Tax consultant Claire Walsh recently addressed a public meeting on tax, cash-flow and succession planning. Nothing unusual about that – except the venue was a cow-shed in the Co Sligo countryside, the 29-year-old was wearing wellies and a heavy jacket and her audience was a group of middle-aged male farmers.
“The farmer who hosted the meeting had just built a new cattle-shed which he wanted to show to his fellow farmers, so that was the venue chosen for the meeting,” recalls Walsh.
“We were talking about banking, finance and cash flow, and I answered a range of follow-up questions afterwards. I do that quite a lot; go out to farms and address meetings of up to 20 farmers about everything from financing to taxation.
“Succession planning is a major issue – the majority of farmers are in their fifties and they’re looking ahead to the future,” says Walsh, who in 2015 – and in her mid-20s – became the first female partner at IFAC (Irish Farm Accounts Cooperative), in the firm’s 40-year history.
Walsh, IFAC’s Brexit specialist and a chartered accountant by profession, who grew up on a farm near the west Cork town of Dunmanway, is based in the Collooney, Co Sligo IFAC office, one of 26 nationwide.
Chartered accountancy is a male-dominated profession – the ratio is about 70/30 male to female, says Walsh, who quickly found herself working in one of the most densely male-dominated sectors of the business:
“I work primarily in the agriculture and agri-food sector. It’s heavily male-dominated – you’re working with farmers who are mostly male,” says Walsh, who replaced a male partner at IFAC.
It was a highly prestigious appointment for one so young and newly qualified; following a degree in business studies in UL she had qualified as an accountant in 2014.
And yes, she acknowledges, clients in the Collooney area were initially somewhat “cautious” when this young, female blow-in from Cork arrived to take over the office:
“I was probably the first female tax consultant many of my clients had ever dealt with,” she says. “They probably didn’t expect a female partner to be so willing to meet with them – for example in a cattle shed in December wearing a pair of wellies – but once they realised that I wasn’t sitting in an office painting my nails all day I got respect!
“Once clients saw the job was being done and that the standard of service they were getting was very high; once they realised that I was happy to help in all aspects of their financial affairs, they relaxed.”
Subsequently, she recalls, two other female partners were hired by the firm.
“IFAC is a very supportive employer. My gender has never been an issue and my area of responsibility within the firm is increasing exponentially.”
Three years in, she says, the locals know her, and know of her.
“People are more open to me now. They know the work is good and the service is good. I don’t even think they see me as a woman any more, just as their accountant,” she says, observing that clients warm to her empathetic nature.”
“One of my clients is in his 80s and he was expecting a visit from the Department of Welfare who were carrying out a review of his means. He was nervous about the visit and asked me to help, and I made it my business to be there when they arrived so I could help him answer the questions.”
Ten or 15 years ago, she says, being a female in the chartered accountancy profession would have been more of an issue.
“I might not have been taken as seriously then. Attitudes are changing and in many industries there are more and more women coming to the fore.
“It makes it easier for younger women coming down the line when there are already women ahead of them in prominent positions. The women ahead of us made great strides,” she says, pointing for example to Tara McCarthy, the CEO of Bord Bia.
In the context of International Women’s Day, March 8th she says, “I predict that in 10 years’ time the chartered accountancy profession will be 50/50 male/female – and that’s a good thing!”