Profile: Brian Walsh
Author:
Daisy Downes
[Fulltext] Interview with Brian Walsh
Will the fact that you are a Chartered Accountant be an advantage in your new appointment?
Both of my predecessors - Sean Dorgan and, before him, Roger Hussey were non-CAs - and both served the Institute exceptionally well. That said, I do believe that it will be an advantage for me to have come from the same culture as the members the Institute exists to serve. Chartered Accountants have a common bond because for many years we all came through the same training process.
That has begun to change. We were the first Institute to introduce Training outside Practice and it has been very successful although we do need now to refine the package and make it more attractive for employers to take on and train Chartered students.
What are your priorities?
There are a couple of important issues like the bye-law changes and the Blayney Inquiry which are immediate priorities. Beyond that I would like to work towards improving recognition of the Institute as a significant business playing a responsible and a significant role in the development of the Irish economy. We have always had an involvement with, for example, government working parties and committees but lot of what we do takes place behind closed doors. We need to be more assertive and to take more credit for the contribution we make.
I would like to see us becoming more active in promoting Chartered Accountancy as a career. There is a lot of competition for the best students and it is important for us as a profession that we continue to be attractive. The Ulster Society has an excellent track record in this. It's an area where District Societies can make a real impact.
Training future Chartered Accountants is a fundamentally important challenge. We have to ensure that the CAs we produce are attractive to business and that they remain so as they progress through their careers. Post-qualification that is, to a great extent, the responsibility of the individual CA, but there is an important role for the Institute in supporting its members.
Another priority is the whole question of relevance of the Institute for members. We now have the results of a baseline survey (see page 25 of this issue) which has shown us that 44% of our members are only either fairly satisfied or are dissatisfied with the Institute. There is a challenge there for us to reduce that percentage.
The New Horizons Working Party established by Pierce Kent when he became President is due to report in the early summer and I would expect that will present some major challenges and influence priorities in areas like post-qualification specialisation.
Is that likely to be influenced by what is happening in other Institutes?
Influenced yes, but we always tend to come up with our own Irish solutions and I think that positive.
What do you look forward to?
I have always enjoyed contact with Chartered Accountants and have been lucky enough to get to know a great many members both in the Practice Advisory Service, as Head of Membership Services, and latterly as Institute Secretary. One of the things I look forward to most in the coming year is meeting members around the country.
Accountancy Ireland Vol 31 No 1 Feb 1999