Become a Chartered Accountant
In this 'Become a Chartered Accountant' podcast series you will hear directly from members and students of Chartered Accountants Ireland and how they decided on the ACA qualification, their journey and how their careers are going.
Become a Chartered Accountant
Pamela McCready: Leadership, Community and a Career Without Limits
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In this episode of the Become a Chartered Accountant podcast, Sinead Fox Hamilton talks to Pamela McCready, President of Chartered Accountants Ireland for 2025/26 and Chief Operating Officer of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Pamela shares a career journey that has taken her from KPMG into senior leadership roles across health, audit and policing, and explains why chartered accountancy is about much more than technical ability. One of the most powerful moments comes when she describes the profession as “very much part of a family”, a reflection on the community, support and belonging that can shape a career for life. Thoughtful, honest and wide-ranging, this episode explores leadership, global opportunity, public interest and the future of the profession.
You're all linked by something. You are linked by that chartered accountancy, but you belong together, so it is very much part of a family.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Welcome. To the Become a Chartered Accountant Podcast where I am talking to chartered accountants doing interesting things. My name is Shania Fox Hamilton from the team, and today I've got an extra special guest. We have the Chartered Accountants Ireland 25 26 President Pamela McCready, and by day job is the Chief Operating Officer of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Two big titles. Pamela, welcome. Tell me more about this journey. How did you get to where you are today?
Pamela McCready:Sinead, thanks. Um, it's great to be here today. You and I go way, way back, um, in our time, uh, where we, you trained in the same organization I was working in. So, uh, thanks for being here today. And maybe that's the start of the journey really. Yeah. Um. In considering why chartered or why do chartered accountancy? Um, I reflected on this, you know, my dad had a small business. It wasn't anything, it wasn't anything significant. Um, but I could see the mechanics of that. You know, my mom would've been doing sort of the bookkeeping and, uh, I got involved and I always had an aptitude for it. Um. He was involved around stuff that required quantity surveying and that was a real serious consideration for me to go forward. So there was probably something yes math in there as well that, that I definitely had an aptitude for. Um, but actually at the time, and you know, a lot of this is where you friend your parents and their friends or you looked, even their friends as in who you respect and rules that they do, and there was something. About accountancy that for me was respected. The roles were respected in the community. Um, so whether it was the local doctor or the local minister or, you know, but the accountants, um, the people that were accountants and chartered accountants were respected. And I think that's really what, um, tipped me into the consideration of doing chartered accountancy. Um, I started, uh, with KPMG. Um, in Belfast, but as a large global audit tax advisory firm. Um. It really was great for me. You know, I, I had spent, I'm from obviously Northern Ireland, accent's a bit of a giveaway. Um, and I really hadn't been outside of it too much, just with the Northern Ireland circumstance that had gone around that I was born in the seventies and, and all that came with that. So to be able to go between, you worked in Belfast, but your training was predominantly in Dublin. Um, was really. Refreshing and eye-opening for me and, you know, really made really good colleagues and, and friends along along the way. Um, and I stayed, I went, I started in small business, as we called it, um, in KPMG in Belfast. And we've got, as part of the chartered accountancy strategy, we, we, we've got trusted business leaders and trusted business leadership as our brand. But actually the KPMG recruitment line, uh, was business leaders of the future. And that's the bit that always resonated with me. You would've had mom and dad a bit like my own dad, you know, a, a medium sized company. Their kids were wanting to come into it. You maybe got involved in doing the management accounts, but you got to know them on a personal level.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:Um, you went to dinner with them, um, you got to know them really quite well. And I've still, some of those friendships I've. Been in airplanes with these people. I filled up, uh, golf GTIs with the roof down to take opus boxes to Manchester. Um, and I still have longstanding friendships and there is definitely, you know, we've touched on mass maybe, but the biggest part of being a chartered accountant is the personal interaction.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:You're going into organizations to understand their business. But it's the people that deliver and run the business, and you have to be able to talk to them, engage them, um, figure out what's working or what some of their challenges are. So that's the bit that I, I mean, this is reflective. I hadn't this figured out at the time. Yeah. Um, but that's the bit that I loved. Um. I did work for a couple of years in audit, um, but in the firm, um, around 19 98, 99 for me long time ago. Um, the audits of some of the public services in Northern Ireland, particularly health, uh, were suc, were put out to the private sector to support the public sector audit capacity. Um, and genuinely. I found a real value base in that that meant something to me, uh, to be able to do that. So a lot of the work was initially in health. Um, and then I went on to do some work in around the criminal justice sector. So it's probably not a surprise if I took you through the trajectory. Yeah. Um, that I then moved on and worked in the health service. Um, so my, if you. You know, linking it back to the small business where the focus for me was, um, you were maybe doing management accounts, but you were helping them and look at their performance and challenge their performance. That's the bit that worked for me in the health service. So I went in as assistant director of performance. Um, how, how was the, uh, health service being delivered? Were waiting times under control. Was there access? Was the quality good? Um, and I, I moved into that. Um. I then led out the, uh, review of health services in Northern Ireland for the minister, and then stayed on in the health and social care board to try and deliver some of that reform. And I, in health, I finished up as, uh, deputy Chief Executive in one of the health trusts and the director of operations. And those operations were nothing to do. They were the clinical operations, not finance, not people, not procurement, not those things. It was actually the clinical service. But my chartered accountant qualification had given me that, um, that baseline exposure. Um, I'd gone to England and got training, uh, with the commission around these services. Um, and it really enabled me to, to take that forward. Um, I then moved into a spell in the Northern Ireland audit office. Which does audit the majority of the public sector, both financially and value for money. Um, and that was as their Chief operating officer, which was very much focused on the running of the organization as opposed to doing the audit.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:Um, it was very much focused on the delivery of the organization and I loved it and each job gave me a slightly different additional skill.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:Um. Trying to change the health service. I had to deal locally, you know, engage local communities, talk to local politicians, and deal with probably a lot of resistance, if I'm being honest. Um, the all office, because it was auditing the public sector and had to be independent, it was very politically surrounded by way We were held to account by the North Ireland assembly. Um, but we're independent of it at the same time. And that brought. That brought its own challenges and you had to learn how to navigate it. But the education of watching A-A-P-A-C session happening, um, to have that engagement with the politicians and just start figuring out that some of it's just politics, um, and how to navigate that. So it was probably no surprise that when the position I'm in as the Chief Operating Officer in the police service in Northern Ireland came up, um. You start to layer up your skills and attributes and suddenly you're sort of tech tech, oh my goodness, I might, I might actually be fit for this role. Um, and it was a role when the RUC changed on the back of the Good Friday agreement to the police service of Northern Ireland. One of the recommendations at the time was a civilian deputy, if you call it that. So chief Constable and deputy as it was, and then a second deputy to be. The person leading out being the strategic advisor to the chief constable, but actually leading out on all the business functions. Um, so that's the role that I've been in for five years next month. Um, and loving it. Yeah.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:But we'll park policing for a second. I want to know more about your, I suppose, chartered Accountants Ireland role, your. Presidential role and equally your journey through, because this isn't your first time, I suppose, engaging with Chartered Accountants, Ireland at a volunteer capacity and being actively involved. Tell us more about your community role with Chartered Accountants Ireland.
Pamela McCready:Yeah. Um, I was at dinner recently. Um, when I, when I. I told the story I'm about to tell you, and I've, I've told it many times, but as it turns out, the person that I'm gonna mention was actually in the room. So everybody knew that it had to be true, uh, 'cause he was sitting in the room. So, um, I qualified in 1998, um, as a chartered accountant. And my partner at the time, um, was heavily involved in both the Ulster Society and to a degree the institute more, more broadly. Um, and. Through your life, people will do this. You know, tap, tap by the way, here's an opportunity for you. Mm-hmm. Uh, which usually means there's a whole lot of work involved. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and that was it. He, he literally said, oh, by the way, I've, um, put your name, your n on the training, education and Careers Committee of the Ster Society. And I sort of went. Uh, uh. Right. A what? Um, but that started my, that started my journey. Um, I hadn't been overly involved as a student, so you know, anyone who might be listening to this, that are going through their, their training contract, I would encourage you to get involved during your student years. Um, that sort of, that, that had passed me by a little bit, but I absolutely then got involved, um, since 1998. Instead really tightly involved through various committees. Um, and as I moved into the public sector, then, you know, supported people were just starting to develop a committee for public sector. Um, and got involved in that and yeah, somehow ended up in the main committee. You know, it's one of those ones I'm not sure I can remember. You know, somebody must have, it just
Sinead Fox Hamilton:happens. ATS
Pamela McCready:been having a good night and I agreed to something, but, um, I think over time you move round. The various aspects of the work, you know, so you'll be on committees that are supporting the students, or you'll be on committees that's focused on, uh, the public sector. You'll be on a committee that's looking at maybe consultations, going back to government or something like that. So over a couple of years, suddenly you've got quite a handle on what goes on at a district society level. And then you think, well, you know, I have something to offer the committee. I'll, I'll get involved that way. And then suddenly you find you're the chair, which was mine.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:So that was back in 20 17, 18. And then it's changed now, but then as chair, you got to attend council, uh, which is part of the institute structure. Um, now you weren't a member, you didn't have voting rights, but you, you got to go and listen and watch what was going on. So again, probably through no accident of that, I was encouraged to, um, to, to apply to get onto council. And I did that so that, that came through in 2018. Um, and then from there again. Um, you will find in life there was, there are always people saying, we think you'd be great at it. You know, and you think, right. Um, but I have always been very passionate about what Chartered accountants has offered me in my career, but in my personal life as well. Um, so I knew I really wanted, there's a bit about giving back 'cause you, you just want to help the organization. I mean, we've been about for 137 years. You know, you, you want the legacy to sort of go forward, um, and really you wanna look after it. Yeah. And not, not hurt it, um, but actually make it relevant going forward. Um, and I've got, I've, I've two grown up boys as they are now. One's just passed as Es so by the end of February he'll be proper qualified, hopefully. Um. My youngest son's doing accountancy as well, so there's something has rubbed off on them. Absolutely. And my mother did not make them believe me. Um, and actually they were doing completely, um, completely different things, but they saw what it did. You know, the, my eldest son once said, I, it was actually at my Elster Society dinner. I now get what you do. What he'd watched was me engaging with 500 people the whole night.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:It wasn't the mass, it wasn't the no, what people think it is. Mm-hmm. It was the personal relationships and the network.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:What do you think is important advice when it comes to considering chartered accountancy as a career?
Pamela McCready:Um, as to do it, as to whether it's the thing for them or, yeah,
Sinead Fox Hamilton:I suppose we're talking a lot about people and community and that's really rung true in what you've said there.
Pamela McCready:Yeah.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:It's more than just a technical skillset.
Pamela McCready:Yeah. No, I, I, I totally get what you mean. And I mean, I started it when I mentioned about starting with KPMG and doing the training. Suddenly Belfast became Dublin and suddenly because Northern Ireland, you know, part of the uk, as I started developing the public sector, I found myself then. Facing into the uk. So my policy help was in Birmingham or London or something like that. And that community and that network just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger, bigger. Um, and as I took on some of those larger roles, then suddenly they were global. I was finding myself in the states. I was finding, do you know, so, um. Is something very tight about your local community and, and our society structure gives us that. Yeah. So whether it's Ulster, Lester, cork, London, wherever it is. Yeah. There's something close. Um, and you know, you are allowed to have fun, you know? Oh, absolutely. You know, we have a bit of crack. We do have fun.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:We do.
Pamela McCready:Um, so I think it's good. We will socialize together. Yeah. Um. And so you have a friendship in your community. Yeah. Um, you're volunteering in to help your profession, but actually your organization Yeah. Sort of skillset. And I think that's really important, but it, it goes so much wider beyond that.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:Um, and that same, so I would be surprised if people like myself that have volunteered, as you say, with the Ster Society, you'll find that they're in some other boat somewhere as well. It'll be deep in their community. Yeah. Or it'll be for a cause that they're very passionate about. Um. And that's infectious, you know, that then spreads throughout the community as well. And then we're all there to help each other. Um, you and I will have been to the Ulster Society launches as an example. Yeah. Um, phenomenal raising money for all sorts of charities and people do that willingly. Yeah. So that's at the heart of your true community. Community. Um. And you can sort of see that reads across my end into my job. Yeah. So from a policing point of view, the community of policing is, is equally important, but the community within the institute, um, it supports you professionally. Um, and it's give and take. LinkedIn's a great thing and. It's made accessibility in a whole different level. So I will use it. I will be sitting on days and I'll have a problem and I'll be like, oh, who can I speak to about this? Yeah. There will always be somebody in our network, but equally my emails or my WhatsApp or my phone will go and it will be people reaching in to me.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:Wanting them to kind of chat and kind of just run past you. Would, you know, who else could help with this? So it's just that knowledge network, but it's a support network. Um, and it really. There's nothing yet that I found it can't solve.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:And not only that, it's an international network. Tell me a bit about the travel piece.
Pamela McCready:Um, so maybe as president this year, it's um, it's slightly augmented Yeah. Than it would normally be. Um, one of the. Privileges. Um, we have a membership right across the world. Yeah. So yes, our membership on the island of Ireland, indeed the UK is, is significant and that's the majority of where our members are. Outside of that, we have a huge membership in Australia and I will be privileged to go out and see them in April. Um, but we've set up chapters and actually we signed, you know, we've good chapters out there and society's working as well and we've just set up New York and so forth. So, um. I mean, I, in probably the past five years, I would've seen colleagues in New York on a regular basis. Um, we did our international accountancy, uh, conference in November in Mexico City. Um, so yeah, we're getting about this year, but we have members right across and Europe, um, earlier in the summer, did quite a lot with our accountancy Europe, uh, and Shauna Greeley past president is actually involved in that for us. So that was really, that was really beneficial and really helpful. But we are. Everywhere.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yep.
Pamela McCready:I mean, I, I, I challenge people to go to the furthest point they think they're gonna be, and I will guarantee them they will meet an Irish charter account within a couple of days. They absolutely will,
Sinead Fox Hamilton:which is brilliant. And I think sometimes there's a misconception, charter accounts Ireland. It's just a qualification for the island. Not the case at all. As you say, we're spread far and wide.
Pamela McCready:Absolutely. And you know, there's been, I've had a few back to that LinkedIn sort of correspondence. I had a few. Actually probably parents of members, you know?
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:People my age whose kids are maybe qualified, you know, they're happy enough, but they're not quite really sure where they wanna go next. Yeah. And there's some concept about they might want to travel. We're going Absolutely. We've contacts. Where are they thinking? Australia. Right? Well, we'll be able to connect you with, through the institute and through others. We'll be able to connect them up and sort of help them out, um, and at least get them over there and get them established. And have that confidence that they're, you know, the people we're connecting them with are friends or family within our own, within our own institute and body.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:You're obviously a very senior leader within our profession, and I would love your view on the, I suppose, the future of the profession. Are the robots gonna take our jobs, Pamela?
Pamela McCready:No, they are not. Um, and we, we see this, I think we've gone through, um, like I'm so old that I preceded Apple Max and Tars, right? So we thought, we thought this was gonna eradicate the need for accountants. I think at a point in time they thought calculators were going to do that.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah. Yeah.
Pamela McCready:Um, the accountants are still absolutely needed and actually. The majority of people I find in the accountancy profession are very open to innovation. You know, there is just that, I think because we're on a constant learning wheel, you know, we don't, it doesn't stop when you qualify. That was said to me, management partner in Belfast. Henry Savill said to me, oh, the learning starts now. And I was devastated on the day.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Got it.
Pamela McCready:But I got, I got what he meant. Yeah. And, and we call it CPD. Yeah. Continual professional development. But so much has changed. Yeah. From when I qualified, you know, whether it's around AI or sustainability reporting. Yeah. Or all the new, you know, auditing and financial reporting standards, they constantly change. Yeah. And we have to keep up to date with that. So, I mean, AI is just. In many ways it's a phenomenal too. So it's a pheno really great opportunity. Will it change the ways that accountancy firms, businesses, business itself operates? Yes, but it will augment. I, you know, I do truly believe that the chartered accountant is the human. The AI will augment. Um, I think what's, what will, you know, and there will be differences there.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:So my, my training experience was very in person, whether that was lectures or in the office.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Mm-hmm.
Pamela McCready:That's very different to how my son has come through his training contract. You know, it was virtual learning, virtual exams. Yeah. They are still actually in the office and they're still out with clients a fair bit, but that's very different. So mine was a complete person to person physical engagement. Um, theirs is already different. Yeah. Because a lot of that is virtually online and actually as they go forward, they will be engaging with AI and bots as part of that integrated. Service delivery model. So they will be doing that in a complete and completely different way. And you and I may, may have to upskill and learn how to do that as well. And I think, see we don't realize that we're, we are kind of doing it already. Yeah. Even if you just talk to, you know, Alexa or Siri or whoever, there's an element of that already. Um, so I. I truly believe for us it is about the relevancy of the profession. Um, you touched on community, so it's relevant to business.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Mm-hmm.
Pamela McCready:It's relevant to the trust and confidence piece. Um, but the biggest piece in our bylaws that I sort of touch into is the public interest. We're acting in the public interest. Mm-hmm. Um, and that will always be required. That assurance is always required, and that's deep rooted into our communities. Um, so no, I'm a, I I truly, I think we have to stay savvy, um, and realize that, that our environment is changing, that we operate in, and we have to stay relevant to that. And you touched on sustainability, you know, that was a. Those were discussions probably a decade ago that we assessed and believed that we were one of the best people to provide that assurance. We had the skills, we had the analytic skills, we had the assurance, um, and we couldn't, we could investigate and, and report on that and that. In an accurate way, what other group of professions, um, are as equipped to do that? And I think we've been very successful Yeah. At, at proving where the people to do that. So that will grow and that will evolve and change. And so will ai. So I mean, there's gonna be challenges with it. Oh yeah. But I, I do truly believe the opportunities far outweigh that. And accountants are still relevant and gonna be.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:I love that. Um, now before I let you go, I would love some final thoughts in and around skills of chartered accountants. We're talking about the future there of the profession. If people are listening and they're inspired by this career as a potential choice for them, what are the key skills of our chartered accountants?
Pamela McCready:Yeah, I think we've touched on them in, in some of the conversations that we've had. I mean, I think you need, you need to be inquisitive. Yeah. Um. I just call it, sometimes you need to be a bit nosy and a bit pokey and, uh, think why does that work and how does it work and why are they doing that that way? And I'm not sure about that. That smells a bit funny to me. Um, so I think people who've got that natural inquisitive skills is really important. You do need to be quite analytical. Um, I believe. And, and I don't think as people are listening to this, it, it stays with you right through all your rules. But in a slightly different way, and maybe an example, probably when I was training, I would've had high volumes of data IE numbers that I was waiting through or auditing through, or whatever I was doing. That's less what I use it for now. It's the complexity of information that's being put in front of me. So you know, I will have. Business cases or different documents, a, volume B, the complexity of what's in them. Um, so I'm having to use my, those analytical skills that I learned years ago to apply that now in, in a much more strategic way, but they're my foundation
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah.
Pamela McCready:That I lean on. So I mean, I think that analytical skill is there and human aptitude, you know? Yeah. There are, I, I always say that as a bun, we have 40,000 members in charter accounts island. We're just a few off, but we're nearly there. Um, 40,000 members well round up.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:And
Pamela McCready:I do say we're a broad church. Um, and you can see the different skill sets that sit within that. So I'm sitting here having progressed through into, as you say, a senior public sector role. That's not for everybody. Um, and there will be some people that want that more analytical, you know, have certainty about what their day looks like. Yeah. Um. And we can offer all of that. So, you know, whether you want to stay in audit or you want to work in the bank, or you want to work in the public sector, um, or actually use the ex, use the qualifications as a, as a touch board to go and do anything else you want. Because I can guarantee you if you're setting up your own business, you will need acumen to be able to go and speak to the banks.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Yeah,
Pamela McCready:to understand your money, to engage with the revenue, to employ staff. All the skills you'll have got as a charter accountant are still there for you. You just might not be doing a chartered accountancy role. So all those skills are hugely important, um, and, and having that appetite for change. Um, so I think those are the key things that I would say.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Wow. If you feel you, if you feel you can tick those. Come talk to
Pamela McCready:us.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Come talk to us. Absolutely. Well, what a note to wrap up on. As you say, this is a career of choice. It's a passport to a career that is really dynamic, really varied and definitely beyond the stereotypes and the misconceptions that are out there. And we're not boring, Pamela. Far from it.
Pamela McCready:Well, I think case in point, you know, um, I would say, uh, when I say to people that I'm the chief operating officer of the police and they, and they think blue lights, uh, I don't think there's much boring about that. Um, and you get to engage with an amazing caliber of people, uh, move through and do different jobs. You look at mine from maybe the KPMG tech or all it and sort of stuff, people would, that's what they would say accountancy is. I've worked through the health service, I've worked into policing, um, and at a very senior level now. So it has, um, what other profession could have enabled me to do that, I believe.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:So we've been talking there about the community, the network. Has anything surprised you about that side of things?
Pamela McCready:Yeah, good question. Um, I think I'd always assumed, you know, the textbooks tell you that you're building a network to develop business or your career or help others. And you get that. But I think as I've particularly maybe at a, a local level, uh, through the Ulster Society, but I can feel it now in the wider institute piece as well. Um, you have a real sense of identity and belonging. Um, and you feel that I first felt that probably through the Ster Society and I'm president now, so I feel it's part of the institute and I think that surprised me. That's a very emotional connection. So it's not, it's not distant business. It's very, it's very emotional, it's very personal. Um, and actually these people are your friends, you know, so that, as I say, the identity, um, not a, the chartered accountant, but actually you're all linked by something and you are linked by that chartered accountancy, but you belong together. So it is very much part of a family. Um, and you're there for each other. On a personal level, you know, my. I wouldn't like to think, you know, no career straightforward. I've had my challenges and I've particularly had them over the past five years, and those people reach out. That network reaches in, um, through concern and we're here and if there's anything we can do and vice versa. So it's a family and it's something that you belong to and you belong to it emotionally as well as in a business way. And that surprised me.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:It's a pretty special thing. It's a pretty unique thing.
Pamela McCready:Yeah.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:And I think it is something that we can be really proud of.
Pamela McCready:Absolutely.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Hamlet, I am gonna wrap up there because that is quite an epic note to end on. Thank you so much for coming and sharing all of that with us today.
Pamela McCready:Thanks, Shaad. It's been super. Thank you.
Sinead Fox Hamilton:Brilliant. And folks tuning in. You'll catch more of these conversations wherever you get your podcasts, Spotify or wherever. Or you can also check us out on the Chartered Accountants Island YouTube page. And for more careers inspiration, you have to visit become a chartered accountant.com and thanks for tuning in. See you next time.