This year’s ACCA Ireland new members’ ceremony marked a double celebration for Paula Brady and her daughter Hailey Gibney, who both took part as newly qualified members.
After earning a degree in computing and multimedia, Hailey started to feel the career path it marked out was not for her. When she took a temporary job at the generator hire firm where Paula was office manager (and who had suggested it to her daughter), neither could have guessed where it would take them both.
Kickstart
Paula credits the generosity and farsightedness of her employer, the late Damien O’Dowd, co-founder of GH Energy Rentals, with kickstarting everything. ‘Damien saw Hailey had the aptitude for accounting and suggested that she begin studying for ACCA,’ she recalls.
‘We agreed it would be a great idea to study together’
A few weeks later, O’Dowd held a similar conversation with Paula but for different reasons. ‘Damien wanted me to take a more senior role in the company and saw ACCA as the path to that. I discussed it with Hailey, as I didn’t want to step on her toes, and we agreed it would be a great idea to study together.’
‘We can’t thank our employers enough, both Damien and John Galgey, for the help and support they gave us along the way, we couldn’t have done it without them.’
Starting with AccountancySchool in Dublin in 2016, Hailey says the plan was to take it slowly at first. ‘We began going to all the classes together. The first benefit for me was that it was easy to get a lift to college after work!’ Friends provided further encouragement, she says. ‘I only ever got positive comments – “Your mum is doing it too? That’s great!”’
For Paula, who hadn’t been in formal education since leaving school in the 1980s, there was perhaps more to adapt to. ‘Embracing study again after all that time was daunting, and sitting down to three-hour exams took some getting used to. I was always envious of Hailey, who would finish her papers before time while I would be writing to the very end!’
She commends the lecturers for their professionalism and ‘the way they provide the service, which allows students flexibility and ease of use. They were always so helpful to us.’
‘The move to studying online was a big change, but everyone adapted’
Rapport
With her practical experience in accounts, Paula found tax was the subject she took most easily to, while Hailey embraced audit as her favourite early on.
Looking back on the impact of the pandemic years, Hailey says: ‘It was really hard for everyone, in terms of not seeing family and friends, and the move to studying online was a big change, but everyone adapted. I don’t see them as lost years.’
The rapport between mother and daughter also helped get them through more difficult times. Paula explains: ‘I failed a couple of the subjects and ended up having to repeat, but I think that is all part of the process and it just made me focus more the next time. Even when I failed and Hailey passed – and she passed all of them first time! – for me it didn’t seem so bad because as her mother I was so proud of her achievements.’
So what’s Paula’s advice for anyone interested in returning to education when their family and work can leave them with little free time? ‘Don’t be afraid to try something new. At the very least you can say you gave it a go. Of course, it can be hard to find time for everything, and coming up to exams I would be getting up at 6am to study. It was the only way to do it.’
‘We enjoyed sitting together in class and solving problems together’
The right move
While Hailey became an ACCA member in 2022, ongoing restrictions delayed the membership ceremony until 2023 – right on cue for Paula to join her in completing the journey they had started together.
Today, Hailey is in no doubt that choosing ACCA was right for her. In 2022, she joined Irish Distillers as a treasury accountant and has since moved into the role of finance analyst. Meanwhile Paula is now financial controller with GH Energy Rentals. ‘Every day, I’m using what I’ve learned from my studies,’ she says. ‘ACCA has given me a deeper understanding of the finances, and I get great satisfaction applying that to my work.’
Looking back on the past few years, Hailey says the big bonus from the whole experience was ‘spending more time together. We enjoyed sitting together in class, studying at home and solving problems together. Our careers will take us in different directions, so it is brilliant that we will always have this link.’
