CEO Q&A: Angela O’Leary, AG Associates

Q. What are your main priorities and goals in your role?

As managing partner of an accounting practice, one of my main priorities is to ensure that all deadlines are met, that all returns are filed on time and compliance with revenue is met.

We have a strong system in place to ensure that all happens but I am constantly monitoring it to see where it can be improved.

I believe every company needs to continually innovate, whether it is small amounts regularly or large efforts. This is one of my focus areas. Over the past 18 months, we have introduced Clarity, our online bookkeeping service, which is client focused. Internally we have introduced new processes to make the business run more efficiently. A part of innovation is the natural change management that comes along with it.

I also believe that providing customer service is paramount. It’s important to manage client expectations so I work with my team closely to ensure all clients’ needs are met and exceeded.

Our team is a strong one and I work with the team, both collectively and individually to make sure that everyone is looked after, feels motivated and takes responsibility to meet all our clients’ needs.

Lately, we’ve put a serious effort into our corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy. I’m heavily involved in setting it up and making sure it becomes part of the AG Associates culture.

Q. What are your biggest challenges as CEO?

As a CEO, you’re captain of the ship. It’s trying to juggle everything – from growing the business to getting money in. As an SME advising other SMEs, I have the same challenges that our clients face so it makes us relatable.

Accountancy has changed over the past number of years, in a good way. Today, your accountant needs to know IT, legal, HR, finance – it’s such a broad field and it requires that you’re up to speed on many different aspects rather than just debits and credits.

We don’t see ourselves as providing a number-crunching service. We advise SME businesses on their financials so it’s important we know specialists in their field who can help. We can direct our clients to a specialist area.

Q. How do you keep your team/staff motivated?

It definitely comes to having personal contact with each of them. I’m in the office when I’m not at client or sales meetings. I’m always around and always have an open door.

From the get go, I’ve created a culture of transparency, that staff can always approach me, even though they have line managers or project leads. That’s been important to me and will continue to be so even as we grow.

As we are a practice, we have training staff who are all supported with a mentor. However, the training doesn’t stop when you’re qualified. Everyone has a training and development plan so they can progress through the company as well.

I like to give responsibility and encourage staff to work toward that, they feel empowered to make decisions. And of course, I recognise all the hard work that they do put in. They are part of a company that is innovative and progressive, they are part of something bigger than a set of accounts.

We also have nights out – we may be accountants but we know how to enjoy ourselves as well.

Q. What are the challenges facing your industry going forward?

There are many challenges facing the accounting industry, but the major one is market saturation. Every day, more and more accountants become qualified, which is great for the industry in one way.

However, running an agency practice, often times you are compared with an accountant running a business out of a home office.

How you stand out, what makes you different and how you innovate will become key differentiators in our industry.

Accounting is ever changing in terms of legislation. You just have to listen to the budget every year to get a sense of the complexities that change year on year. It’s incredibly important to stay knowledgeable of all the changes. Our clients depend on us.

Q. What new trends are emerging in your industry?

Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s technology – moving accounts and bookkeeping to the cloud. For years I have trained accountants on accounting software. When I became an accountant myself, one of our services that AG Associates provided, and still do, is to train business owners on desk-based accounting packages.

The trend is definitely to embrace accounting in the cloud. In fact, we have just developed our own service, Clarity, to address that need of online bookkeeping.

Another trend which is related to technology is efficiency – how to make your processes more efficient, how to make your business run more efficiently. And quite honestly, it comes down to your numbers. If you know your numbers, then as a business owner, you get to make informed decisions about things. This leads to more efficiency as you’re not moving in all different directions.

Q. Are there any major changes you would like to see in your sector?

Not so much changes but rather more contact with the client. One of the reasons I set up AG Associates was that I wanted SMEs of all sizes to make better use of their numbers, their financials. By being aware you can make really informed decisions rather than going with your gut feeling. While gut feeling and intuition is good, you can’t beat actual numbers, ratios and key performance indicators (KPI) to tell you the truth about how your business is doing.

Therefore, I’d like to see accountants