Role: Course Director
Company: Ulster Business School
Track Record:
What does your job entail?
An important part of my job is ensuring that students who complete the programme are ‘work ready’ for the demands of the accounting profession. I frequently meet with key employers and Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) to discuss programme updates and professional exemptions (the course receives generous exemptions from CAI).
Opportunities for accounting graduates and postgraduates are excellent at the present time, and a course which brings graduates one step closer to a professional qualification is very appealing to students and employers alike.
Currently over 95% of students completing the programme secure training contracts with chartered accountancy firms across Ireland.
Is it 9-5?
While most of my teaching takes place between 9 and 5 on the Jordanstown campus, various aspects of my job can occur outside of these hours or at different campuses. Visiting BSc Accounting students on placement can take me anywhere in Northern Ireland.
I also deliver modules on both our part-time Accounting degree and ACCA professional programme. Some of these modules are delivered in the evenings to accommodate students in full-time employment.
My job can also take me outside Northern Ireland. I recently had the opportunity to travel to Dalian in China, and deliver accounting modules to local students on a partnership programme at the Dongbei University of Finance and Economics. In English, thankfully.
How did you get into this line of work?
Prior to joining the university, I was working in the client training department within PwC. During this time, my enjoyment of developing and delivering financial courses grew, and when I spotted the advertisement for a lecturing post at the Ulster Business School, I followed my heart and applied.
Outline your career to date?
After university, I secured a training contract in Belfast with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms. I completed a three-year training contract, passed my final accountancy exams and qualified as a chartered accountant.
The opportunities for post-qualification experience were extensive in such a large firm. I worked in both the audit and small-business departments. I was also seconded for three months to the Amsterdam office. After I qualified, I developed an interest in financial training and spent a number of years in the Client Training Department.
Tell us about your qualifications/training.
I studied accountancy at university at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Completing the postgraduate programme in advanced accounting granted me generous exemptions from CAI professional exams, and exempted me from a year of Saturday classes — a big plus.
On joining the university, I completed a Postgraduate Certificate in higher education and practice, which provided practical guidance in course development and delivery.
What qualities are required for your job — personal and professional?
A genuine interest and enthusiasm for students is an important requirement. Watching students challenge themselves and exceed their own expectations is extremely rewarding.
The ability to effectively communicate and work in teams is essential, as all programmes are delivered by a course team, consisting of professional accounting lecturers and research oriented professors.
Being able to talk regularly to a network of practising accountants helps ensure that the programme )and consequently the students) is up to date and incorporates recent developments in the accounting profession.
What are the biggest challenges and rewards of your work?
My job definitely isn’t short on challenges. Keeping up to date with IFRSs (some jargon for the accountants out there!) is a constant challenge, but a passion for learning goes a long way.
Graduation is by far one of the most rewarding days in the university calendar. The Masters students return to Jordanstown each December to graduate and it is wonderful to see how much they have developed into confident, young professionals.
Last year, the MSc advanced accounting programme was shortlisted for the Grad Ireland Postgraduate Course of the Year, in the business category — a wonderful achievement for the course team.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I enjoy cycling and spend a lot of my spare time out on my bike. Last year, I completed a 440-mile cycle from Malin Head in Donegal to Mizen Head in Cork in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. I wish I could say that the weather was glorious and the hills were easy, but it was definitely an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. With the help of many pub quizzes and cake sales, the group raised over £150,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care which equates to over 7,500 hours of nursing care.
Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.
During my time at PwC, I initially worked in the audit department. My most memorable assignment was a two week secondment to Kazakhstan, to carry out an audit in the Almaty office. Definitely an unusual audit location.
Who has inspired you most in your life?
To single out one person is difficult, but if I must, it would be my dear friend Denis Rankin. Denis, a fellow lecturer in taxation at the Ulster Business School, loved the outdoors and was a great source of encouragement when I took up the Marie Curie cycle challenge. Sadly Denis passed away only a week after I completed the cycle. He had been following my progress each day, and, when I got back, he texted to congratulate me on completing the journey in spite of that week’s pouring rain and, at times, gale force winds. Those words of encouragement: ‘There’ll be no stopping you now…’ will always stay with me.