“We are seeing continued growth with cautious optimism”

Sumer Northern Ireland is gearing up for further growth as it recruits to meet rising demand from the SME sector, says Managing Director Brian Clerkin

With optimism on the rise in Northern Ireland’s small-and-medium sized enterprise (SME) sector, Sumer Northern Ireland is poised to support future entrepreneurial success with a growing team and plans for future expansion.

 Established in July 2024 when the Belfast office of ASM Chartered Accountants joined the UK-headquartered Sumer Group, Sumer Northern Ireland is led by Managing Director, Brian Clerkin, a Chartered Accountant who has been at the head of the firm for over 12 years.

Clerkin joined the Belfast Office of ASM Chartered Accountants in 1997, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with the firm in 2000. In the years since, he has seen the firm go from strength to strength.

“When I joined, we were completely different to the firm we are today. For a start, we were much smaller. There were probably only 20 people in the firm back then,” he says.

“I was lucky to spend most of my training contract working for one of the founders, Stephen Sproule, and that was an invaluable experience. I’ve often described it as the best business education I didn’t have to pay for.

“Having passed my FAEs and placed in the top ten, I sat down with the Stephen and we worked out a route for the next few years that would give me the best chance of achieving an equity stake.”

Clerkin became a Director of the firm in 2004 and a shareholder in 2005. He was appointed Managing Director of the Belfast office of ASM Chartered Accountants in 2012.

“Last year, the shareholding directors in the Belfast office decided to join the Sumer Group and we did so officially on 1 July 2024,” Clerkin says.

“We were seeing lots of opportunities in the marketplace to take on new work and we felt we needed to make a strategic decision to best enable the firm to grow further and provide opportunities for our future leaders to come through.”

Consolidation trend

This decision reflects the wider trend towards consolidation that has taken root in the accountancy sector in recent years.

“There is a lot of consolidation at the moment, probably to be fair more so in England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, than in Northern Ireland to date,” Clerkin says.

“Regardless of jurisdiction, however, firms are all facing similar issues, including an appetite for external investment, increased regulation, succession challenges and the need for mid-tier firms to invest in people and technology.”

The merger marked Sumer Group’s entry into the accountancy market in Northern Ireland and a new chapter for the team in Belfast.

“We were confident this strategic partnership would not only enhance our growth prospects but also expand the range of services and expertise we can offer our clients,” Clerkin says.

“Sumer is already a top 15 UK accountancy practice on a mission to champion SME businesses. It was recently recognised in the 2024 Top 50+50 Accountancy Firms by Accountancy Age for being the fastest growing accountancy firm in the UK.”

Since the merger, Sumer Northern Ireland has increased its headcount by 20 percent to 120 in response to rising business demand.

“We have seen a significant increase in client business since July 2024 coming from clients we already worked with and new clients in the sectors we serve—hospitality, tourism and leisure, manufacturing, distribution, not-for-profit and the public sector, engineering, technology and IT,” Clerkin says.

SME outlook in Northern Ireland 

Sumer Northern Ireland continues to provide a range of services to SMEs in Northern Ireland, spanning audit and accounting, corporate finance, insolvency, forensic accounting, internal audit and tax services.

“The business landscape is constantly evolving, and our clients are subject to an array of economic challenges and opportunities,” Clerkin says.

“The issues with our infrastructure and planning systems here in Northern Ireland have been known for years and will take some time to fix.

“However, I think businesses in Northern Ireland would like to get a sense that the Northern Ireland Executive recognises these problems and has a tangible plan to address them. 

“The blame game, and waiting for Exchequer monies to arrive from London, can’t be an acceptable position to maintain.

“Other than that, I think businesses are waiting to see the full impact of the increase in employment costs announced in the 2024 Autumn Budget on both their own cost bases, but also on input costs and consumer confidence. 

Despite these challenges, businesses in Northern Ireland are optimistic about their future prospects, according to a Sumer Group report published last September.

Produced in partnership with the Entrepreneurs Network, the United Growth report highlighted Northern Ireland as a key region with “particularly bright prospects”. 

Seventy-three percent of the Northern Ireland businesses surveyed in the report signalled their intention to increase staff numbers over 12 months, while 78 percent said they anticipated a rise in turnover. 

This level of optimism showcased Northern Ireland’s potential as a hub for entrepreneurial growth, the report stated.

“I think what we are seeing on the ground is continued growth with cautious optimism,” Clerkin says. 

“Northern Ireland has been able to take advantage of opportunities to significantly grow both our tourism and IT industries over the last 10 to 15 years.

“If a similar approach is taken to aligning the education sector, local government and the Executive, there is no reason why other sectors such as professional services, high-value engineering, agri-food and biopharma couldn’t also see a similar rise in output and productivity.”

Future expansion

Sumer Northern Ireland is ready to support this growth with its recent merger allowing the firm to take a “more robust, technology-driven and cost-effective” approach to the non-client facing side of the business in areas such as recruitment, compliance and marketing, Clerkin says.

“Personally, I am really enjoying collaborating with the other firms in the Sumer Group to identify and take on cross-referral opportunities, which play to the different areas of expertise within the group,” he says.

The firm is now exploring opportunities to grow organically and through potential future acquisitions. 

“We expect to announce a number of acquisitions over the course of 2025,” Clerkin says, “and, on the broader stage, the Sumer Group is actively looking at making strategic acquisitions both in those areas of the UK where we are not yet represented and in the Republic of Ireland.”