Over six in 10 Northern Ireland accountants are now ‘chartered’ as membership climbs towards 33,000

This comes as Chartered Accountants Ireland confers its newest members at a ceremony in Belfast city centre.

The longest established accountancy body on the island of Ireland has a 62% share of the market in Northern Ireland, with two-thirds of these working in business, in addition to over 22,500 members in the Republic of Ireland.

Its total market share stands at 52% and in the nine months of the year to date, its membership has grown by 3%, with over 1,150 new members admitted in total so far in 2023.

President of Chartered Accountants Ireland, Sinead Donovan, said: “It’s wonderful to see such strong levels of progression to membership, particularly in the midst of an acute shortage of accounting talent. Speaking in Belfast, the sense of opportunity in Northern Ireland is palpable. In research we carried out among our members here earlier this year, respondents identified the Northern Ireland ​Protocol as the biggest opportunity for Northern Ireland in the years ahead, citing its potential to provide a unique trading position for businesses here.

“Developing and promoting the next generation of accountants and the next generation of leaders to help them to grow our profession’s expertise in key areas for the economy such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, sustainability and cyber security is a central priority for me this year. Congratulations to all our newly conferred members.”

Head of Northern Ireland, Chartered Accountants Zara Duffy, continued: “For many businesses, the pandemic has had a long tail and restoring stability and achieving growth is an ongoing task, exacerbated by political uncertainty, locally and around the world. Highly trained business advisers are in such high demand as we continue this rebuilding and as we position the economy to reap the rewards of increased investment into NI, particularly from US companies.

“Just last month, Northern Ireland played host to an Investment Summit exhibiting to business leaders and prospective investors the very best that the region has to offer. Our 5,000+ members will be instrumental in helping the economy to achieve its full potential in the years ahead.”