Ceara Hall
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Ceara Hall |
Partner, Hall Lifford Hall
"Accountancy was part of my family life," explains Ceara. "My father was very much involved in ACCA and his pride in being an ACCA member was passed on to me."
Today, Ceara is a partner with Hall Lifford Hall. Like her father, she has a close association with ACCA as President of the ACCA Munster/Connaught Society, ACCA's representative on the Audit Consultative Committee and a member of ACCA Ireland's Executive Committee.
Ceara wanted to be part of a young, dynamic and forward-thinking profession but family loyalties weren't the only reason she chose ACCA. "ACCA promotes the highest ethical and governance standards, which in today's environment is very important. The further educational opportunities and well-structured CPD courses were also a key factor."
Ceara joined Hall Lifford Hall on her return from Australia where she worked as an internal auditor with State Transit Australia. Prior to this she gained five years' auditing experience with Coopers & Lybrand. Her auditing experience has taught Ceara that growing owner-managed businesses deserve more from their accountants than a straight-forward audit - important though this is.
She qualifies this by saying: "We need to diversify our skill base beyond traditional financial analysis into areas such as strategic planning, information technology, project management and risk management."
Whatever the future holds, Ceara plans on practising as an ACCA accountant for many years to come and hopes, at some stage, to reinforce her connections with ACCA by representing members in Ireland on ACCA's Council and as their President.