Audit Firm: EY Ireland Managing Partner

Mike McKerr has been Managing Partner of EY Ireland since 2009, responsible for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.  During his career with the firm, he worked in the US and UK, and was a partner in EY’s M&A division.

EY REPORTED STRONG GROWTH IN THE YEAR TO JUNE 2015. TO WHAT FACTORS DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THIS OUT-PERFORMANCE?

Posting more than 33% growth in the last two years is a significant achievement, and we are very pleased that it’s all been organic growth. The momentum in our business today is down to our long-term investment strategy and the decisions we took during the downturn. For example, we did not make any redundancies but increased market activity and upskilled our people to work across new areas. This strategy has certainly paid off, and over the last two years we have admitted 14 new partners and have recruited top talent across experienced and graduate hires.

We continue to see robust growth in our core audit services in addition to strong demand for broader assurance services, including Data Analytics and Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services (FIDS), which grew more than 40% in FY15.  Based on the latest transparency reports, EY is now the second largest audit and assurance business in Ireland.

Change continues to be a key focus for our domestic and international clients, driven by both the need to control costs and remain competitive, but also to ignite growth and penetrate new markets.  We invested heavily in new areas including Data Analytics, Assurance, Centres of Excellence and Performance Improvement.

The PI team in Advisory led by Frank O’Dea, continues to grow due to an increase in demand for business transformation, process improvement and IT change management services. The PI team alone now employ over 200 people working across public and private sector clients, improving key business functions to achieve significant and sustainable improvement in enterprise-level performance.

But our success is about much more than financial results. It is also about our people, who continue to deliver exceptional client service. EY has a leading people culture and a transformational approach to developing talent. The firm continues to accelerate investment across the organisation and intend to acquire additional new office space in a number of Irish locations over the coming months to cater for their growing numbers.

By focusing on our people agenda, we have been able to create real momentum both inside and outside the organisation. It’s a virtuous circle – we enable them to deliver exceptional service, which strengthens our client relationships, helps us to capture market share, and this growth creates career opportunities for our people.

EY IS DOING PARTICULARLY WELL WITH AUDIT WINS. WHAT’S THE REASON FOR THAT? WHAT’S YOUR VIEW ON PROPOSALS FOR STATUTORY ROTATION OF AUDITORS?

EY had several fantastic audit wins in FY15, which reflects the significant investment made globally and locally to innovate our audit service through the use of analytical tools. Collectively our Audit and other Assurance services grew 16% in FY15, driven by excellent performance across our core Audit business, Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services and Data Analytics.  We will continue to invest in these areas.

Regulatory change, particularly audit rotation, will continue to alter the audit market for some years to come and we believe innovation and data analytics solutions will be in increasing demand.

European legislation on audit reform enacted in April 2014 will come into force in Ireland from June 2016 in the form of a new EU regulation and amendments to the existing EU Audit Directive on statutory audit. The objective of the reform measures is to ensure the objectivity and independence of auditors and includes the requirements for the mandatory rotation of audit firms on public interest entities.

These significant audit reforms will affect the auditing profession, the entities we audit and our relationships with our clients and the regulatory authorities who supervise us. We have actively engaged on these changes with the legislators and regulatory authorities, including making submissions to reflect the views of EY Ireland.

We are committed to supporting regulatory change which is appropriately proportionate for financial statement preparers and their auditors, and which ultimately strengthens public confidence in the audit model. EY Ireland will therefore continue to support regulatory change that enhances stakeholder confidence.

EY IS A BIG 4 FIRM THAT MULTINATIONALS GO TO. HOW CAN IRISH SMES BENEFIT FROM USING YOUR SERVICES TOO, AND CAN THEY AFFORD IT?

Critical to our market leading growth in Ireland is combining our global strength together with deep local connections in each of our offices across Ireland.  Our ability to collaborate internationally helps both multinational and entrepreneurial clients expand across borders.

While FDI can be a critical enabler of growth, it is equally important to help Irish companies become global players in their own right. The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year programme is the leading business award in Ireland and represents a unique business development and support network opportunity for entrepreneurs across the island of Ireland.

Our annual EOY CEO retreat is designed to take entrepreneurs out of their comfort zone and challenge them to think differently about their business.  Attendees are given the opportunity to expand their leadership skills, forge links to new markets and develop their own successful strategy for growth in addition to developing an invaluable network of peers.

Change continues to be a key focus for EY clients of all sizes, driven by both a need to control costs and remain competitive, and to ignite growth and penetrate new markets.

The diversity of our service offering and international reach means that we have a broad spectrum of experience to offer indigenous and multinationals alike. In this way, we can transfer our expertise of working with large multinationals to Irish SMEs, focusing on improving key business functions to achieve significant and sustainable improvement in enterprise-level performance.

STABLE GOVERNMENT SINCE 2011 IS ONE FACTOR CREDITED FOR RENEWED BUSINESS CONFIDENCE. IS THIS ISSUE OVER-STATED, OR IS STABLE GOVERNMENT REALLY THAT IMPORTANT FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH GOING FORWARD?

A number of factors have contributed to the economic growth that Ireland has enjoyed in recent years – among them is confidence and having a stable government in place. Having a stable economic environment has helped to reassure both Irish firms and external investors that it is safe to invest, takes risks and pursue new opportunities. During 2016, we expect to see a strengthening domestic economy, and continued export growth further enhance business confidence.

Late last year, we carried out a survey with our EOY community.  The survey shows that over half of the entrepreneurs surveyed have conducted business with other members of the EOY community, demonstrating the importance of professional networks in creating a supportive climate for doing business in Ireland. Furthermore, a skilled and educated workforce, low corporation tax rates and government support were listed as the biggest enablers to doing business in Ireland.

It therefore vital for government, industry and academia to understand the specific challenges facing entrepreneurs and to collaborate to solve problems, address legislative and cultural barriers to success, and together shape the future of entrepreneurship in 

Ireland.

Reference: 

http://goo.gl/vbMiYn