Episode 8 - Alan Farrelly UHY

Alan Farrelly is one of the founding directors of UHY Farrelly Dawe White Limited and has been instrumental in shaping the firm’s growth and success since its establishment more than 35 years ago. Throughout his career, he has built a reputation as a trusted adviser, helping business owners and organisations navigate challenges, identify opportunities, and make informed decisions with confidence.

 Known for his practical approach and ability to listen carefully to clients’ needs, Alan has developed long-standing relationships across a wide range of industries. His experience spans business advisory, strategic planning, corporate governance, and helping organisations adapt to an ever-changing business environment.

 Alan has also made a significant contribution to the accounting profession in Ireland and internationally. He is a past President of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland and has served on numerous regulatory committees, helping to shape professional standards and governance.

 Beyond Ireland, Alan has played an active role within UHY International, one of the world’s leading networks of independent accounting and consulting firms. He was elected to the UHY International Board of Directors in 2018 and became Vice Chairperson in 2024. He also chairs the organisation’s global Training and Education Working Group, where he has helped drive initiatives focused on professional development, leadership, and talent growth across the network.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

So I'd like to give a very good uh warm welcome to Alan Farley of Farley Doll White, UHY. Alan is managing director of UHY Farley Doll White, and he's also board director and vice chairman of UHY International. Sounds like you're a very busy man with all those various titles, Alan.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Oh Neil, if if it was only the half of them, if it was only the half of them, yeah. The world is busy and um yeah, so busy in the practice daily, and then we have the UHY on the other side as well. So yeah, very interesting.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

But yeah, fabulous. Yeah, and of course, uh very importantly as well, you're you're quite involved in the Lillywhite Dundalk Football Club.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Yeah, yeah, I said on the the management board of UHY of Dundalk Football Club, yeah. And that's uh that's a very different outlook altogether. So um yeah, back in the Premier League and competing at the top of the league, which is great.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Having a good season, yeah, that's great, Alan. So listen, thanks very much for joining me today. Really appreciate it. And look, we do we've got to kind of know each other in the last year or two, and um, it's great uh having you on the podcast. So, Alan, um, should we kick off with your journey? I did listen to I was listening to your uh interview on um Dehumanize the Numbers. Uh it was a brilliant interview there, I think you did in the last year. I was listening to that, so I've got a few little snippets I might pick I've picked out from that to go through, but it sounds like your your fabulous journey. So, do you want to tell us about you know starting off Farley Daw White and your journey onto UHY?

SPEAKER_01 1:29

I can surely, yeah, yeah. So, and thanks for having me on today, Neil. Um it's great to be with you. And um, so story starts back in 1989, um, when Kevin Daw, who was uh an intercounty footballer with Loud, um so we we can change from GAA to soccer very easy in this in this in this office. Yeah, um but Kevin was playing intercounty with Loud and I was working with him in a practice and drawder, and we decided to to go alone. Um so that was back in 89 and in 1991, Eamon White joined us. Uh Eamon was another guy who trained in Dundalk, went to work in Dublin, and decided it was time to come back home. So the three of us sat on the journey. Um, and you know, we'd we it was just the three of us at the beginning, a secretary. Um Eamon used to do a bit of puffing in the office when puffing was allowed. Uh and and myself and Kevin were smoked out of the office. But yeah, but we we got on very well um and we've been able to build it up. So today we're about a hundred people all told, um, with uh it eight partners. Um and it's you know it is it is pretty exciting, but along the way, we obviously had our losses. So we lost Kevin. We lost Kevin back in in 2012. Oh and I lost I lost Eamon and we lost Eamon early 2024, and then another director we lost um uh last year, Richard Bernie, who's very close to everybody. So yeah, so we've we've lost a few along the way. Um so it's it's it's a bit of a roller coaster. You have uh some great ups, um, but the downs can be the downs can be pretty significant as well, Neil.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Yeah, I know. And it's nice I was in your office a few months ago. It was nice to see the photographs of the original founding partners on the wall, just to remember, remember them was very nice.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah, yeah. And it's good, it's good because you know, people say it to me, like Kevin Dawes' daughter works with us uh now. Yeah, so we have a bit of fun with her every so often. So when she steps out of line, I have to say it to her, just remember your name's above the door. Um so uh yeah, so look, it's great to have her, and I've two of my own sons working in the business with us as well, Neil. So brilliant, you know. So maybe there's an opportunity for to me for me to get out at some stage, you know.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Yeah, yeah. Uh it's funny, actually, quite a few accountants I've worked with over the years are kind of second generation, so it's nice, you know, that maybe the fathers started it, the mums were involved, and then the son or daughters got involved. It's it's quite common, actually.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Yeah, yeah, it's great to see it too. You know, it's great to see the young people coming back in. And I know Richard's um daughter is actually training in PWC at the moment and and going through our exams as well. So so excellent. Maybe maybe someday we'll get Rachel back on board, you know.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Yeah, that'd be nice, wouldn't that? So Alan D, uh I was very into I I said I was listening to that. I listened to the podcast a couple of times, and I've you know, look, I know you fairly well. I've I've kind of did a bit of research, we'll say, beforehand. So there was a couple of comments you made that I that jumped out at me a little bit, and I said it'll be nice to tease them out a little bit. So I've just I've just picked out a few of them to go through with you. And you were talking before about the moving clients from compliance to insight, I think is the word you use. So can you that sounds like you know, that sounds like what a lot of business owners I know would want anyway, right? So can you tell me a bit about how that works for your firm?

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Yeah, from from our perspective, it's that anyone can do the compliance piece, Neil. I think that's you know, every accountant in the country will will be able to knock that out day in, day out. But I think it's having an insight into your client, being able to understand what your client is all about, being able to understand their business, and them having the confidence to be able to open up and say to you, right, here's my problems, and you know, can you help me with this problem? So it's that value-added piece that we like to work on. Um, you know, that is where the value is for the client, that's where they get the benefit. You know, whether it's looking at a transition into the next generation, um, we do a lot with family businesses, Neil, so that's very important. Whether it's looking at, you know, IT, whether it's looking at AI, um, you know, we try to get in under the the skin of the business and try and help the client, you know, with the problems that they have. And some of that might be just going international, Neil. And yeah, they're really struggling with making that decision. You know, should we step, should we stay where we are and be comfortable, or should we step out of our comfort zone and try and grow the business a little bit more? Um, and we tried to help that, and that's that's was probably one of the reasons for us joining UHY back in 2008, that we wanted to help clients go international. Um, and that's that is a huge part of our business, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Yeah. Um, and on that very topic, because I was gonna ask you about it anyway, and obviously, I love stories, okay, and obviously not betraying client confidentiality, but is there any client in particular that you could talk about that you've helped make that transition? They wanted to go international. You have your UHY network with all the offices around the world. Is there anyone in particular you could maybe talk into a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Yeah, we've we've a client in the in the logistics space, uh, Neil, and um they they're US US based, um, but they have their European headquarters in Ireland, and um we've been able to help them go into at this stage Denmark, Poland, Netherlands, uh, Sweden, uh, Norway now, um, South Africa, uh, and the last introduction um this week, believe it or not, was India. So um yeah, so look at I think the client really appreciates that. You know, they just have to lift the phone. And I think the good thing about UHY is uh, you know, in most instances, I'll know the managing partner on the other end of the phone and be able to put a call in and say, Look, I want to introduce Neil to you. Um, you know, and that connection, just having a name day one, just makes that connection much, much better and much, much stronger, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah, of course. Because I mean, the referral you're talking about, um, because it this props up in the mastermind group I run as well. And it's you know, we all understand referrals are great, and there has to be that trust, isn't it? And confidence if you're referring on to somebody, because you want your client looked after. And absolutely. So that's that's the key part, isn't it? Uh, of a referral is that these uh say managing partner or whatever, and if it's Denmark, like you mentioned, or Poland or India, that you you you probably know these, or if you don't, you can get an introduction to them, which facilitates the referral, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Yeah, yeah. So there's about 36 networks in the world, uh, Neil. So um and they a lot of the networks meet uh together um every so often, and and they they look at you know what's going well, what's not going well, what's changing, what needs to be improved upon, and all the rest. And what we found is that we are probably the only network that really you know tracks uh referrals. Um and we think that's very important because it it lets us see if we're growing in in the first instance, and it also shows you the width of the network uh and how that expansion is going. So funny enough, uh we have our um EMIA meeting in Athens next week. Um, and I'm actually I'm actually on the stage for 45 minutes um hosting hosting an event where where we're talking about just what you're after asking me, what is a good referral for you? Yeah, um because you know it in every country it could be slightly different because the skill set might be slightly different. So um, so interesting. It's it's something that's very much to the forefront of UHY trying to do more business together, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah, and uh there's it's very interesting boys because there's probably cultural differences. It's easy to think. Look, there's you know the steps in the referral, but there are some cultural differences as well. And I suppose it might be a good time maybe just to mention the mastermind, because I mean that's probably the main way I've gotten to know you over the last year or so, Alan, that I've been running a mastermind group of um 13 of your rising stars from eight different countries, and the referrals we meet on a monthly basis, and the referrals is part of what we do cross-border collaboration and referrals. So maybe do you want to talk into that a little bit? Just that group and and where to UHY?

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Yeah, so um so Neil, thanks for stepping in because uh, you know, this is a trial really that you know we both put our next side. So I chaired the education um and training working group in in UHY. Yeah, uh, and we were looking at ways of better connecting our senior managers in different offices. Um, and hence my um bumping into yourself um and looking at the mastermind uh program. Yeah and how could we how could we use that in UHY uh by trying to connect different offices and different senior managers in different offices together? Because a lot of the the meetings we go to, it tends to be partner-led um and the senior managers are sort of left out of the equation a little bit. Um so this was an opportunity to bring managers together. Now we have the UHY forum every year, which does a similar type of thing, um, Neil, but it's an on-site program over three days. But the mastermind, we've done it over 12 um uh 12 months, Neil. And the and the good thing about it is we've been able to mix up um and choose uh programs and events that we want to specifically cover. And I think it's been a huge, I think the feedback has been phenomenal. Um, and I think you know the the participants really enjoyed it and they're getting great benefit out of it.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Yeah. No, that's great to hear. And you know, you touched on cross-border, we we spoke about that cross-border collaboration referrals, because you have these UHY offices and network, which is a key part of it. And the other thing that's worked quite well in the mastermind, I think, is sharing knowledge because you know, there's offices that are maybe a little bit ahead on the AI journey than others. You know, they've been jumping on calls and sharing knowledges, the the cross-serving or cross-selling thing again. Maybe some people have more experience or a little bit further along, and the sharing of knowledge, I think, is a huge plus in when you have a network like UHY and you've different offices as well. You can benchmark, you can learn from each other, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah, yeah. And you know, that's something we work on in in in at all our events, you know, where we have maybe firms stepping a little bit ahead. We ask them to share that knowledge. So, you know, other firms not only not only that they can catch up, Neil, but they actually know how to catch up because it's one thing telling the story, but yeah, you know, it's how you got there is more important. And you know, you just can't go from A to Z without going through the rest of the alphabet. You know, you have to go through the alphabet, you have to learn, um, you have to develop it, uh, and you have to have the structure inside as well. And and yeah, also particularly with IT and AI, you have to be very conscious around the security of that. So, you know, and and our US firm is leading that, and they've been very good at sharing in in relation to that, and that and that's been very, very useful.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

So, yeah, because AI, that's another question you've just touched on, another topic I was going to ask you about as well, Alan. So we all know AI is is is transforming, it's gonna have a huge is and will have a huge impact, I think, in almost every sector you can name. I think for accounting in particular, there's the two aspects. There's the bookkeeping, it's already helped streamline and and and um bring efficiencies into the bookkeeping, and then there's the the other side of the the Lexic Claude and so on that I think will be able to produce analysis and forecasting and information. So, what's your feeling on AI? What what how do you think AI is going to impact the accounting sector and in particular UHY?

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Yeah, look, I think AI is an enabler, and it's if you don't adopt it, you're gonna you're gonna be shot um because you will you will die in the trenches. Um so I think if you go in and adopt it, I think you will get great benefits, I think you will get great efficiencies out of it. Um, and you know what, people are afraid of it, but uh, you shouldn't be afraid of it. I think if you embrace it, you'll do much better, Neil, because yeah, at the end of the day, it it will grow your mind, it will grow your knowledge. Uh, you still have to challenge it, Neil. Everything on it is not 100%. Um, and you have to know, you have to be inquisitive, uh, you have to prompt it, you have to drive it. Um uh because if if you're shallow with it, it the answers will be shallow as well. So it's still about getting into the detail. Um, people still want to meet people, Neil. At the end of the day, accountants you know will always have a job. Um I think they but it's it's how enabled you are with AI that's going to assess whether you're going to be able to play in at the top table or not.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Yeah, absolutely. You're right with the people, um, people will always want that human contact with other people and so on. Um, I saw I saw on the on the paper there over the weekend, and it was a very interesting comment about uh the legal profession. I think in this part of the world, that their clients are now looking, they're already their clients of solicitors and so on, are reading about AI and how it's helping um solicitors and so on. So they're now turning around saying to them, okay, well, I want a discount on my bill. Okay, AI is making, you know, they're reading it all the time. AI is helping the legal profession and so on. So they're turning around now, looking for a discount on their bills, it's putting price fight, uh, you know, fee pressure on the um solicitors. Uh so I was just thinking about the accounting profession. How would you see that impact in that type of thing? Is that going to impact on the accounting profession? You think clients turning around kind of going?

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Uh we had a discussion about this recently as well. Um very good discussion um uh with an auditor. And um, you know, her view on it was very clear. Um, what we're able to do with AI is get better information, get better analysis, um, and by sharing that information, we're going to be able to give you better value-added uh response, yeah, um quicker response, um, more analytical response, Neil. And uh I think that information is going to help clients. And uh funny enough, I had a meeting with with a couple of clients here this morning. We were able to look at something, they came in, they were talking about a fee I'd sent out, they were asking, could we discount a fee? And I said, you know what? If if I save you that fee um threefold in the next 15 minutes, will you pay the fee? Um and they paid the fee. They paid the fee, Neil. Okay, you know, so it's again, it's the the the thing is, you know, can you add value? Um and by adding value, by using AI to add value, um, I think you know, uh clients are not going to be disappointed. Clients want information quick, uh, but they also want it accurate and and they want to know that by using something that they are actually going to get benefit from it.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

So I I don't see it. I I I think we will have if we use AI, we will have maybe more thinking time to bring value added to our clients. But I don't see I don't see clients, I think clients will try it on, Neil. I think they try it on, you know, and and that's fine. I I have no issue, but it's not about discounting the fee. It's getting it's getting value for it's paying for value.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Yeah, more value, like you said. So I agree with you 100%. I mean, I think if let's just say I means that it knocks a third of the time off to prepare an annual set of accounts, well, that should free up if it was say 21, 20 hours, free up six or seven hours for the accountant to maybe review the information. And like you just said there about finding the cost savings or reviewing their margins if they've slipped or whatever it is. So absolutely the opportunity is there. Um the um, because this kind of ties me back to one of the other things I was gonna say, one of the other comments I think you said before about not all clients being numerate. Was it you were just saying you were talking about different clients, not all clients being numerate, and so on. So maybe could maybe ties in a little bit to what you were saying about the two clients. Can you expand on that a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah, look at my my view is we you know, we should we shouldn't treat all clients the same. Um, like as accountants, we tend to be numerate. So we get numbers easy, it comes easy to us. Um, but that that's not the world over. Um, and you know, where some people are artistic, other people are literate, um you know, more accountants tend to be more numerous. So we are we've a stronger handle on on the mathematics of of a set of accounts, we understand a set of accounts. So just to run through a set of accounts and just to uh say, well, look at you made a profit of that, you're there's your balance sheet, there's there's where you are at the end of this year. Yeah, you know, that's a rough idea what the net assets are in your business. That's not good enough anymore, Neil. You need you need to get into the story, you need to be able to tell the story around that. So not all clients get they haven't studied accountancy, they may not understand even what a balance sheet is. So yeah, you know, it's taking that time to to bridge that gap, I think, is very important. And um, I think if you take the position that everybody is numerous, well, then the conversation is going to be pretty boring, um, and the client is not going to get much value, they're not gonna stay around too long, Neil.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah. I was reading recently with Richard Branson, apparently like a billionaire many times over. He he admitted at some stage that he was in his mid-50s before he didn't understand the difference between gross profit and net profit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he and uh like a lot of business owners, maybe he he was too embarrassed, he might have been too embarrassed to ask because he's there thinking, Oh, I should know this. And a lot of business owners I've dealt over the years would be exactly the same. So I I you know you're saying totally you're saying I agree 100% what you're saying with the balance sheet and so on. So, how do you how do you approach um having a chat with your clients, let's say year-end or whatever, when you have their accounts, you're kind of going, how do you get the message across if they're not numerate? How do you explain their accounts to them? How do you talk to them?

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Um we we have a style here, Neil, that we we approach the the numbers in in a different format, depending on the client. So if we like obviously we know the client a long time, but we always try to start the meeting but by um working on our motto, which is achieving a better future together. So we always try to have uh a chat with the client about what's going well in their business, first of all, get them relaxed, you know, let them open up, tell tell them, let them tell us what problems they have in their business, yeah, what's going well, um, and what they would like to see change in the next 12 months. And then we'll go through because really, when we're looking at a set of accounts, Neil, we're looking at history. Um, and you know, when you're looking at history, there's not much you can change in history, it's history. No, um, it's done and dusted. Um, so running through the accounts, you have to have um uh an outlook on them. So we always talk about, you know, when you look in the mirror. If you look in the mirror of the car, it's a small mirror. Um, but when you look at it and it goes back, it turns into a huge base. So we we always talk about the mirrors in our office um and how and how they look like, um, and try to explain to the client, you know, okay, that's the snapshot, but the world is your oyster in front of you. So what we're going to run through now, and we try to uh organize our meetings in such a way that some people we will go with graphs, um, and some people, you know, we'll will if we know they're a bit more knowledgeable of or if they have a board and a finance director there, we'll maybe take them through it more logically. But for those people, so for those people who are, you know, maybe their owner managers, um, we try to spend a little bit more time with them um and give them a little bit more feedback. Um not not treat them as though they don't understand it, Neil, but give give them the opportunity to, you know, one, get comfortable at the beginning of the meeting, um, build that trust again, and then have the chat about, you know, let's have a look at these numbers now and you know what what really stands out for you. So we'll highlight a few things that we think might stand out a wee bit.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

So maybe if they're not collecting their debtors quick enough. We think they're overstocked, or maybe they're starting to slow down and paying their creditors, or the cash flow seems to be a little bit under pressure. So we'll we sort of you know tie those things down. They may tell us, you know, at the beginning of the meeting that they're looking at buying a new business or buying new assets or whatever, and then we see that they don't have the finance to do that. So, you know, having those conversations with them to show them you know one leads to the other.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Yeah, very good. Yeah, sounds good. Um, just come back to what you said earlier on about the growth. You've grown from probably three or four of you in the office up to 100 people, which is very impressive. You're certainly top 20 in Ireland. So I imagine that brings its own challenges. So, what would you say are your main challenges at the moment, Alan?

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Um, yeah, look, AI is a big challenge. Um, there's no getting away from it, it's it's moving very fast. Um and you know, when you think you're trained up on something, something new comes along, and you just have to train again and you have to go again. So I think AI and technology is probably a a big one. Um, I think the profession I think is also adjusting to AI. Um, and maybe it is not as attractive uh as it used to be. So, you know, we have to make it attractive again. And you know, one of the big things I'm seeing this year, Neil, is that the syllabus for the leave insert is changing next year for accounting. Okay, um, and that goes back quite a long way. So hopefully that'll make accounting a little bit more interesting for for students coming through. So I think that is one. I think um for for me as I see it, I think um communication um is still a big one. I think COVID had a big impact, Neil. Um people working away from the office, people going online a little bit more. So I think communication has struggled really to get back to where it was. Um, you know, I think they're probably some of the big things that are changing, and obviously the world is changing as well, and it's moving pretty fast in terms of you know, the impact of, and we're even looking at inflation hitting a four-year high in the states this morning of 4.2 percent. So yeah, so look at you know, that's going to have a knock-on of impact as well. So finance could become difficult again. So, you know, it it is it is moving pretty quick. Um, and you just you know, so we just have we just have to keep rolling with the punches. But I think AI, for me, AI is AI is the big one, and maybe maybe making the profession just a little bit more attractive, Neil is is is another key one, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Yeah, to keep people coming in. Yeah, very good, Alan. The um the uh so this is a kind of standard question I ask account as SMEs as well, I suppose. If if there was one thing you could change about your sector, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Whoa, that's a good one. Um if I was gonna change one thing about uh our second. Yeah, I just think I I still think the accounting profession um is sometimes seem to be a little bit dull. Um so I'd like to see I'd like to see it lighten up a wee bit. But look, um it's it's it is it's very fast moving. That's that's the the demands from clients um uh are definitely an awful lot uh quicker now, you know. The demands from I don't I don't know how you slow that down, Neil, you know, but everybody wants an answer now. Um and that's right. I think people, you know, they are making decisions, they're making, they have to move on with the business. So I think how could I make maybe maybe make the day a little bit longer, Neil. Maybe if I had to change one thing.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe that would work a little bit. Um yeah, but definitely it definitely uh I it's you know, 24 hours a day just doesn't seem enough at the stage of the time. I know, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

And the demand some claims is interesting. I've been reading a lot or talking to people recently, but a lot of I think a lot of uh businesses now are you know uh maybe if they they may or may not, even if they don't count, they may or may not contact their accountant, but they're certainly going to have to like chat GBT and stuff with queries. I think it's becoming a lot more common each other. That's probably adding into the mix as well of you know, you might be talking to a client and they've already been online googling in chat GBT or whatever, so they're kind of they're half armed with information, which may or may not be right.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

So yeah, but you know, yeah, look, and sometimes you do get that, and like people do come in and say, listen, they've looked this up, uh, what you think. And and look, sometimes it's right, uh, and sometimes it's wrong. Um, but you know what? Yeah, look, I I I have no problem with that. If if clients want to come and they just want to bounce it off you and it's a quick call, that's fine, you know. But you know, you know, but if it's if if you're going to be challenged on your advice, well then it gets a wee bit more awkward, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

Yeah, I know. Um, I think um the training and development you mentioned earlier on, Alan. You that's another one of your many hats that you wear. Do you want to just tell us a little bit more about that role, please?

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yeah, so uh I'm co-chair uh with um Peter Sawchuk. I think you met Peter, yes, we did.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

He was guest speaker and the mastermind, great guy. Yeah, great section.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Yeah, Peter, really good guy. So yeah, coach co-chairs of the UHY trainer working group. Um, and what that does is it looks at our webinar program every year. It looks like at our training and development across um our regional meetings and our annual meeting every year. So we have we have about 12 people on the committee from around the globe. Um, and we work with um a company in the UK that supplies online training. Um, so we work with them and they provide probably 50% of our training uh every year. And then we use internal um training events as well. So the executive office would do some training events, Neil. Um more around business development, soft skills, and that um marketing, um, you know, branding, um, things like that. And then we'll have technical training. So our tax team will do tax tech technical training, and our audit teams will do technical training as well. So um it's it's a great way to go because um our software provider or our webinar provider in the UK um is now using AI as well. So all those all those sessions, um even though they're all delivered in English, um, you have subtitles in whichever country you are in at that time. So yeah, um instantaneous um, you know, subtitles, um, which is great. And um and we try to keep all the events to 55 minutes uh meal. Yeah, and so if people want to do it across lunch or they want to do it in the evening, it's not gonna kill their day. Um and we record them, we keep them on the UHY internet, so we've an internet, and you can go back in and access them at any stage. So it's it it is a busy program because you know, running 50 webinars a year, you have to be up to date with what's happening.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

So yeah, that's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

It is, it is, it is, and obviously working with yourself then on the mastermind program. Yeah, so it's it's a subset of it as well, just looking at how we can do that, and you know, and you're working on the UHY forum as he alluded to earlier on. So a lot of training with UHY.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Yeah, brilliant, yeah. Um, so Alan, I've kind of gone through most of the questions that I was planning to ask you. Is there anything we haven't spoken about so far that you'd like to talk about?

SPEAKER_01 29:26

I don't think there is really. Um, I and I know one of the the things that we did talk about is UHY and its strategic priorities and oh yes, and and and what it's looking like um you know going forward. So um UHY we're we're in a hundred countries around the world, Neil. Um we have 350 offices, we have a le ten and a half thousand employees. Um, and this year for the first time we'll have over one billion dollars in turnover. So um very significant. Yeah, and then and and where do we see that going um in the next couple of years? Well, you know, obviously PE is a big in impact on the profession as well, Neil. Um our US firm is taking on with PE. Um, some of our UK has taken on with PE, and uh obviously we've been in and data with it as well, um, but ha have stayed stayed away from it. Um but it is it is something that it really is having an impact. And um so it's one that we're we're obviously uh wise and alert to, um, and how that could have an impact on the overall profession um as we move forward. So you will see in Ireland that it's played a huge part, it's played a huge part in the US, played a huge part in the UK, and it's now starting to spread across Europe as well. So um so that's probably one the one of the strategic priorities just for UHY to monitor that, but continue to grow. So our plan is obviously to continue to grow. Um, and now that we've broken 1 billion, so you know, how soon can we break the two billion? So we are hoping by 2030, and you know, by continuing to grow and develop, uh bring on new firms, you know, we should be able to do that, you know. So um it's it's it's a big challenge, but you know, we we keep looking to see, you know, how can we grow and you know what that will mean in terms of new service lines, um probably back to AI again, how AI will impact us, but how PE will how PE will impact us as well. And that's going to be like the PE impact in the US and the UK has been massively positive for UHY in that it's brought it's brought so many more new firms into the network. So, you know, you know, you we do hear both sides of the argument, but I must say for UHY International, uh PE has been very good so far.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Yeah, that's great to hear. And I'm not sure if you can go into figures for Ireland, but when you're talking about the the billion in the US, um is Ireland in terms of targets or how you're progressing.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Uh yeah, no, we'd we'd about 50% growth last year. Um 50. 15, 15. Oh, sorry, 15 is good. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

I wish it was that's good too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

Yeah, yeah. So look at we have very specific targets. Um our our strategy up to is up till 2028. Yeah. Uh we're on target to meet that in 2028. So you know, you know, so look at I you know, we we our own practice um uh has a you know has an insolvency, personal insolvency practice to it as well, um, and as a corporate compliance practice as well. So, yeah, no, look, it is it is good, Neil, and will continue to grow. And you know, the need is still there for accountants. And look, it's great that business is still booming in Ireland and yeah, you know, GDP is strong. So we we just keep pushing. Brilliant, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

Listen, Alan, thanks very much. It was great chatting to you, and it's great to hear, you know, about UHY and your network. I mean, uh certainly for any any business owner listening to this who either has expanded internationally or wants to. I certainly think the UHY network is a massive positive for any for any business owner who might be considering going that way. Um, so thanks very much for your time. Uh it was great chatting to you. Um, and we'll talk again soon. Neil, always great to catch up. Talk to you again soon. All right. Thanks. Take care, bye bye.