Dawn Johnston has been elected chair of Chartered Accountants Ulster Society, which represents 3,900 chartered accountants and is a district society of Chartered Accountants Ireland, the largest and oldest professional accountancy body in Ireland.
Mrs Johnston from Portadown, who succeeds Patrick Gallen and is only the second female to take the role, is a director with Deloitte in Belfast and heads the firm’s private markets audit practice in Northern Ireland.
With Deloitte for 27 years, she works with a broad range of local and global organisations in both the public and private sectors, specialising in statutory audit, governance and assurance.
Addressing the Society’s 106th AGM in Belfast she said: “We are entering an extremely important period for the local economy and society as a whole. We face changes and challenges in the year ahead such as a new Programme for Government; the effects of the EU Referendum; public sector budget cuts; and ensuring that we have the skills, infrastructure and culture of innovation in place to make a lower corporate tax rate an effective driver for our economy.
“The decisions we make in these days will have a profound impact on the future of our economy, our Executive and our community, and it is important that chartered accountants remain a strong voice for business and a strong voice for the reputation, transparency and accountability of our profession.
"Our members’ energy, expertise and ability are key drivers for good in our wider society. They have an important role to play in helping to realise Northern Ireland’s potential and in creating the type of future of which we can all be proud.”
