ISSUE 6 - June 2022
Accounting for Growth: In conversation with Malone & Co. Principal Damien Malone
There is cause for optimism for Irish SMEs after two tough years, and opportunities for growth are there. Businesses just have to be in the right place to exploit them, as Damien Malone explains. For the first time in two years, many business owners started 2022 looking forward with confidence. With the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic over, and a return to something resembling ‘business as usual’ for the economy in progress, those that have weathered the storm are looking to grow and exploit new opportunities. While Covid-19 affected every business, and the familiar facades of many local shops and long-established community businesses have disappeared, with only some replaced, it wasn’t all negative and many enterprises not only managed to survive but found new opportunities and grew. “It’s out of such economic challenges that opportunities arise,” says Damien Malone, founder and managing partner of Dublin and Kildare-based accounting and tax firm, Malone & Co. “For instance, some businesses pivoted to provide products and services – such as PPE and sanitary/janitorial products – to new markets and found new customers, as well as selling more to
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existing ones. Meanwhile, others found new ways of working that were more cost-effective and efficient – such as homeworking – and are now well placed to grow as the economy continues to recover throughout 2022.” It is no surprise that Damien is optimistic. His business has grown significantly in the past two years and the team now includes 20 accountants from three professional institute bodies, four tax advisors, a solicitor, two bankers and accounting and payroll technicians. Along with the day job, Damien is the chairman of the Damone Investment group, a niche micro and small asset/ investment group with equity, debt and property holdings in Ireland and the UK.
Surviving the pandemic What allowed Malone & Co to prosper during the pandemic? Damien says the key was simplicity and communication. The firm offers clients a no-frills, value added, customer centric-based compliance and advisory service where the focus is on the constant evaluation and improvement of their clients’ businesses and profitability. The team recognises that all business owners’ primary objectives are the safeguarding and maximisation of their hard-earned profits and cashflow.
In short, Malone & Co. has succeeded by helping others to survive and thrive during an unpredictable and difficult time. Through this, the team offered clear, concise advice, and ensured they communicated regularly with clients through a variety of media, including Zoom, phone calls and emails. At a time when guidance and the legal landscape was changing regularly as the pandemic developed, it was important to keep clients fully briefed so they were able to use that knowledge to function to their full capacity. “We work with SMEs and business owners who want to build bigger, better, scalable more profitable, sellable businesses for themselves and their families,” Damien says. “Our client base includes some of the most entrepreneurial-minded business owners in Ireland, indigenous companies looking to enter and crack new markets, and international brands and investors that have commercial interests in Ireland.
“We also have a niche area which is working with SME owners that have a desire to build property portfolios through leveraging their business profits.”