Tell us about your background?

I came to Ireland from Poland nearly 18 years ago. It was supposed to be a summertime break, but it turned out to be a lifelong stay in Ireland, which is now home. When I first arrived, and I was offered my first job, I decided that probably I was going to stay or at least I was going to try. Back in Poland, I had a lot of international friends. I had friends from the US, France, Germany, and Portugal. My group of friends was very much international, throughout a big portion of high school and then going into college. So that was one factor - that I knew I was probably going to end up abroad at some stage in my life. That happened to be Ireland, I suppose by a sort of nice accident, because initially, I didn't intend to stay here for that long. But with my first job, when I was offered a full-time position, my manager at that time said to me, “Well I'd be happy to offer you the role, but I would need you to stay in Ireland for at least a year. And at that point, I decided: “I'm just going to give it a try.” I was fluent in English. I was fluent in French. I thought about going to the UK, but for some reason, Ireland has stuck with me in a way, and very quickly I made friends. I was very comfortable in Dublin, and in Ireland in general. And I just decided “look, let's try and see, I can always go back.” But that point, I felt very at home in Ireland. And that hasn't changed in the last 18 years. 

Why accountancy?

When I was in high school, I was in a class where the emphasis was on language skills, history, politics. So, at that point, I was convinced that I was going to either end up in public administration, or I was going to become, let's say, a lawyer, like my many friends from high school who took that route. However, I'm very analytical, and I always liked maths. So, there were also additional options, I felt. Regardless of your background, becoming an accountant with Chartered Accountants Ireland is something that anyone can consider, given they have an interest in numbers, have analytical skills, and they like a certain structure. But with that said there are so many other options to discover: for example, if you are particularly interested in the environment and sustainability, this is a massive impact that Chartered Accountants Ireland is working towards make across various industries and businesses. For many companies, it’s becoming a given in their strategic goals to have specific sections that are relating to sustainability, corporate governance - it's a must in our current world.  

I do believe that regardless of your background, you can definitely consider studying with Chartered Accountants Ireland. 

Have you discovered flexibility in your career options as a Chartered Accountant? Do you feel you could move industry or country easily?

The opportunities are endless. I know for myself, starting my career in finance, from being an analyst, then progressing into an accountant, and then working in operations (as in actual month-end), I very swiftly moved into the global project space, working with large projects with many stakeholders, bringing all my experience and educational background together. Completing the Chartered Accountancy qualification was like the cherry on top of the cake when everything really came together, in terms of educational background as well as work experience.  

Does the Chartered Accountancy qualification offer security as a career? 

The Chartered Accountancy qualification offers security as a career. It's based on the prestige that this qualification holds not only in Ireland, but across the world. It's a world-recognised qualification. When you become a Chartered Accountant, the sky is the limit, and you can start really making choices. You can work in any location in the world. I see it with my colleagues who move between different locations, between Ireland and Australia, Ireland and the UK, and so on. Many of my colleagues in my current company started their journey in practice and then they moved into industry, and there are few who did the opposite move, who started off, like me, in business, and then they moved into a practice environment. I started off in the Pharma industry, then I worked in a manufacturing company for a little while, then I moved back to Pharma, and on top of that, I've made a shift from operations-only into the project space. And I do believe very strongly that the shift was easily made, not only because I put so much work and effort into it, but because I had already gained so much knowledge - from the studies that I was doing at that time, where it was very easy for me to see a bigger picture, in terms of working in operations within one specific department, one specific finance team, and going into the global project space where you have to deal with so many stakeholders with so many end users, and you have to take so many items into consideration to ensure the project is successful. And we are achieving great results. So, the knowledge that I gained during my studies definitely helped me to see the bigger picture. And to understand, to really connect the dots between what, for example, the operational team is doing, and what we're trying to achieve in a project space, and how is that all tying to the core corporate goals of our company. 

Why Chartered Accountants Ireland? 

The flexibility offered in terms of completing the qualification is absolutely key. You need flexibility not only in your own approach, but also from your employer, especially if you're not within the practice environment. If you're in business, your cooperation and collaboration, not only with your line manager, but also your mentor, is going to be key to your success. And the flexibility that is offered in terms of classes and online lectures is another important factor for success, because you have time to focus on the work and complete your day-to-day duties. If you have family, obviously, the timeframe of flexibility (up to 8 years) allows you to schedule your day, so it's vital. And that flexibility could be one of the factors in successfully achieving your FAE’s and becoming a qualified Chartered Accountant.  

And Chartered Accountants Ireland is very flexible too, in terms of supporting students on their journey. During the pandemic, it was incredible to see how within three months of the start of the pandemic, we had all very swiftly and quickly moved into the online world where we had lectures recorded, the materials ready, and the student hub was prepared. We had examinations platforms set up. This is all the support that Chartered Accountants Ireland can give you if you decide to study with them. 

Would you recommend the Flexible Route? 

I would recommend the Flexible Route to anyone who is considering becoming not only an accountant in the general meaning of the word, but also working in finance overall. There’s great support from the teams that look after the Flexible Route students. And once you get organised, get into a routine, it's possible to do it, no matter how busy and demanding your life around study is because you do have that flexibility around attending seminars and webinars and having access to the Student’s Hub and so on. You can do it in the Flexible Route: you can control it; you can complete your qualification. 

What advice would you give to someone considering the Flexible Route? 

In terms of advice for future Flexible Route students, you need to be organised. As flexible as this route is, people need to keep in mind that these are professional exams. You need to be very structured around your study time, especially coming up to exams; how do you manage your study time and how much study time do you have/need? Because you need support from your work environment, I would keep having very clear and honest conversations with your line manager in terms of what time off is possible. I would look for a mentor who can help you along the way, someone who is going to guide you along the way when you need that support. Listen to the lectures and, as quickly as you can, whether you're doing CAP1, CAP2 or FAE, build up a dashboard of all the advice that the lecturers give you to achieve exam success. It's very important to pay attention to the lectures and really make the most of the time that you have with them, even during webinars because this is going to contribute to your success in the exams. 

You will need to make some sacrifices, but at the same time, keep healthy, and keep in good mental shape. So, you must switch off, spend time with your family, spend time your friends, but also spend time with yourself to relax and rest. It can be challenging, but at the same time, once you're done, and once you complete your qualification, you have this fantastic feeling of achievement and purpose that you've done it, even with the busy schedules, with family, full time work and other commitments, you've done it! At the end, there is this huge amount of satisfaction and pride. 

What are your future goals? 

In terms of my future goals, I would say my biggest goal would be to progress and continue to grow. I would like to evolve in the specific areas that I have developed already, and I would like to bring them up to the next level. And I do believe that obtaining my Chartered Accountancy qualification will help me to push those goals forward, in terms of growing my potential and maybe exploring different areas within finance. But my key objective and key goal is to further grow and enhance my skill set. I work within a big project space, and when I'm combining my operational knowledge with the project knowledge, they must go hand in hand.  What we do within the global projects really fits in with how things are done on a monthly basis because we talk about policies, we touch on specific processes, we deal with different people. So, in terms of my future goals, I would like to bring that skill set to even wider roles and bigger projects and roles.  

Has your Chartered Accountancy qualification enabled you to make a difference? Whether that be in your personal or professional life, in the wider community, to your business/employer, etc.

Chartered Accountants have a role to play in making the world a better place. We follow the Chartered Accountants Ireland Code of Ethics, giving us specific guidelines and rules of how we should behave and operate within the business, whether we are advising private clients, or working within business, with the larger organisations, dealing with different stakeholders. In terms of sustainability, once you have that knowledge imprinted into you, from the very beginning, then it's easier to put all this theory into practice in real life, whether engaging with specific community projects, or putting your hand up to support certain initiatives in a work environment, and nearly all companies pay specific attention to sustainability and the environment and to equal rights for various groups of people and communities. So, whatever you have learned within your Chartered Accountancy qualification will help you understand why this is so important, why we all have to take part ourselves, to make a big difference. 

The fact that the whole syllabus was changed recently and brought in the subjects of sustainability and corporate governance as a core element of the syllabus - when you spend the whole year within the FAE’S exploring various topics around sustainability, and around making a business a better place as well, it shows a very progressive mindset that really suits the needs of our current time. There is so much need to bring attention to the way we treat other people, how we treat our environment and what impact as individuals we can make on a day-to-day basis, to make the world a better place. Chartered Accountants Ireland has made this a full subject which highlights how the Institute is trying to make a difference in that space too. 

Chartered Accountants Ireland