Who I Help

Large corporate groups. SMEs. Property development and construction. Hospitality, including hotels and restaurants. Manufacturing. Food manufacturing and food services. Subcontractors. Charities.

How I Help

General advisory, audit and audit exempt accounts. Business sales and exit planning. Souring of loan finance. Tax compliance and tax planning. Restructuring and insolvency. Company secretarial.

“WE HELP BUSINESSES GET EXIT-READY OR READY FOR THE NEXT GENERATION.”

Conor Pyne is a Partner at AAB, based in Cork. Although formally an audit partner, Conor spends increasingly less of his time on audit and more on general practice consultancy work, spanning restructuring, insolvency, financing and tax planning and company secretarial. He works with a broad client base, from large corporate groups to SMEs across property, construction, manufacturing, food, charities and hospitality, and is known for his adaptability, his practical, solution-focused approach, and his commitment to seeing clients through to the right outcome, whatever challenge they’re facing.

Sectors/Support

Property & Construction. Manufacturing. Food & Food Services. Hospitality. Charities.

A True General Practitioner

My week is made up predominantly of calls, internal meetings, client meetings and reviewing files. We’re involved in all sorts of work, including restructuring, financing and tax planning, so it’s very wide and varied. I’d describe myself as a stereotypical general practice partner: involved in everything: audits, audit exemptions, restructuring, company secretarial work and insolvency. Our clients are typically SMEs looking for assistance, whether that’s financing, grants, or simply bringing key management into the structure of their company. There is no single definition of what I do day to day; while I’m formally an audit partner, in reality I spend less and less time on audit and more on general practice consultancy work.

Good with Numbers

There wasn’t a lightbulb moment for me. I was good at accounting in school and I liked it; I enjoyed the buzz of balancing the debits and the credits, as boring as that might sound. I wasn’t drawn to science or marketing, so accounting was simply what I was good at and what I enjoyed.

Learning from Every Downturn

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve built up experience across a lot of different client situations, which means I can often see issues before they arise and spot opportunities for clients as well. Having been through the ups and downs of various recessions, the financial crisis, Covid and more recent global events, you learn to see both the threats and the opportunities more clearly. Experience is what allows me to give clients more specific, practical advice.

Adapting Through the Crash

The biggest challenge I’ve faced in my career was the economic crash of 2008 and 2009. The practice would have had over 30 staff at the time, and we contracted by more than half. The key thing we learned was that you have to be adaptable and proactive; we moved into new areas like liquidations and receiverships and got ourselves onto various panels for state work. You have to invest the time in learning new skills and new ways of working, which is something that’s happening again now with AI, so that you can offer clients different services, or reach clients you weren’t able to serve before.

Built on Honesty and Transparency

The most important thing with a new client is finding people you can work well with, who are open about their own strengths and weaknesses. Being honest and transparent from the outset, and taking the time to properly understand the operation, the systems and what makes the business tick, is the basis for a solid relationship.

One of our largest client relationships came from a small practice we bought when we started in 2003. The client was initially unknown to us and had been outsourcing services like restructuring, financing and tax planning elsewhere. Over time, we demonstrated our ability to handle not only annual audit compliance but also tax compliance, tax planning, company secretarial, financing, restructuring and various consultancy projects. We have been with that client through some turbulent times and that relationship built up over than 23 years remains just as strong today.

Seeing a Client Through to Exit

One of the most satisfying parts of the role came last year, managing the sale of a long-standing client’s business. We ran the process from promoting the business through to negotiating with buyers; the first deal fell through, but we got the second one over the line. The client had reached a point where he simply wanted out, and seeing the relief on his face once the deal closed and the funds transferred was genuinely rewarding, knowing he got exactly what he wanted. Being part of AAB gives us the ability and skill set to keep adapting and serving clients, backed by the strength and support of a wider brand and a broader range of expertise.

The greatest compliment I’ve received was being told we were relentless in getting that deal over the line, and that the level of service was simply not comparable to what the client had experienced elsewhere. I see myself more as the conductor of a strong team behind me, but the consistent feedback is that we are practical, solution-oriented and dedicated, whether that’s resolving a shareholder dispute or negotiating between buyers and sellers to get a deal done.

Embracing AI, Eyes Open

The greatest challenge in my area at the moment is undoubtedly AI. We increasingly see clients sending in information they’ve generated using tools like ChatGPT, and the reality is that if the input is poor, the output will be too. We need to be more knowledgeable about the potential benefits and pitfalls AI can bring to general practice; it’s something we need to embrace rather than sit back from, because standing still means falling behind. A common misconception about the profession is that accountants are boring, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

My top strengths are adaptability, strong management of the team around me, a solid work ethic, and being genuinely solution-oriented when it comes to helping clients work through their issues. Looking ahead, AI is again where my focus lies, making sure we’re maximising the technologies that can improve how we deliver services to clients, while also reducing some of the more repetitive work that falls to junior staff.