Tackling systemic hurdles to the long-term economic health of Ireland’s SMEs will be a top priority for Barry Doyle, the new President of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

As Investment Director with MASV, the entrepreneur-led investment firm, Doyle brings considerable experience in advising and scaling successful businesses.

He took up the office of President on Friday, 17 May, following the Institute’s 136th AGM.

At just 37, Doyle is the youngest President in the Institute’s 136-year history, but already he has gained deep expertise in the start-up environment in Ireland and overseas and continues to work with scaling businesses from their earliest stages through growth and exit.

The need to support and champion these businesses is a cause close to his heart.

“I’ve worked mainly with start-ups and early-stage companies throughout my career,” Doyle says.

“I’m drawn to entrepreneurs – for me, it’s about building something from scratch and seeing it gain traction, grow and succeed. It excites me. The start-up environment can be tough but it is also incredibly rewarding.” In his role with MASV, Doyle supports ambitious start-ups scaling internationally.

“I’ve gone from working in hands-on roles within these businesses to now guiding them as a board director, observer and advisor and investing in people’s ideas at MASV,” he says. “I really enjoy it. There is a lot of variety in working with international companies of different sizes and at different stages of development.”

Shining a spotlight on SMEs

During his term as President, Doyle is keen to focus on those members of the profession who own, support and advise Ireland’s SMEs in both the North and south.

“Many of our members run SMEs. We have practitioners out there running their own businesses the length and breadth of the country,” he says. “Not only do they support other SMEs in their day-to-day work, but they are also business owners and entrepreneurs themselves.

“They provide employment, often in regional towns and cities. It is important to me that we shine a light on the value these members are providing every day.”

Although he believes Ireland offers a broadly supportive environment in which start-ups and SMEs can flourish, Doyle is also acutely aware of the challenges facing this crucial cohort of the Irish economy.

“Record corporation tax receipts will not always be with us. There’s a strategic imperative to ensure economic health for SMEs long-term,” he says.

Doyle believes this can only come from understanding the unique challenges they face, not simply by virtue of their size, but also related to the sector they operate in – and the supports they need.

“We need to be very mindful of new initiatives that are being rolled out, such as pension auto-enrolment, increasing the minimum wage and PRSI costs, so we can ensure that they don’t give rise to prohibitive costs for business.”

SMEs are also being impacted by wider infrastructural issues that must be addressed, such as the availability of both housing and childcare, Doyle warns. “The cost of doing business and these infrastructure issues are intrinsically linked and need to be considered in totality,” he says. “The question is: what can we reasonably expect businesses to cope with?”

Blueprint for sustained growth

Chartered Accountants Ireland has published a new thought leadership paper setting out measures to help achieve strategic, systemic improvements for SMEs in Ireland. These measures include:

• Further increases to the thresholds for Employer PRSI so all wages up to the minimum wage are exempt and wages up to the living wage are at the reduced rate of 8.8 percent.
• No extension to the Enhanced Reporting Requirements (ERR) for at least three years and not before an appropriate cost-benefit analysis of the current system has been completed.
• Reducing Capital Gains Tax from 33 percent to 25 percent to stimulate business and personal transactions that will bring additional funds into the Exchequer.
• Wider SME eligibility for grants to include more ‘traditional’ industries and the service sector.
• A more prominent role for the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland in encouraging banks to provide low-cost credit to SMEs, and to underwrite this credit.
• New opportunities for Credit Unions to increase SME lending by adapting Central Bank regulations – e.g. lending limits.

Curbing high business costs

“Broadly speaking, I think Ireland is pro-business and pro-entrepreneurship, but there are challenges. The cost of doing business in Ireland is rising and this is becoming quite a big issue for SMEs,” Doyle says.

Chartered Accountants have first-hand experience of the cost and administrative burdens SMEs are encountering, Doyle adds, and the proposals outlined in the Institute’s new thought leadership paper are tailored to address these. The publication of the paper followed extensive engagement with members, two-thirds of whom work in business.

“Government commitment to the SME sector in Budget 2025 is welcome, but this is a commitment that will need to endure even as we move towards a new Government next year,” Doyle says.

“Our thought leadership paper offers a blueprint that in the long-term will effect change if implemented. We must ensure that a strategic lens is adopted in tackling what are stubborn, systemic hurdles for SMEs.”

Successful career path

Originally from Rosslare, Co. Wexford, Doyle studied accounting and finance at Dublin City University, interning with EY Ireland’s tax and audit divisions in his second year of studies.

After graduating in 2006, he returned to EY to train in assurance and went on to join the National Geographic Channel in Sydney.

He was Regional Finance Manager for National Geographic Channel in Australia and New Zealand for two years as it expanded to become Fox International Channels.

In 2013, after returning to Ireland, Doyle joined Storyful in the role of Chief Financial Officer.

The online news and content verification company founded by former journalist Mark Little was acquired in 2013 by News Corp for a reported $25 million.

Doyle then went on to work with e-commerce start-up xSellco for two years, again in the role of CFO, followed by a two-year stint as Chief Operating Officer with recruitment firm Mason Alexander.

He joined MASV in 2020 shortly after the entrepreneur-led investment firm had been established by Dan and Linda Kiely who sold Voxpro, their business process outsourcing firm, to Canadian company Telus International in 2017.

Doyle is also currently a Director of Republic of Work and Board Observer for both OpenforVintage and Johnson Hana.

“I think my own career is testament to the sheer range of roles open to Chartered Accountants – and to how far your qualification and training can take you from a relatively early stage,” he says.

“The knowledge you have means you can add value from the get-go and this can propel your career along a very exciting path.”

Vibrancy and diversity of profession

During his year as President of Chartered Accountants Ireland, Doyle is keen to shine a spotlight on these opportunities and the vibrancy and diversity of a profession that continues to play such an integral role in all sectors on the island of Ireland and overseas.

“It’s really important that we highlight the many opportunities our profession offers globally, but also increasingly here in Ireland. Every single business and organisation has an accountant at the heart of their decision-making,” he says.

This reach means that the profession is also inherently valuable to the economy, as demonstrated by research carried out recently by Oxford Economics.

A report published by Oxford Economics in January on behalf of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies, found that the Irish accountancy profession – comprising the accountancy sector and accountants working across the wider economy – contributed €19.8 billion to the Irish economy in 2022.

The report further found that the profession generated €1.8 billion in tax revenues in 2022. In Ireland and Britain combined, the profession contributed €114 billion to both economies in 2022, generating €13.7 billion in tax revenues.

Behind these headline figures, there are over 83,000 individuals employed by the accountancy profession in Ireland, driving and servicing business in all sectors.

“One of our USPs as Chartered Accountants is the high ethical standard we are held to as professionals,” Doyle says. “People look to us as trusted advisors. We act in the public interest and I think this is very important in terms of driving the economy towards sustained growth in a well-thought out manner.”

Engaging with members at grassroots

In addition to championing and supporting SMEs, Doyle is keen to engage with as many members as possible at grassroots level at a time when membership is set to swell from 33,000 to 38,000.

Members of Chartered Accountants Ireland and CPA Ireland voted in favour of a proposal to amalgamate the two Institutes earlier this year.

This will see the creation of a single Institute, named Chartered Accountants Ireland, which will be the largest professional body on the island of Ireland.

The proposal was endorsed by the Councils of both Institutes who believe it will better position the profession for the future, driving new growth opportunities while also being stronger to meet challenges.

“As the Institute grows, it is more important than ever that what we offer is relevant to as many of our members as possible – and that it speaks to the reality of their professional lives, needs and priorities,” Doyle says.

“The Institute exists to support and elevate the profession, to uphold our professional standards in the public interest and to continue to educate members and future members. Ultimately, everything we do begins and ends with our members.”

Doyle has served as Deputy President of the Institute for the past year, supporting outgoing President Sinead Donovan alongside Vice (now Deputy) President Pamela McCreedy.

“Sinead is an inspiration to so many and a fantastic leader,” he says. “I will be continuing her focus on the future of the profession and our ‘next gen’ during my own term as President and also picking up on our predecessor Pat O’Neill’s very valuable work during his time as President in calling for reform of the Leaving Cert accounting syllabus.”

The power of connection

Doyle has been a member of the Council of Chartered Accountants Ireland since 2015 and has chaired the Institute’s Digital Steering Group and Members Board as well as the Members in Business and Strategic Communications Committees. “I made the decision to go for Council when I was just 27. It goes back to my time in Australia and the power of the Australian society and sense of community I found there,” he explains.

“We came together as Chartered Accountants and I always knew that there was a group there to support me. That sense of connection is really powerful when you’re so far away from home.

“It’s not lost on me that I will be the youngest President in the history of the Institute, but I think that’s a good thing.

“Sixty percent of our membership is now aged 44 and below. The profile of our membership is changing and I think it matters that our members can see this represented on our Council.”