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LEADERS IN BUSINESS INTERVIEW Sean Shine FCMA, CGMA, Accenture Interviewed by Frank Dillon, business journalist
The CIMA qualification proved a vital building block in the career of Accenture’s Sean Shine, as he is more than happy to acknowledge. The Limerick-man has risen through the ranks of the international consulting firm, holding a range of senior global positions. How CIMA laid the foundations for a high flying career The CIMA qualification proved a vital building block in the career of Accenture’s Sean Shine, as he is more than happy to acknowledge. The Limerick-man has risen through the ranks of the international consulting firm, holding a range of senior global positions. He is currently head of health and public service practice for the Europe, Africa and Latin America (EALA) region, with responsibility for 28 countries. EALA is one of three regions that Accenture organises its global practices around. Sean attributes much of his success to the grounding in finance that he received when he studied for the CIMA qualification that he received in 1992. However, finance wasn’t his first choice. Sean graduated from UCC with a civil engineering degree and joined the consulting business of Arthur Andersen in 1985. His career continued - via Andersen Consulting - and into Accenture. ‘The job prospects for a civil engineer in the mid-1980s were not good – worse than they are today in fact - as there was very little construction happening given the poor state of the economy and I decided early on this was not an area I was going to practice in,’ he recalls. Arthur Andersen offered the prospect of combining work with further education and looking at the options available, Sean realised that the CIMA qualification would match his needs perfectly. ‘I liked the fact that the focus was on cost and management accounting, the very broad nature of the subject material we studied and the fact that it was not an audit focussed exam. Being able to combine work and study at the same time was very effective, what I was learning in the classroom helped me in the office and vice-versa,’ he says. Sean thoroughly enjoyed the three years he spent studying at night. The class, he recalls, was a good mix of people, like himself, who were
NETWORK NEWS | SPRING 2014
starting out on their careers and those who had already risen to become finance directors, marketing directors and even CEOs, in some cases. It clearly suited his talents - as not alone did he receive first place in Ireland in his exams in 1990 but also came third globally. To this day, the education that he received through CIMA is relevant to his work. ‘Today, when I find myself in a room with accountants and finance directors, I can hold my own because of the technical grounding I received from my studies. I am not blinded by the numbers if you like and when that comes across, I find it is easier to get to the heart of issues quickly with the people I am working with,’ he notes.
Today, when I find myself in a room with
accountants and finance directors, I can hold my own because of the technical grounding I received from my studies. Sean’s career progressed quickly after qualification with various senior roles in Ireland and he became a partner in Andersen Consulting in 1998 and managing director for Revenue and Tax in the global practice. He then moved to running the global government CRM (customer relationship management) practice in 2002. ‘Governments around the world were beginning to take a much greater interest in CRM, starting to see citizens in the same way as the private sector did its customers. It was an exciting time to be working with government clients around the world, helping them to work more efficiently and effectively with citizens,’ he recalls. Further roles since have seen him oversee many large-scale projects around making public services more responsive and accessible to citizens including the Ireland Revenue Commissioners, Revenue OnLine system (ROS). ROS provides customers with a quick and secure facility to file tax returns, pay tax liabilities and access their tax details online 24 hours a day.