help us to build this even further.
Coming back to you Conall, I’m interested in your views on promoting the qualification as a global passport?
CMcG: I see it as a global passport. You get your qualification and it’s really respected. While I have my mutual recognition from CPA over here…I still want to keep my Chartered Accountancy, but it’s no harm to have both in the spirit of your embeddedness in your local market.
The qualification opened doors for me. I had the opportunity to do a six-month secondment for KPMG in the US, and when you’re getting your visa for the US, you have to detail the professional skills you have. When you can list Chartered Accountancy that helps a lot. A lot of members over here have been able to transfer because of their qualification.
As a student, I didn’t know about that transferability and the mutual recognition agreement, in fact I didn’t realise it until I saw it in action. I know that is something that the Institute now communicates very strongly to incoming students, and this is a big selling point for our profession.
PH: Working with The Ireland Funds, philanthropy is an area close to your heart Conall. How could we as a profession focus more on that?
CMcG: I think we’re doing well. We can probably connect the members involved with [not-for-profit special interest groups] more, one-to-one. A lot of members are involved in not-for-profit activities as volunteers or in full time roles like me.
We have a huge amount to offer because of the skill set, so an organisation/charity you participate in will always ask the Chartered Accountant to be the treasurer! It’s a very natural fit, and it helps them so much, especially this past year when they’ve all been struggling with cashflow and financial planning during Covid, so that’s a great positive impact story. I’m trying to share more of those stories, I think there’s an opportunity to highlight them.
Add to this then what members do in the community - in arts or in sports in addition to the charity sector. The role in communities is how I see it…engagement, it’s such a positive impact when you look at what so many different members are doing. For this next generation, engagement and impact are key focus areas for them. As an Institute we can be very proud of and celebrate their achievements.
PH: Moving on to talk about the future of contact and connection, I think for the immediate future we’ll be challenged on the face to face, but I don’t think we’ll ever go back to in-person only.
CMcG: I really miss the in-person and I look forward to it again, but I think it’ll be a mixture of both formats for all organisations and people going forward.
I’m looking forward to working on this initiative with
Gillian Duffy and other colleagues in the Institute.
And to members overseas, I would be very grateful for your feedback on this topic, as your gift to the members and future members.
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