Welcome to this edition of Accountancy Ireland. The crucial role and established status of accountants as trusted business leaders operating successfully across the island of Ireland is front and centre in this edition.
Our cover story features entrepreneur and investor Mary McKenna, MBE, who is co-founder of AwakenAngels, Ireland’s first and only women-led angel syndicate, and AwakenHub, an all-Ireland female founder community with 3,000 members in the North and south.
The former CEO of Learning Pool tells us about how she is actively leveraging her experience as a serial entrepreneur and seasoned investor to support the next generation of successful female entrepreneurs (pg 14).
On page 18, meanwhile, Tipperary accountant JP Wynne tells us his own entrepreneurial story, including his latest venture offering jockeys in Irish racing a full suite of professional off-track supports in partnership with Ruby Walsh, Emmet McNamara and Fran Berry.
Elsewhere, Angela Craigan, Partner in Audit and Advisory with HM Chartered Accountants in Belfast and Chair of Chartered Accountants Ulster Society, outlines her plans to celebrate Chartered Accountants and member firms across Northern Ireland as “difference makers” contributing positively to the local economy and wider society (pg 22).
And, one page 47, Larissa Feeney, founder of Kinore and winner of the CEO category at this year’s IMAGE PwC Businesswoman of the Year Awards, delves into the lessons she has learned as a successful entrepreneur on how to successfully manage work-life balance and competing priorities.
Artificial intelligence, and the impact of increasing automation on the work of accountants and the future of the profession, is top of mind for two of this issue’s contributors, meanwhile.
Níall Fitzgerald, Head of Ethics and Governance at Chartered Accountants Ireland, explains why, in an economy where machines increasingly generate answers, the ability to determine which answers should be trusted may become one of the accountant’s most valuable skills (pg 38).
And, on page 40, KPMG’s Ashlin McGarrigle explores the rise of agentic AI and why its promise of greater efficiency also raises important questions about judgement, accountability and the development of future accounting professionals.
As always, we hope you enjoy this issue!
Managing Editor