Our economy, and particularly the indigenous sector, remains challenging. However, many companies are looking to reposition themselves for growth as they continue to adjust their business models to the new norm.
The internationally traded and FDI sectors as well as export based sectors continue to provide a steady flow of work as well as funds and asset management sectors based in the IFSC. Demand for our financial services, regulatory and actuarial services have also been strong in the last year as these sectors continue to adapt their organisations for the demands post financial crisis.
We recognise the importance, in a global economy, of the emerging economies, for example China. In response, we have launched our China practice earlier this year. Many of these countries are investigating opportunities to use Ireland as a platform to do business in Europe.
With a continued strong focus on change and efficiency, we continue to see strong demand for our advisory services including restructuring, operational and finance function efficiency, risk management as well as IT effectiveness including advising on digital and new technologies.
Other niche services that are doing well include demand from the renewable energy sector as well as for assistance with corporate treasury, aircraft leasing, reward strategy, executive resourcing and pension advice.
Terence O’Rourke, KPMG:
As in recent years we continue to see strong demand for our insolvency, restructuring and debt resolution services and this is likely to be the case for some time to come. Our audit, tax and advisory sector specialists have been busy supporting clients in sectors such as food & drink, technology and energy as they expand their product portfolios and develop their domestic and international presence.
Cost management remains a key focus for many businesses in their drive to become more efficient. Also, advice around outsourcing and change management projects as well as cost modeling is keeping our business process and risk specialists fully engaged.
In addition, we are being asked to bring our skills and expertise in banking restructuring and PPP type financing to projects outside of Ireland.
Brendan Jennings, Deloitte:
In line with the changing marketplace, we have seen an increase in demand for certain services, such as restructuring and debt advisory, regulation and compliance, business transformation and business analytics, amongst others. These are all areas that we have made a concerted effort to invest in – in terms of resources and capabilities.
Following our acquisition of Curach Consulting in late 2010, our technology consulting capabilities have increased significantly.
This is also an area in which we are seeing an increased demand for services, and we are actively recruiting in this area. Organisations in Ireland are increasingly looking to capitalise on the efficiencies that innovative technologies can bring. The firm currently has a significant number of open vacancies that it is seeking to fill for experienced IT consulting professionals.
Our advisory and consulting services in particular are the areas where we are seeing the most growth and this is likely to continue.
Mike McKerr, Ernst & Young:
We have significantly added to our talent pool particularly with the arrival of senior directors and partners. Graham Reid joined our transaction advisory team, Frank O’Dea will lead the performance improvement advisory division and Herman Sidiu joined the IT assurance division. They each bring unique expertise and specific sector experience which will allow us to provide clients with the insight and advice they need to grow the business. This recruitment has been driven by increasing client demand across all service lines.
In our advisory team we’re seeing an increased demand for services such as cost reduction, risk management and change management projects. Last year we made a number of senior new hires with specialist sector skills in healthcare and transport in response to the growing demand for our business consulting support from clients in these sectors. The arrival of Frank O’Dea will further enhance the advisory performance improvement advisor practice.
In our transaction advisory practice there has been an increase in demand for our services from debt burdened companies seeking positive solutions to help restructure their balance sheets. The recruitment of Graham Reid and Sean Duffy position us to provide the necessary corporate finance solutions, from fund-raising, M&A and debt advisory, relevant for Irish businesses today. In addition, Ireland continues to produce vibrant companies that require high quality corporate finance advice as they seek to assess new opportunities and grow. This is especially so in Ireland's broad based technology, services and food sectors which continue to be a strong backbone for growth in the Irish economy.
From a tax perspective, we continue to see a rise in demand for our R&D and transfer pricing services. The special assignee relief programme has generated a lot of interest among our clients and is sending a positive signal internationally - that Ireland wants to remain internationally competitive as a location for foreign direct investment. Ireland remains a very attractive location for foreign investors, and we continue to see strong interest in locating Ireland to exploit European markets.
In our assurance practice, strong growth was achieved across a range of sectors including export focused domestic clients, shared service centre activity, overseas inverter activity and fraud prevention and detection services. In addition our financial accounting advisory team had an active year working with clients on corporate reorganisations and the implementation of new rules around the future of UK and Irish GAAP.
Paul McCann, Grant Thornton:
Food and beverage is a core sector of focus for Grant Thornton and we continue to build our client base in this area, helped by the thought leadership of our head of food and beverage, Ciara Jackson, whose recent thought leadership seminar - Food 4.0 The Dynamics of Supply & Demand – was attended by over 100 companies and industry stakeholders. Another practice area performing strongly for Grant Thornton is financial services, where we are growing our market share in servicing investment and hedge funds operating out of the IFSC.
Grant Thornton is also seeing growing interest from companies making foreign direct investments in Ireland, who are attracted to Ireland as a business friendly European hub with a favourable taxation regime. There has been particular interest from medium size technology and media companies, or so-called ‘micro-multinationals’ who are seeing that they can get the same benefits as the well-known technology giants (Facebook, Google, Yahoo etc) who have already set up Irish operations.
Given the continued stress the Irish economy is facing our recovery and reorganisation practice was extremely busy throughout 2012, and we have participated in most of the biggest situations this year, including Clerys, Target Express and Treasury Holdings. In addition to the examinership/liquidation side of the business, we have been equally involved from a corporate finance perspective, helping companies restructure their balance sheets and exit distressed situations in a position to retain jobs and grow.
Grant Thornton has been particularly involved in the hotel and property sector this year, including running the sale of the Burlington and Parknasilla Hotels. There has been significant international investor interest in the Irish market which we believe will help restore much needed liquidity and confidence.
Derry Gray, BDO:
We are still seeing a robust performance in corporate recovery. In addition there have been key wins in fund auditing and in outsourcing services. During the period BDO also expanded our sports advisory team and made significant wins in this area.
Jim Mulqueen, RSM Farrell Grant Sparks:
Our corporate recovery division continues to do very well with a number of recent significant appointments. We have been considerably more active this year in debt resolution and expect this area to continue to grow next year. Our audit division has continued its expansion and in particular, areas such as financial services, technology, aircraft leasing and export driven businesses in general are key areas of focus for further growth.
Mark Kennedy, Mazars:
Given the challenges facing the financial services sector in Ireland today, it is no surprise that the financial services practice in Mazars is the fastest growing sector of our firm. We provide audit and business advisory services to both domestic and international banks and insurance companies in Ireland. We have again strengthened our team and offering in this sector in recent months.
Another area of our business that is performing extremely well is our business restructuring and insolvency practice. We have seen a significant increase in the number of organisations that are actively reaching out to us to get the advice they need to restructure their business and their debt to ensure the successful survival of their business into the future.
We have also increased the types of services that we provide to private companies. Private companies are facing new challenges and issues that they often have never dealt with before and are therefore not adequately equipped to deal with these appropriately. Increasingly, we are assisting clients in re-organising their teams and functions, driving efficiencies and developing strategies to advance in a continuously challenging environment.
John Glennon, Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon:
a) Corporate Recovery/NAMA
The corporate recovery market remains a significant contributor of fees to Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon (BTRG). We have seen growth across all areas of the insolvency space, both corporate and more recently personal and we believe that the following factors will continue this growth: 1) New personal insolvency legislation will generate significant new work; 2) Creditors voluntary liquidation (CVL) market remains strong; 3) Increased workload in corporate receiverships; 4) Significant increase in fixed asset receivership assignments coming from the various financial institutions as their focus is shifting to enforcing securities in place (personal guarantees etc.); 5) Financial institutions facing into dealing with the mortgage arrears without the necessary skills or personnel in-house to deal with the volume involved.
b) Business Consultancy
We hope to continue to grow our business consultancy area which incorporates our HR consultancy and process improvement service lines. Our HR team, which was enhanced last year following a merger with Polaris HR, brings together a wealth of experience enabling them to deal with complex re-organisational projects, both in the public and private sector. We now offer a complete HR consulting service which employs 12 staff. The services range from alternative dispute resolution to talent management to organisational change management. A consequence of the merger is that we have been able to attract serious talent to the unit evidenced by our recent appointment of the retired deputy head of the Labour Court in Ireland to work on our team as a special advisor.
c) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Against the backdrop of a challenging domestic economy, the FDI segment in Ireland remains resilient. Through our involvement in Baker Tilly International we have been able to attract a number of FDI projects into Ireland. To deal with this increased activity we have developed a methodology for dealing with FDI cases, utilizing the skills of all our professional staff, from initially our dedicated FDI tax team, to our outsourced solution which covers not only the financial aspect of outsourcing but also the HR issues arising.
This increase in FDI activity in Ireland, coupled with our Baker Tilly International membership, will be key to the growth of our practice over the next three years. We are certain that our membership with Baker Tilly International will help us to continue to grow our practice through:
1) Offering our clients the benefit of a combination of international business expertise, global resources and local market knowledge; 2) Developing close relationships with the partners of other member firms through networking opportunities; 3) Obtaining new business via referrals from other members of the network; 4) Having joint marketing initiatives.
d) Inorganic growth
After the successful merger between Baker Tilly O’Hare and Ryan Glennon in 2007, and more recently, between Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon and Polaris HR, we see opportunities to achieve even further synergies through continued inorganic growth.
Andy Quinn, Moore Stephens:
Foreign direct investment, regulatory and medical sector and the credit union sector.
Liam Rattigan, Russell Brennan Keane:
There are a number of areas within Russell Brennan Keane doing well right now where we have the expertise and skills to compete at the top end of the market. These include: tax consultancy; international FDI; indigenous exporters; debt restructuring and insolvency; credit union sector and the charity sector.
Pat Lawlor, JPA Brenson Lawlor:
Consulting in the debt resolution area and health sector, close involvement with clients in identifying profitable opportunities within their business spectrum and insolvency assignments.
Tadhg O'Sullivan, OSK:
Audit - development of specialism in niche sectors has been important.
Declan Dolan, DCA Accountancts:
IT- on going demand for innovative products and healthy grant support.