A CO Down woman has become the 24,000th member of Ireland's largest chartered accountancy body.
Pamela Gourley from Hillsborough has joined the organisation after passing her various professional examinations for Chartered Accountants Ireland, which was established by royal charter in 1888.
And the milestone confirms CAI’s position as the fastest growing accountancy body in the UK and Ireland (its membership has soared by almost 19 per cent since 2010).
The organisation's president Tony Nicholl, welcoming Ms Gourley into membership, said: “This is a fantastic milestone to achieve.
"Chartered accountants play a vital role in developing business across the island of Ireland and we are delighted to bring more well-qualified, highly motivated and highly skilled people to support enterprise, economic recovery and growth.
“The exams and training experience undertaken by Pamela and her fellow students are exacting and rigorous. They teach and demand important disciplines like communication skills, drive and attention to detail.
"These competencies are highly valued in business, public service and other fields, and mark out our members from other finance professionals.
“I’m also pleased to be able to say that four out of 10 of our members are female, and women account for over half of our current student base of 6,600. We also have an impressive international reach, with over 3,500 of our members working across 92 countries around the world."
Mr Nicholl added: “I’m very pleased to welcome Pamela to those ranks of members and congratulate her on achieving our highly regarded qualification.
"I hope that by reaching this landmark figure and highlighting her achievement we can encourage other bright young people to consider chartered accountancy as the best possible start to a career in business.”
Research from Chartered Accountants Ireland shows that four out of 10 of its members hold senior executive positions such as managing director, financial controller, chief executive or partner.
And despite the recent economic crisis, chartered accountants have remained in demand with less that 2 per cent of Irish chartered accountants currently unemployed.
CAI says anyone interested in a career in chartered accountancy can click on www.charteredcareers.ie or email info@charteredaccountants.ie for more information.
