What is your background – what made you want to become Chartered Accountant?
The school I attended was very proactive in arranging work experience and having always been good with numbers, accountancy was one option I considered. The opportunity to meet accountants in both practice and industry highlighted the versatility of the qualification and everybody I spoke to was very positive about a career as a Chartered Accountant.
Can you give us a run-down of your career to date?
I trained with Coopers and Lybrand (which probably gives my age away) spending most of my training contract on secondment with client companies in various finance roles. After qualifying I spent two years on secondment with the Corporate Finance team in IDB (Invest NI’s predecessor). I then moved into Banking where I spent 26 years, primarily in Corporate Banking at Bank of Ireland, where I had the opportunity to work with many of NI’s top companies which was great experience. Ultimately, I was a member of BoI’s UK Executive Committee with responsibility for the Bank’s operations in NI.
I also had the opportunity to Chair the Institute of Director’s NI Committee, being elected just three weeks before the Brexit vote, so it proved to be a very busy and challenging role.
What is your current role?
I am currently a Non-Executive Director on three boards as well as offering investment advice and consultancy services. The companies for whom I am a NED all operate in different sectors, namely renewable energy, insurance and agriculture, and two of the companies have private equity backing.
I have also been a Trustee with the NI Hospice and Children’s Hospice for the last 3 years. My most important role will start in April when I take over as Chair of the Hospice Trustee Board. As well as being a huge privilege, the role has significant responsibility as the Hospice looks after 4,000 adults, children and their respective families every year.
What do you like about your job?
The opportunity to work with organisations that operate in different sectors and are at different stages of development. No two days are the same.
Being a NED also provides more Board preparation time when compared to a role as a full time executive. That time benefit allows me to properly consider strategic challenges and how best I can add value.
What is the most difficult aspect of your job?
The biggest personal challenge is to remember I am no longer an executive and that my role as an NED is to offer strategic guidance, challenge when appropriate and to support the executive team.
What was your best day working as a CA?
As someone who didn’t get the A level grades to study accountancy at University, the day I received the results of my FAE and came first in Ireland will not be topped. That day in the office and that night will always be remembered – there wasn’t actually much work done.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
A mung bean casserole which my wife Miriam made after reading a health book. Suffice to say I never ate another one again.
What is your favourite movie?
It would have to be The Lord of the Rings which I have watched a number of times. Tolkien’s storytelling and Peter Jackson’s cinematography are fabulous!
What was your first ever job?
My first proper job was a summer job with a small accountancy practice in East Belfast. It provided a great grounding as client records tended to be cheque stubs that were stored in shoe boxes and invoices filed on unwound wire coat hangers. I used an A3 sheet to manually prepare an extended trial balance and then the accounts. That basic experience still proves useful today despite most of the financial statements I work with now being significantly more complex.
If you weren’t a CA…what would your dream job be?
During my training contract with Coopers and Lybrand I spent most of my time on secondment to client companies such as Guinness, Ulster University, a large firm of architects and a local hotel group. The time with the hotel group gave me a real interest in hospitality. Hence, I have always wanted to run a world class 5 Star hotel.
What time does you day start?
Generally around 7am unless I am travelling with work when it is earlier due to flight or train times.
Do you ever turn your phone off?
I am afraid not. I do try to restrict checking the phone when I am on holidays and I am quite disciplined at that.
What is the best bit of advice you have received?
The best advice I got came from my dad. Unfortunately, he passed away, after a long and difficult battle with cancer, when I was 13. Given his illness he was very clear in saying “Remember Ian, you work to live, you don’t live to work”. Hence getting the balance between family and work has always been important to me.
What was the last book that you read?
I have just finished Johnny Sexton’s autobiography. I am a huge rugby fan and hence I am always interested in the background and motivation of world class players. I think the title of his book “obsessed” is very appropriate.
If you could spend the day with any celebrity – who would it be?
It would have to be Bruce Springsteen. I have always enjoyed his music and would love to spend a day with him while he was on tour.
What’s your favourite thing to spend money on?
That’s an easy question – it would have to be holiday.
What do you like to do when you’re away from the office?
I have always been a keen walker. In my late teens I qualified as a Mountaineering guide, however, now most of my walking is on the North Coast with Miriam and our dog.
