CPA Member: Gearoid Condon

Title: Partner SME

Company: IFAC

Qualifications: Leaving Certificate, CPA Qualification

 

Route to CPA Qualification

Went to college doing a degree in accounting – first in UCC and then in CIT, but I dropped out of both before completing first year due to an overactive social life!  I then spend one year on a trainee management course full time in a local supermarket before beginning work full time in March 1997 as a trainee accountant in a local CPA small practice.  I had no exemptions, so I did all four years from formation one through to profession two and was conferred in November 2001. 
After a few years I set up on my own with a focus on hospitality and construction clients providing management accounting services on a monthly/quarterly basis.  This went extremely well until the crash in 2008 and I found myself going into industry.  I worked as a financial controller for various hotel businesses throughout the country and in the UK.
With the arrival of our first child in 2015, I was looking to reduce my travel and an opportunity in practice came up close to home.  I started as Branch Manager with ifac and progressed to Partner for West Cork in 2018 and since January 2023 I have moved to a new position as SME partner for Ireland.
 

 

A day in the life 

A lot of variety from day to day!  I can be found working remotely from home in Kinsale, meeting our West Cork SME clients in Bandon or Skibbereen, meeting the Head Office team in Kilkenny or on site with clients anywhere from Waterford to Westport!  The type of work can vary from compliance to succession planning and from fundraising for a business start up all the way to trade sales of mature family businesses.  I also work as part of the team for our graduate recruitment program, this involves presenting at all the third level colleges through the year as well as helping with the on boarding of the new graduates.  I lectured part time for the professional accountancy exam programmes in CIT for a number of years and I still provide the internal technical training to graduates for ifac.  When I am not on the road, I can usually be found most evening at the local GAA club helping out with my two daughters ladies football and camogie teams which is a brilliant way to unwind.  Otherwise, I mostly likely at a local café reading some business book or sports autobiography.

 

Fun fact 

I studied for my CPA exams for the four years at home myself, bought the books and didn’t go to college.  This was before the time of online classes and remote learning!

Advice for someone considering the CPA Qualification

The CPA qualification is a great way to learn and educate yourself while at the same time gain valuable practical experience in practice or industry.  Personally, I think the grounding I received by training in practice stood to me when I transferred to industry at a later point as the compliance knowledge and experience of a wide variety of client businesses and industries was a huge benefit to my employers.
The qualification is also well recognised and is a positive for anyone looking to travel and work abroad.  I would say the toughest part was trying to work by day and study at night but having outside interests was key to managing that and I played a lot of sport during that period. 
Finally, I would recommend always try to learn new tasks on the job, ask plenty of questions and always put your hand up when someone is asked to volunteer for a task – it might be years later but challenging yourself in an unfamiliar environment will stand to you down the line.
 
And finally, try to get yourself in a client or customer facing role as early in your career as possible.  That starts with a part time job in hospitality or retail, every role is about interacting with different people and personalities with different needs and expectations – the sooner you learn that the better!