When it comes to finance process outsourcing, how do we keep up with industry trends? By Sinead Donovan Whether an organisation uses an in-house shared services centre (SSC) or external service provider, outsourcing has become a familiar concept to many of us in industry and professional services settings. It is no longer a new idea when it comes to finance and non-core process solutions. Long gone are the days when terms such as SSC and business process outsourcing (BPO) were treated as an innovation. Rather, it has become a finance strategy staple for most mature and growing multinationals. The first outsourced centre in Ireland opened its doors in 1995 – an SSC of a large US multinational. Others quickly followed suit and there was an explosion of SSCs across Ireland supporting multinational organisations globally. Many have since moved away from the Irish market, or made a complete turnaround by transforming their services in the last number of years. This is a natural progression in the lifecycle of outsourcing and service transformation. Coinciding with this evolution, a new era of outsourcing has emerged which is a very interesting and indicative trend. Traditionally outsourced services concentrated on high volume and low complexity, non-value-add processing tasks – be that booking of accounts payable invoices or entering pre-approved journal vouchers. A typical offering comprised of three main functions: accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR) and general ledger (GL). While you may have occasionally found other support functions (think of master data management), this was not standard practice in the early days. Business partner Some 20 years on, the situation is rapidly changing. SSCs and BPOs are now expected to remain relevant while delivering valuable services to the parent company or clients they serve. With the increase of automation and technology, there is decreased need for support of high volume, low complexity tasks. Instead, there is an increased requirement for higher value-add analytical services. System transitions and implementations, process improvement and historical issue resolution are among the services now provided by BPO teams across professional services and SSCs alike. Additional value-add supports sought by the parent company or client now include financial planning and analysis, advice on enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business combinations. If we were to sum up this trend in one sentence, ‘a move from processor to business partner’ seems the most fitting. From a business perspective, what do companies look for when transforming their finance function? It seems that demands placed on service providers have evolved from what they would have been some 20 years ago, when the main consideration was which finance process could be outsourced using a straightforward ‘lift and shift’ model. Today, this approach has changed. Many businesses are undergoing systems and process transformation. Thus, shared services providers need to take that into account and adjust their solutions to add real value and innovation. This is often done by utilising technology, robotic process automation (RPA) or artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle all the repetitive and high volume tasks while allowing employees to concentrate on process improvement, in-depth analysis of big data, and key risk areas instead. Looking to the future With this trend, it is easy to see that the key to success for any SSC or BPO service provider – especially those in a professional services environment – is to remain relevant and to continue looking for new ways to improve efficiency, add value and innovate. Exactly how to stay relevant is, of course, a bigger question. It can be easy to get lost in multitudes of considerations, trying to keep up with changing attitudes and demands. While there is no doubt that continuous improvement and development is important to successful client-provider relationships, there is another more subtle – but equally important – aspect that should be given just as much attention. Indeed, it is especially relevant in the professional services setting. Mutual trust in the relationship between provider and client can be the deciding factor in the success or failure of a project. Both parties should be committed to the mutually beneficial collaboration that allows BPO providers to continue adding value and evolving to support clients or parent companies – all with a view to remaining relevant in this dynamic market. Sinead Donovan FCA is a Partner in Financial Accounting and Advisory Services at Grant Thornton.

Work-life balance can have enormous value in any organisation,  but meeting the needs of a broad spectrum of employees is more art than science. By Ed Heffernan For well over a decade now, work-life balance has been part of the conversation. The 2019 Leinster Society Salary Survey cited, perhaps unsurprisingly, that 86% of respondents said it was a key factor when considering an external move. Surprisingly, however, some 52% of respondents cited they would sacrifice up to 10% of their financial reward for better work-life balance. What is this mysterious, evasive thing that the majority of accountants would take a pay cut for? How is work-life balance defined? Sometimes things are more easily defined by what they are not, rather than what they are. Here’s an example: Work-life balance does not mean equality between work hours and non-work hours; Work-life balance does not necessarily mean working fewer hours than you are working now; Work-life balance is not a one-size-fits-all matter; it means different things to different people and will have a varied meaning over time for each individual; and Work-life balance means different things to different generations; for some, it’s a nice-to-have while for others, it’s an expectation. More often than not, work-life balance comes down to three things – flexibility, achievement and enjoyment. Flexibility is doing your job at the times that work for you. We all have different commutes and different responsibilities outside of work; the employers that recognise this as a fact of life are the ones who retain their people for longer and get more return for their people’s time. For example, some employers will: Allow some degree of flexibility on start and finish times to allow for commutes, family responsibilities, sports commitments or even to make sure that when someone needs to finish a little early, they feel that they can; Allow people to work from “not the office” and trust that they will. Numerous studies suggest that the worst possible place for employee productivity is the workplace – there are just too many distractions. Enabling certain types of work, especially the type of work that requires uninterrupted focused activity, to be conducted outside of the office can lead to substantial  increases in productivity; and Giving a little can mean gaining a lot. If one of your team has a medical appointment or another one-off event, allowing them the freedom to be away from the desk without deducting the time from their holidays, or stating that they have to make the time up, can have enormous reciprocal effects in the future. Small, random acts of kindness are more powerful than any policy. There is a catch, though. Even if a company does manage to create a flexible working environment, it is still not going to please all of the people all of the time. When it comes to flexibility, some people at certain stages in their life will need a little more; others a little less. Implicit to the flexibility component of work-life balance is that it means different things to different people at different stages. Companies that create a culture of flexibility as opposed to enforcement often get the best results. Achievement is the cornerstone of human ambition. Everyone needs to have a clear understanding of what they need to achieve in their role and to be recognised when this achievement occurs. This can be weekly, monthly or even annually. It must be measurable in some way and it must be recognised, either intrinsically (for example, a simple ‘thank you’ for a job well done) or extrinsically (for example, some type of financial reward – a token, an unexpected gesture, a bonus, or even a salary increase). Everyone needs to feel that they are achieving something in their role and it is ultimately up to their direct manager to ensure that achievements are recognised. Those who feel they are achieving something tend to feel like they have work-life balance and in many cases, they feel this way regardless of the hours they work. Enjoyment is a less tangible, but equally important, part of work-life balance. Enjoyment does not just mean having fun – that’s only part of it. Enjoyment has a much wider definition when it comes to work-life balance. It’s how you feel about what you do; it’s how it feels to work in your team; it’s feeling that you are working towards a shared goal; it’s respecting and learning from the people you work with; it’s celebrating success and learning from failure with your colleagues; it’s the opportunity to help others learn; it’s the opportunity to work in a business that you believe in for a cause you admire; and it’s a whole lot more. Flexibility and achievement are the easy ones to define and create a policy for – enjoyment is the piece that is really personal, and the piece that many managers often get wrong. Work-life balance can have enormous value in any organisation. Get the mix of flexibility, achievement and enjoyment right, and your people will work harder, be happier, be more productive and will stay longer. Get it wrong these days, and you will end up with the opposite. It’s that easy. Why authentic leaders listen For some people, it isn’t the work component that creates the imbalance; it’s the life component. At certain times, we all come under stresses that have nothing to do with work. Some people make work the escape from these stresses; other people bring these life stresses into the workplace with sometimes devastating consequences. People don’t change without reason. If someone on your team begins to submit work that isn’t up to their usual standard, uncharacteristically misses multiple deadlines or just seems ‘off form’ in the office, don’t get annoyed – get curious. Sometimes it might just be listening; sometimes it might be arranging some extra flexibility or a reduced workload on a temporary basis. Regardless of the situation, every time you engage and, where you can, offer to take action, you will not only make a difference for that person, but you will create longer lasting, deeper bonds between yourself and your team. You can create the space your people need when life causes an imbalance. And from experience, that’s where the real magic happens. It’s easy to ignore the problem, but it takes bravery to ask the question. Which type of leader are you?   Ed Heffernan is Managing Partner at Barden Accounting and Tax.

Having lived and worked in six countries, I have realised that there is a price to be paid for being an average networker. By Kingsley Aikins At its core, networking is about taking three key actions: changing our attitudes, altering our behaviours and learning new skills. In a world where life is a game of inches, we need to see networking as the key difference- maker. One introduction or conversation can change your life, but they don’t happen when you are lying in bed or sitting at your desk – they happen when you are in motion, when you are out and about, when you develop a reputation and put your talents on display. Networking is the key to career progression – the future leadership of your organisation will not consist of unknown people. The challenges However, there are some real challenges with networking. First, most people say they hate it and it tends to get a pretty negative press. It is sometimes seen as an inelegant way of using people and is regarded as both insincere and manipulative. We tend to mix up networking and sociability, and assume that the most sociable person is the best networker. In fact, it can be the exact opposite. Shy, introvert types can be better at networking than extroverts because they do it with decency, authenticity and integrity – and that comes across. They ask questions and are better listeners. Second, networking is not taught at school and college. Companies don’t have strategies for it, yet everybody says that it’s really important. A third problem is that many people don’t realise that, as their career progresses, the skills and qualifications that enabled them to get their job in the first place become less important (because everyone has them and you can’t compete with what everyone else has). Relationships therefore become more important. Finally, people don’t ask themselves the brutal question – is my network good enough for where I want to be in the next five years? Give and take Key then is to put networking front and centre of your personal and professional life and to realise that there is a process to networking – a learned process which, if followed and implemented, will give you a better chance of success. The bedrock to this is to accept a key foundational concept which, at first glance, might appear counter-intuitive. Networking is all about giving rather than getting. Most people think they have to focus on networking because they want to get something for themselves such as a new job or a new sale. What I am saying is the exact opposite. Think first how you can help other people – how you can put your network at the disposal of others. This is based on a very simple and fundamental premise: in life, the more you give, the more you get. When you give consistently to individuals, it comes back from the network. Networking is not about any one big thing – it is about a lot of small behaviour changes which, when implemented on a daily basis, become habits and, eventually, rituals. They then become the way you lead your life.  A personal asset A harsh reality in life is that you can’t go it alone; you have to network your way to success. The way to opportunities you don’t know is through people you do. Networking can obviously have practical returns in terms of getting more business, staff and investors. However, research shows that people who build strong and diverse networks live longer, are stronger mentally and physically, earn more money and are happier. In a world where people are constantly changing jobs, networking is the way to get your next one – the vast majority of good jobs are not advertised. Also, companies want to ‘hire and wire’ – hire people and wire into their network. Now, when you are being interviewed, people want to know about your qualifications and experience, but they also want to know who you know. We live in a world where it is not what you know or who you know, but who knows you. Networking is the way to get out of your silo and get to know people from different backgrounds. Research shows that if your organisation doesn’t reflect the diversity of the economy in which you operate and the society in which you live, then you, as a company and as an individual, underperform. Also, your network is portable. You own it. It’s part of your personal asset base. When you move, it goes with you. Networking abroad Having lived and worked in six countries, I have found networking to be the glue that makes everything happen and I realised that there was a price to be paid for being an average networker. Having observed good networkers in action, I now realise that they have certain things in common. They work hard at it, they don’t brag about it, they don’t keep score. They are confident it works, even if they are not quite sure how. They understand the power of asking and referrals. They think like farmers who plant a seed in the spring, water and nurture it and look after it, confident that there will be a harvest.  They understand the importance and potential of technology in networking, but also realise the power of personal face-to-face connections. In that sense, they are hi-tech and hi-touch. They are curious and they ask questions. Great networkers are great salespeople because they create a vast and spreading sphere of goodwill around them and they constantly add value to the people they meet. There is a precise four-phase process to networking, which is about research, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. If you follow this process, there is a greater chance of success than if you don’t. Kingsley Aikins is CEO at The Networking Institute.   You can read more about living and working overseas in Chartered Accountants Abroad, the publication from Accountancy Ireland for Chartered Accountants Ireland members abroad.

Lured by Ireland’s rudely healthy economy and the superior quality of life offered by their native land, an increasing number of Chartered Accountants are choosing to return home to Ireland. Barry O’Leary looks at some of the practicalities involved. Wanting to come home and actually making it happen are two very different things. Many people who yearn to bring up their families in Ireland and have also had the opportunity to do so, haven’t yet made it back. This is usually because of something quite simple, which could have been addressed with some advance planning. The best way to approach this life-changing move is to treat it as a project and plan accordingly. The first stage is to investigate the job market and assess the opportunities that may or may not be there. This is a relatively simple process and a routine scan of recruitment websites, as well as those of reputable recruitment specialists, will give a fair indication of the roles available. This should be backed up with further research to establish the quality of the opportunities. The Leinster Society Salary Survey will give an indication of salary scales, for example. Also, contact friends and reach out to LinkedIn contacts to hear what they have to say about the climate back home. Before you apply… If the results are positive, the next natural step is to start applying for roles. However, a few pieces of the jigsaw need to be put in place first. The first step is to figure out what you are going to do if you do get a job. Clearly, if you are going to start a job in Ireland, you are going to need a place to live, schools for children and so on. Of course, buying a house or even renting one back in Ireland while still living overseas and before you have even landed a new job is an expensive – and possibly unnecessary – step to take. Better to consult with family and friends first and establish if there is a possibility of staying somewhere temporarily, say for three months, while you get settled in the new job and make arrangements for your family to follow you back. That gives you the breathing space to sell up property and other assets overseas while going house-hunting in Ireland. Another essential early step is to speak to the banks about your prospects of getting a mortgage. Having preliminary approval in place will guide the house search. Next is to talk to estate agents and get them looking out for suitable homes. None of this costs money, but it can save a lot of time and heartache in the long run. The other issue to take care of at this point is insurance. Many Irish people returning home are surprised at how difficult, and expensive, it can be to get motor insurance. Shop around the insurance companies to get some prices to avoid nasty shocks later. That can also influence your job search as a company car can suddenly become a lot more alluring. Interview stage The next thing to think about is interview availability. People living in the UK might be able to hop on a Ryanair flight at fairly short notice to attend an interview and be there and back in a day but for those living further afield, more advanced planning is required. One option is to arrange to spend a week at home a month and inform prospective employers of your availability during that time window. Generally speaking, if they are sufficiently interested in you, they will do their best to accommodate you. Having gone through all of that, it’s time for the job hunt itself. This starts with updating your CV and your LinkedIn profile. It might be worth getting advice from a fellow professional or a recruiter back home at this stage. They can help with the design of the CV and what aspects to highlight in the context of the prevailing jobs market. After that, you’ve got to decide on the type of role you’re looking for, and where. Is it practice, industry, or the public sector? If it’s industry, what sector? And where? If it’s Dublin, can you afford housing and can you find schools for your children? You also have to consider your partner at this stage. Will they also be seeking a job when they return home? What area of the country and what sectors best suit them? Dealing with these questions probably requires the assistance of on an Ireland-based recruitment consultant who can help with the job search and move back home.  They can offer independent advice on the process and help ensure that you make the right decisions in all circumstances. The first job offer is not always the best one, and the best paid offer is not always the right one – an experienced consultant can help match the right role to the right person as well as assisting with some of the more practical aspects of the move, such as recommending insurance brokers, mortgage lenders and so on. If you follow this basic roadmap, you will give yourself a much better chance of making a successful move back to the auld sod. Barry O’Leary is the Co-Founder of ACCPRO. Taxing times One of the problems most frequently encountered by accountants returning home is personal taxation. If you want to avoid being subject to Emergency Tax of up to 41%, give your employer your PPS number (Irish people generally have one before returning home) so they can request a Revenue Payroll Notification (RPN) from Revenue. The RPN will show your total tax credits, tax rate band and USC rate band so your employer can make the correct tax deductions from your pay. If you are starting your first job in Ireland, you must register online though Revenue’s myAccount where you can view your personal tax record. You can read more about living and working overseas in Chartered Accountants Abroad, the publication from Accountancy Ireland for Chartered Accountants Ireland members abroad.

More and more people are returning to Ireland having worked abroad for a number of years. More often than not, this process also involves starting a new job and, inevitably, paying Irish tax. With that in mind, this article aims to provide a practical guide to some of the tax and pension issues our members should think about as they plan their return home. By Bríd Heffernan Back to basics First, let us briefly cover some of the basics of the Irish income tax system. Employees pay tax through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system which, since 1 January 2019, operates in real time. This means that income tax, pay-related social insurance (PRSI) and the universal social charge (USC) are deducted at source by your employer and subsequently paid to Revenue. As an employee, you can manage your taxes online through Revenue’s MyAccount system. If you have a new job, you will need to register your new role with Revenue in order to be taxed correctly. On your return to Ireland, one of the first practical steps to take is to apply for a Personal Public Service Number (PPSN). As a returner to Ireland, you should already have one but your children (if they were born abroad) or your partner (if he or she is not an Irish citizen) will require one. The PPSN will provide access to social welfare benefits, public services and information in Ireland. Tax residence  On returning home, your liability to Irish tax depends on your residence, ordinary residence and domicile position in Ireland. Residence for tax purposes depends on how many days you spend in the country. Even if you are not actually resident in a particular year, Ireland can still be your ordinary residence as this term refers to the country where you are usually resident over a number of years. The country that is your permanent home is known as your domicile. If you are tax resident in Ireland for a tax year, you pay Irish tax on your worldwide income and any gains you make in that year. Worldwide income is the total income that you earn anywhere in the world. Residence and domicile are taken into account for a number of taxes including income tax, deposit interest retention tax, capital acquisitions tax and capital gains tax. For more information on determining your residence status in any year, visit www.revenue.ie. Tax reliefs You may return to Ireland mid-way through a tax year and therefore, have income on which you may have to pay Irish and foreign tax. In this instance, it may be possible to claim relief from the foreign country if it has a double taxation agreement (DTA) with Ireland. Or, you can avail of a tax relief called “split-year treatment” for the year you return to Ireland. Split-year treatment has the benefit of taxing employment income for only part of a year (any foreign employment income earned before returning to Ireland and becoming tax resident again is not subject to Irish tax), while affording the full range of tax allowances and credits and rate bands of a resident. To avail of this treatment, you will need to contact Revenue in writing. Another relief available to individuals returning home is the Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP). This provides income tax relief for certain people who are assigned to work in Ireland from abroad up to the year 2020. A number of conditions must be met in order to claim SARP and where you qualify, a proportion of your employment earnings are disregarded for income tax. To claim this relief, your employer must send Form SARP 1A to Revenue within 90 days of your return to Ireland. Social security and pension considerations There may be significant differences between the Irish social security system and the system in the country you are moving from. It is therefore worth familiarising yourself with these differences in order to protect your social security entitlements. In the EU, each country has its own social security laws. However, EU rules coordinate national systems to ensure that people moving to other EU countries do not lose security cover and can amalgamate their contributions from member states when applying for a pension. If you are returning to Ireland from a country within the EU or EEA, you should bring an E104 and U1 form back with you as it will provide details of the insurance contributions you made in that country. Ireland also has bilateral agreements with a number of countries outside the EU including the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Consequently, contributions paid in these countries can be added to your Irish social insurance contributions. When it comes to protecting your pension contributions made in Ireland or abroad, there are a number of things to consider. While working abroad, you may be able to claim Migrants Members Relief. This provides relief on pension contributions paid to a pre-existing qualifying pension scheme. If you have made contributions to a foreign pension fund while living abroad, it is important to note that the rules for transferring or accessing the pension’s funds when you return to Ireland are usually determined by the foreign country. Each country will have different rules for such transfers, and you should contact your pension administrator in the foreign jurisdiction to discuss the options available to you. In general, Revenue will allow foreign pensions to be transferred to an approved occupational pension scheme or Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) provided a number of conditions are met. Conclusion These are just some of the tax, social security and pension considerations to think about on your return to Ireland. It’s important to be familiar with these issues to avoid situations where you could end up paying double tax and to ensure that you protect your social security and pension contributions. Bríd Heffernan is a Tax Manager at Chartered Accountants Ireland. You can read more about living and working overseas in Chartered Accountants Abroad, the publication from Accountancy Ireland for Chartered Accountants Ireland members abroad.

Caroline McGroary went to Riyadh for four months, but stayed for six years – and her adventure isn’t over yet. How did you end up volunteering to go overseas? In August 2013, while working for Dublin City University (DCU) as a Lecturer in Accounting, I had the opportunity to travel to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia after DCU signed a partnership with Princess Norah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU). PNU is the country’s foremost female educational institution and the largest women’s-only university in the world, with capacity for 60,000 students. DCU established a division of DCU Business School within PNU, delivering two undergraduate degree programmes in Finance and Marketing and one postgraduate degree programme in Business Administration. Eager to be part of this project, I volunteered as a member of an initial team of four DCU staff who relocated to Riyadh to initiate the collaboration. What did the role entail? My initial four-month appointment was as Programme Director at PNU and I also held the position of Lecturer in Accounting, Finance and Business Strategy. The task of establishing a women’s business school in a foreign country was in many ways similar to a start-up business venture. Leaving the cultural differences and language barrier aside, we assumed responsibility for all business school operations as well as lecturing responsibilities. We were required to train our Saudi academic colleagues and to liaise with the senior management of PNU, on behalf of DCU, on a regular basis. Navigating the challenges of the first semester required immense teamwork and organisation. At the end of the term, I took the decision to extend my contract for the remainder of the academic year. Six years on, having overseen the graduation of over 500 students with DCU degrees, I am still living in Riyadh and embracing the opportunities and experiences that this collaboration continues to offer. What in particular struck you about life in Saudi Arabia? Saudi Arabia is routinely portrayed in mainstream Western media in a negative light, primarily due to its strict legal, religious, cultural and societal norms. However, the experience of living in Riyadh at a time when the country is undergoing dramatic economic and societal change has given me a very different perspective on life here. Through my position, I’ve both educated and worked alongside Saudi women and I’ve witnessed first-hand my Saudi students and colleagues undergo increased empowerment and social participation, contributing fully to the development of their country. How did you benefit as a result? While there are many highlights from my time here so far, there are a number of key experiences that have benefited me both professionally and personally. First, the most notable has been educating young, bright, tenacious Saudi women, which is an extremely rewarding experience. Second, participating in initiatives such as setting up the Irish Business Network in Saudi Arabia (IBN-SA) in partnership with the Irish Ambassador, His Excellency Tony Cotter has served as an important platform for my professional engagement with the Irish business community, the Saudi business community and other communities in the Kingdom. This has led to many other opportunities, such as working with high-profile companies and governmental bodies on projects that have had educational, economic and social impact, with much of this work achieving international recognition. You took up some non-profit work while in Riyadh. What was your experience of volunteering overseas? Since moving to Saudi Arabia, I have actively sought out ways to give back to the local Saudi and Irish communities. I am one of the founding members of the IBN-SA and I volunteer with the local Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club (Naomh Alee), teach Irish dance classes, engage in charity events – including the ‘Riyadh Darkness into Light’ event which raised funds for Pieta House in Ireland – and regularly create opportunities for my students to engage in local community events, such as the promotion of physical activity among their local communities and engaging with local charities. What advice would you give someone who is considering moving overseas? The prospect of moving overseas can be very daunting. However, my time in Riyadh has taught me to be open-minded about new experiences and to use challenges as a platform for growth and development. Personally, my time living in Saudi Arabia – one of the most conservative countries in the world – has been the experience of a lifetime. Not only has it allowed me be part of a historical movement centred around the empowerment of women through education, it has also afforded me the opportunity to immerse myself in a new culture, contribute to the local community and to travel extensively. The experience has enabled me to meet people from so many different backgrounds and cultures, which has been an incredible personal as well as professional journey. For these reasons, I’m a strong advocate of gaining international experience and I actively encourage anyone who has this opportunity to embrace it.   You can read more about living and working overseas in Chartered Accountants Abroad, the publication from Accountancy Ireland for Chartered Accountants Ireland members abroad.

Chartered Accountants considering a career abroad can benefit from a number of mutual reciprocity agreements with fellow Institutes worldwide. Chartered Accountants Ireland, through the Common Content Project (CCP), has been working with leading European Institutes to develop a new education benchmark for professional accountants that is fully EU and IFAC compliant and which supports auditor mobility within the EU. Following the agreement of the new benchmark, the Institute’s own education and assessment processes were assessed, confirming compliance with the CCP requirements. If you are a registered auditor in Ireland, you can gain audit rights (and depending on the country, membership rights) through the passing of a local law and tax examination. Further details are available about the project at www.commoncontent.com.   Other agreements include: Access to membership Chartered Accountants Ireland has mutual reciprocity agreements (MRAs) with a number of other leading global Institutes, which allow Chartered Accountants Ireland members to apply for membership of those bodies and allow members of those Institutes to apply to Chartered Accountants Ireland for membership. Applicants to Chartered Accountants Ireland will usually have access to membership without examination. To do so, you will need to contact the relevant reciprocal body and provide evidence of good standing and pay the requisite fee. Retention of membership is a requirement of this process. Practice rights Access to practice rights is not automatic and will normally require the passing of local company law and taxation (or similar) exams. Should you wish to gain practice rights, it is suggested that you should preferably gain rights in Ireland before seeking rights overseas. In those jurisdictions where practice rights and membership are synonymous, an examination must be passed. Audit rights are not automatically covered by these agreements as there can be specific local requirements in some cases.  Irish Chartered Accountants who are planning on gaining audit practice rights should gain Irish audit rights first before leaving home.   Chartered Accountants Ireland has MRAs with the following Institutes: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)/National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). This agreement provides access to membership, practice rights and audit rights subject to members meeting the specific entry criteria and the passing of the IQEX examination. NASBA administers the IQEX and issues the AICPA license; Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ, formerly the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants); Chartered Professional Accountants Canada (CPA Canada, formerly the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants); The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA); The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). No examination is required to gain practice rights); The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW). No examination is required to gain practice rights; The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ); The Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA); and The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). For more information, contact Paula Dreelan on +353 1 637 7216 or email registry@charteredaccountants.ie. For any technical queries, contact Ronan O’Loughlin, Director of Education and Training at ronan.oloughlin@charteredaccountants.ie or 01 637 7329. You can read more about living and working overseas in Chartered Accountants Abroad, the publication from Accountancy Ireland for Chartered Accountants Ireland members abroad.

Blockchain represents both an end and a beginning for the accountancy profession. By Fearghal McHugh and Dr Trevor Clohessy Transparency can be considered the holy grail of governance best practice. The codes, acts and markets demand it as it enhances the view of corporate transactions, which has in turn affected issues such as environmental and sustainability reporting. Transparency is the core of blockchain, which will affect accountancy while satisfying this core principle and driver of good corporate governance. The difference is that it will not take the blockchain elements outlined below as long to become mainstream as it has taken to impact on environment and sustainability concerns. The consensus is that blockchain and its technologies will change the people skills, the processes, the systems and the structure of accounting practice currently applied to any transactions involved in the recording of any information. This has big implications for those in the sector but, significantly, gives a market opportunity to those who are not. Indeed, this opportunity is further enhanced when artificial intelligence integrates with blockchain. Scale of disruption The potential disruption is on the same scale as Amazon, which competes with all retail shops in the country. The first to market with the ‘Accountazon’ brand, named here first, will dent the current position of large or small practices. Accountazon requires accountants, but the ability to scale, integrate and generate output based on fully transparent and rules-based decision-making at the lower level of processing while, at the upper level, having the decision-making and knowledge base of a collective of highly-paid accountants will affect the accounting industry. This can drive the accounting industry to build on specialisation and value proposition offerings at a higher level than those currently generating income. In other words, intelligent computer systems will do what accountants currently do. The impact will force the industry to seek a new place away from rudimentary transaction-type roles of fundamental audit and tax processes. This will require in-depth knowledge (which artificial intelligence can replace) to pure decision-making; in essence, the better the decision-making, the higher one’s revenue and reputation. The purpose and role of accountants will remain, but will be implemented at a higher knowledge application and analysis level and further away from the current operations position and perspective. A personal approach There is no need for panic yet. As with Amazon, retail shops have continued in business but the pricing, delivery, support, convenience and speed we enjoy from the online retailer may also need to be addressed in the accountancy industry; we need to make accountancy accessible, friendly, convenient, productive and transparent. Either the market or the technology will drive the change, or the accountancy industry will embrace it first and deliver value. A Ryanair approach, encouraging a more direct business model using technology, could be applied in the accountancy industry and is more likely now with blockchain and artificial intelligence. The middleman remains the accountant, however, and if it is deemed that a lot of processes don’t add value, the middleman needs to present a value proposition that cannot be offered by the system itself in order to add future value. In the Ryanair model context, so many travel agents adjusted and seem to have found that personal service, customisation and the time taken to provide a tailored travel package for customers is what many consumers want. The drive for digitisation An example of a driver of this type of change arose earlier this year when the then-head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, urged central banks to launch digital currencies to satisfy public policy, financial inclusion, security, consumer protection and privacy in payments. While blockchain is mostly linked with cryptocurrencies, digitisation policies embraced by companies like Nestlé, Guinness and Glanbia are being encouraged by stakeholders but embraced in a controlled manner. Blockchain technology is part of the cryptocurrency system that actually worked. It is becoming embedded in many industries from manufacturing to web-based services, facilitating faster and more secure transactions on a growing scale. When companies and consumers have a better, easier, faster and more transparent way to do business, they will select it as time is a critical factor in corporate life. The practical elements and approaches to blockchain, as highlighted below, will be seen by clients as having the potential to reduce charges and the time involved in accountant reviews and advice, which Revenue could see as a means of speeding up returns. Public versus private Blockchain is not a mobile application, a company or a cryptocurrency. In its simplest terms, blockchain is a ledger that records transactions digitally and records details about the transaction. These details are recorded in multiple places on the same network. Blockchain comes in two flavours: public and private. A public blockchain allows anybody on the network to input transactions and data onto the blockchain. No single entity controls the network. A public blockchain operates like Wikipedia in that users have a composite view that’s constantly changing. Bitcoin, the tradename used to represent the familiar digital currency along with another called Ethereum are examples of public blockchains. Private blockchains work in a similar fashion to public blockchains, but with access restrictions that control who has access to the network. One or multiple entities control the network. Think of this in terms of a traditional database system that can only be accessed by specific authorised employees. Two features differentiate blockchain digital ledgers from traditional ledgers. First, the assets and transactions recorded in these digital ledgers are secured through cryptography. As an example, in season four of the Netflix drama, Narcos, Guillermo Pallomari’s financial ledgers records are taken as evidence by the Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA). However, due to the complicated coding system deployed by Pallomari within these financial ledgers, the DEA is unable to decipher the transactions and/or assets in order to use them as evidence. Pallomari holds the encryption key, which would enable the DEA to crack the code. In terms of blockchain, this also holds true. Due to sophisticated encryption keys, the transactions and assets are secure, immutable and unforgeable. Second, blockchain encompasses the disintermediation of traditional financial intermediaries (e.g. banks, brokerages, mutual funds). This disintermediation is made possible by smart contracts, which are complex algorithms that execute the terms and conditions of a traditional contract without the need for human intervention. This leads to a superior ability to prove custodianship and ownership of assets, which could potentially improve efficiency and enhance transparency while also reducing costs and income in the accountancy profession. Complexity and novelty Today, a number of multinational technology organisations enable businesses to implement blockchain practically. For instance, Microsoft currently offers a blockchain development solution that combines the advantages of cloud computing (e.g. virtualisation, scalability, pay-as-you-go pricing model) and blockchain. This service is called Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) and comes with a set of development templates (e.g. smart contract development and integration) that users can deploy and configure with minimal blockchain knowledge. However, prior to diving into the blockchain sea, accountancy organisations should adopt a caveat emptor mantra. History suggests that two dimensions impact on how a new technological trend and its business use can evolve. The first is complexity, which is represented by the level of coordination required by the organisation to produce value with the new technology. The second dimension is novelty, which describes the level of effort a user requires to understand the problems that the new technological trend can solve. The more novel a concept is, the greater the learning curve. Accountancy organisations can develop adoption strategies that map possible blockchain implementations against these two dimensions. Complexity and novelty can vary from low to high in terms of the stage of technology development. For instance, accountancy organisations that are new to the blockchain concept may want to introduce a pilot initiative that is low in novelty and low in complexity. One such initiative could encompass the inclusion of cryptocurrency transactions in a firm’s transactions processes. New skills While blockchain is spread across many systems, it is not public. It protects transactions because they are shared and copied on many parts of storage devices, and would require all parts and copies of the transaction to be amended and/or deleted to have an effect. Deleting a transaction in one place is easy, deleting it from several locations and tracking each one – while not impossible – would require some work. This capability could potentially scare some in that transactions cannot suddenly be erased, but it is encouraging for others. Apply this concept first to the level of payments and receipts and build that up to management reporting, budgets and strategic reports to ensure a higher level of accuracy and clarity. This will eventually lead to a sense of integrity, another governance ideal. With reference to speed, this can move business from reliance on past information to live analysis and if it’s faster, it will be cheaper in the long-run to produce. While a positive for business, it will not require the skill of a finance professional but a computing-finance professional. In a 2018 Irish industry report, one of the authors, Trevor Clohessy, identified that IT/education providers must do more to demystify blockchain and expedite the learning process. The report outlined how the core competencies and skills required for blockchain are broader than the core technology and encompassed skill sets, which fall under the following categories: Foundational technology (e.g. cryptography, public key architecture); Distributed ledger technology (e.g. mining, consensus algorithms); Forensics and law enforcement (e.g. money laundering, dark-net); Markets, economics and finance (e.g. business modelling, cryptonomics); Industrial design (e.g. supply chain, Internet of Things); and Regulations and standards (e.g. smart contracts, governance frameworks). From an accountancy perspective, it is envisaged that certain traditional skills relating to accountancy will be eliminated or reduced (such as reconciliations or provenance assurance, for example). Blockchain transactions will enable new value-adding activities but while the range of extant skills required will change, this change need not be Byzantine. It is envisaged that the markets and regulations categories outlined above will be important for bridging the blockchain literacy gap between various business and technology stakeholders. Looking ahead, accountancy practices can examine their business models in order to derive value from blockchain. Janus, the Roman god, contained both beginnings and endings within him. That duality characterises blockchain too. It will put an end to traditional ways of doing things and usher in a new era for business and for the world at large. It will be divisive, pervasive and transformational all at the same time, and will encourage accountancy professionals to look ahead and not base their operations and decision-making on past data. The blockchain future is one with present and predictive transacting data systems with in-built transparency and integrity.   Fearghal McHugh is a lecturer in Chartered Accountants Ireland and GMIT. Dr Trevor Clohessy is a researcher and lecturer in GMIT.

Unconscious bias isn’t going away – and neither is the pressure for diverse and inclusive workplaces, writes Dr Annette Clancy. Companies are under increasing pressure to improve gender equality, level the pay gap and generally change their approach to workplace inclusion. Part of this demand stems from equality legislation, but there is also growing public pressure to act. However, research tells us that we prefer to be in the company of people who are similar to us. We assume that we will have more in common, that we will be understood and liked, and that there will be minimal conflict. Of course, most of these assumptions are in the realm of fantasy – we all know people who are very similar to us but with whom we have fractious relationships. We also assume that the opposite will be true when it comes to people who are dissimilar to us. Consider, for example, the many stories in the US media of white people calling the police to complain about black people going about their business in their neighbourhoods. Head over heels? Freud went one step further and told us that the relationship between leaders and followers was like the act of falling in love or the state of trance between hypnotist and subject. What Freud was getting at was that we are unconsciously predisposed (in our personal and work lives) to choose people with whom we have a strong emotional attachment. At first glance, none of that makes for very good practice when it comes to increasing diversity, improving recruitment practices or searching for a new job. Hiring the most qualified candidate based on their CV and how they interview for a position seems straightforward enough, but it isn’t just what’s written down or their skills that will always convince the panel to appoint a candidate. Biases based on gender, race and other factors can present unconsciously and influence the decision, even when the panel has the best of intentions. Quick judgements Unconscious bias refers to a bias that we are unaware of and is out of our control. Our brain makes quick judgements about people and situations, and our culture, experiences and background influence these judgements. Everyone has unconscious bias and although training can increase awareness, research suggests that it has a limited effect on behaviour. One of the reasons why training is limited in its effectiveness is because the bias is ‘unconscious’. One afternoon’s worth of instruction is not going to eradicate a lifetime and a society-worth of unconscious programming. What has shown some promise is holding managers, teams and companies to account for the decisions they take. Other strategies include regular discussions on bias, making it an ordinary reflection point and not a ‘once-off’ conversation that is forgotten as soon as it happens. A good starting point for discussion is Harvard’s Project Implicit Tests, which will give you immediate feedback on your biases towards a wide range of issues. Mitigating bias Biases can affect your expectations of different groups. In hiring processes, it’s important to ask if you hold male, female or non-binary candidates to different standards. Assessing candidates ‘blind’ by concealing their name, for example, is another way in which organisations can mitigate bias. Likewise, as a jobseeker, do you have biases towards particular companies that are out of your conscious awareness and may be hindering your search? Biases can also affect how you manage your staff and may be a contributory factor as to why you retain or lose staff. Do you, for example, welcome challenges to your management style? Is it possible that you harbour different expectations of male and female staff members? How open are you to questioning your own unconscious bias? Unconscious bias isn’t going away, and neither is the pressure for diverse and inclusive workplaces. Bringing both of these topics right into the mainstream might be the first step towards having the conversation.   Dr Annette Clancy is Assistant Professor at UCD School of Art, History and Cultural Policy. Annette’s research focuses on emotions in organisations.

Sharon Cunningham ACA decided to co-found Shorla Pharma as an answer to her need to do something meaningful. Now, this women-led company is working towards bringing oncology therapies to global markets. Name: Sharon Cunningham Age: 34 Title: Co-founder, Shorla Pharma From: Waterford Hobbies: Running, gym, fashion and reading Favourite quote: ‘If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on.’ - Sheryl Sandberg Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur? I found myself inspired and fascinated by other entrepreneurial journeys, particularly since joining  an early-stage pharmaceutical company post-training. I was motivated to do something meaningful and purposeful; to have a wider impact and create positive change, and I’ve always had an appetite for risk. I did an MBA at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and, upon graduating in 2015, a colleague and I began planning Shorla Pharma. We now have a pipeline of oncology products for global markets that deliver a major contribution to patient care and, ultimately, enhance patient outcomes.  Describe your typical day. There is no such thing as a ‘typical day’ for me anymore, and that is one of the aspects that I enjoy the most. My work is extremely varied. If I’m in the office, I can be working on anything from business development to product development to financial modelling. I’m in Dublin at least one day a week for conferences and meetings, and I travel frequently, particularly to the US to engage and interact with key opinion leaders, clinicians and the US Health Authority given that the US is a major market for Shorla Pharma.   What do you find most challenging? The business is progressing rapidly and it’s increasingly difficult to find time to reflect. Due to the fast pace, decisions need to be made quickly and change must be embraced regularly. I often take guidance from my intuition now, and that’s a big change given my analytical background. As a business owner, what traits do you value most? When selecting a consultant, employee or service provider to work with, I look for enthusiastic individuals who can demonstrate a desire to succeed – preferably with a proven track record. Organisational fit is essential; all the smarts in the world won’t make up for a personality that doesn’t fit the existing dynamic. Most importantly, I look for common sense – people who are pragmatic and possess a ‘can-do’ attitude. What is your best piece of business advice? Don’t overlook the basic fundamentals that a company needs to function. Create agile business systems, cover your legal and taxation bases, and pay close attention to the numbers. Above all, don’t forget to enjoy the journey and remember, there are rarely traffic jams on that extra mile.

When in a professional crisis, it’s difficult to see the wood through the trees. Resolving this inflection point as a business leader can take a different set of skills not yet in your arsenal, explains Brian Fowler. An inflection point is a period when an organisation must respond to disruptive change in the business environment effectively or face deterioration but, in practice, it’s a rare but decisive moment that marks the start of significant change – often in crisis. These moments not only affect organisations and industries, but they also impact on careers, too. At an inflection point, we are in a situation where the expectations placed upon us have so fundamentally altered because of the changes in the profession or working environment that if we don’t adapt, ourselves or the business will fail. When managing senior appointments, I am in contact with executives facing career challenges every day. The different types of situation are so vast that I couldn’t outline them easily, but pending redundancy after being a part of an organisation’s long-term senior leadership team or an executive transitioning from the safe zone of their current position to a different organisational role are not uncommon. If it’s a job move, many recruiters will introduce you to great opportunities.  However, it’s important to remember that a recruitment consultant’s primary task is source a candidate for a particular job and requirement for their client. If you are at a career inflection point, not only do you need a job, but you need proper career advice.  Who can help? There is a saying “That for every will, there is a relative!” and, in business, for every problem, there is an advisor, both competent and incompetent. It’s human nature to start the discussion with people within your network, whom you feel could be a good advisor. Your family and friends know you, but do they understand your business strengths and achievements, and how you have coped and tackled challenges?  Soundboarding with your peers seems intuitive but is often detrimental. Similarly, there are brilliant people in academia, but they may not have been at the coal face of business. It would be best to talk to executives who have a successful business track record, and whose only objective is to support and advise you.  Finding the answers When a professional hits a career inflection point, feeling inadequate is not uncommon. As a business leader, you may find that the skills and training that have brought you to this point in your career may be insufficient to bring you into the next development phase. The approach you will want to take may be a continuation of how you have resolved usual day-to-day business issues in the past, but you must remember that you are at an inflection point, and possibly heading into unchartered territory. Professional support and guidance will pay dividends.  Working with an executive coach can be an eye-opening experience. Great coaches are masters at asking questions that help them understand exactly what you are grappling with, but more importantly, they will help you view your situation through a new lens. Coaches don’t have the answers, but their questions can guide towards the answer that will best suit you.  People experiencing a dramatic change, in work or life, tend to keep asking themselves the same questions over and over. These questions are within their comfort zone, but the inflection point problem needs a different approach. The executive needs to start asking a different set of questions to come up with a plan to resolve the situation. An executive coach is the person who can teach you what questions to ask. Interacting with a coach should not only help you develop tactics to overcome today’s issues but help you gain skills to overcome future challenges. You will need to come up with better answers when facing professional challenges, and those answers will come more easily if better questions inspire you.  Brian Fowler is the Founder and Managing Director of financial recruitment specialists, Accountancy Solutions.

Kyle Gibbons, Managing Director of Europe with Confirmation, explains how some of the world’s most high-profile frauds could have been prevented during the audit process had the right technology and processes been utilised. Fraud prevention is not just about protecting businesses from losses, it’s about protecting society, employees and ordinary savers and investors from criminals. That’s the view of Kyle Gibbons, Managing Director of Europe with Confirmation, who believes job losses and other human costs should be the key drivers in the fight against fraud.  Parmalat Gibbons points to the employees and ordinary Italians who lost their livelihoods and life savings as a result of the Parmalat fraud as an example of this human cost. “These people often tend to be forgotten in the media coverage, but they are ultimately who should matter the most.” Parmalat was founded in Parma, Italy in 1961 by Calisto Tanzi. The company grew very rapidly on the basis of its key UHT milk product, and had sponsorship deals with Formula One and the local football team, which turned Tanzi into a celebrity. Everything looked good until 2003 when the company had trouble selling a $500 million bond. The alarm bells really started ringing when Parmalat defaulted on a $150 million debt in December of that year. And that’s when the trouble really started. Bank of America triggered the collapse when it announced that Parmalat didn’t hold the nearly $5 billion in assets that it claimed. Parmalat released a document stating that it did, in fact, have more than $4 billion in assets with a subsidiary of the bank. Bank of America then responded saying the document from Parmalat was a forgery. Parmalat filed for bankruptcy the following day. “This had huge implications for the auditors and banks involved as well as thousands of small investors in Italy, some of whom had invested their whole life savings,” says Gibbons. Gibbons points out that the main fraud involved a single forged document confirming the funds held on deposit, which the auditors accepted at face value. “They actually had no verification for the document and didn’t check the source properly,” he says. “If they had used a secure online platform like Confirmation, it would have quickly shown that these assets didn’t exist in the Bank of America account. The ultimate value of the fraud was €14 billion, the biggest bankruptcy in European history at the time.” Sadly, the audit confirmation processes currently used by many auditors would still allow this fraud to occur. “The risk is still there that if a firm is using traditional confirmation methods, they are not ensuring information can’t be intercepted,” Gibbons notes. “You can’t rely on a fax or paper as this case has shown. Many banks allow auditors to choose what confirmation methods to use, but that still leaves a risk. To reduce that risk, one step taken by Bank of America was to implement and require the use of Confirmation’s online platform for all auditors across the world.” Peregrine Financial Group Another case Gibbons points to is Peregrine Financial Group, where the main character involved was founder, CEO and sole shareholder, Russell Wasendorf. “In 2009, Wasendorf was photographed outside the firm’s new headquarters building in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Three years later he attempted to commit suicide in the parking lot of that building. He is now in prison.” The brokerage firm started out in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and moved to Cedar Falls in 2009. “Wasendorf had a private jet and owned several restaurants, but he was extracting client money from the business throughout this period,” says Gibbons. Everything looked rosy in 2011 when the client account showed a healthy balance of $218 million. Things started to change early in 2012, however, when the firm had to make some layoffs and remaining staff had to take a 10% pay cut. Then came the day of reckoning. The National Futures Association (NFA), an American self-regulatory body for the over-the-counter futures and derivatives industry, came to carry out its annual audit of its member firm. Wasendorf supplied the bank statements as usual but the NFA said that was no longer enough and asked instead for authorisation to put in an electronic request to the bank for the information. Wasendorf demurred initially but found there was no way out. He provided the signature and within 24 hours of the NFA making requests, a massive fraud was uncovered using the Confirmation platform. “The fraud had been going on for 20 years,” Gibbons points out. “Wasendorf would intercept the bank statements and create forged versions. The total fraud uncovered was approximately $200 million, and the client account that purported to have $218 million turned out to have only $10 million. Some auditors today would still fall for that. An auditor would have no way of knowing if the physical mailing address to which they were sending confirmation letters is legitimate or set up as a scheme to commit fraud. Similarly, an auditor would have no way of knowing if the website address provided for the online banking services of some of the smaller banks is legitimate or fraudulent – it’s easy to fake a website. Using a secure online platform like Confirmation reduces those risks and gives auditors comfort and confidence that they are dealing with a legitimate bank and that bank’s authorised team.” Patisserie Valerie The final case Gibbons refers to is ongoing. Patisserie Valerie was founded in Soho, London in 1926 by a Belgian couple. In 1965, the company was purchased by another family who later sold it in 1987 to the Scalzo brothers. The business had grown to nine branches by 2006, and a controlling interest in the business was acquired by private equity firm Risk Capital Partners. Patisserie Valerie subsequently expanded quickly to more than 200 branches, employing 3,000 staff. It floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2014 and all seemed to be well. In October 2018, trading in its shares was suspended following the discovery of potentially fraudulent accounting irregularities. A police investigation was launched within days, and Risk Capital Partners announced a plan to raise £20 million in order to stabilise the business, but to no avail. In a fraud which centred on undisclosed overdrafts and misstatements regarding payments to creditors and overstatements of debtors, it has emerged that cash on the books had been overstated by £54 million. In its latest update on the fraud, KPMG estimated the misstatement to total €95 million. The firm has subsequently been acquired by Causeway Capital for a fraction of its 2014 market value following the closure of a third of the restaurants and the loss of hundreds of jobs. A statement around the time of the takeover revealed one of the issues uncovered during investigations into the fraud: “When someone decides to stop using butter in puff pastry in a patisserie you know that something is seriously wrong.” “It is difficult to see how those fraudulent practices would not have been picked up if a modern confirmation platform like Confirmation had been used,” Gibbons concludes. “A request to the bank for confirmation of the financial data would likely have returned the information in relation to the overdrafts, for example. It is important for society that we do everything we can to prevent fraud. Fraud undermines the foundations of business, erodes wealth and impacts ordinary people’s savings, investments and livelihoods. The real value of fraud prevention lies in the confidence it gives people that they can trust the financial information given to them by companies and organisations. Without that trust, everything collapses. The audit confirmation process is a small but important part of that fight against fraud.”