As this is my first blog post I’m going to start with my background and interests, then go into the objectives I have for my blog.
I completed my Leaving Cert in 2006 in the ISK Killorglin, Co. Kerry and from there attended the University of Limerick where I graduated with a Business Studies Degree in 2000. I began working with KPMG straight after college and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2004 following 3.5 more years of exams. I’ve been working in public practice accounting / business consulting since 2000 in both Australia and Ireland.
In 2007 I returned to Killarney and joined the small accountancy practice my father had founded in the 1980’s as a partner. Since 2007 things have changed radically, my father reduced his hours to a 3 day week and O’Rourke & Co. has invested in next generation technology and work-practices to carry out our services. We are a Next Generation accountancy firm in every sense of the word, hence the blog title.
Even though the Irish economy imploded in 2008 (our EU partners would argue it also exploded), O’Rourke & Co. has experienced significant growth. We did this by attracting a new breed of client who is young, tech savvy and able to run their start-up on a shoestring by being clever with marketing, aggressive with costs and knowledgeable about their accounts.
I live in Killarney, Co. Kerry, I am married to Edel and we have two children, Benen and Jennifer.
One of my greatest interests in life is technology, in particular web-based applications and the hardware I use to access them. In work I spend hours each day using ROS (Revenue Online System), Xero Online Accounts, SortMyBooks Online Accounts, Online Banking, WorkflowMax, Capsule CRM and more so our office really is in the cloud. At home I use my iPad to access a host of other cloud based apps for personal enjoyment.
Blog Objectives:
I wanted to start a blog to demonstrate that small business in Ireland can achieve so much by harnessing the new breed of online applications to help them do things like monthly bookkeeping, POS (Point of Sale) systems, marketing, stock management, CRM and banking to name but a few.
I also want to try to give practical business advice in terms of taxation, finance, cost control and general legal/regulatory issues facing many Irish SME’s. As an accountant, over 200 sets of financial accounts cross my desk each year, each with my clients own stories of successes and problems encountered in the year so I have amassed considerable experience of what to do / not to do.
I hope you will find my future posts informative, helpful and interesting and please feel free to comment or ask questions.
Best regards,
Seán O’Rourke
