A day in the life of a Finance Director in Ad Land:
I had completed my chartered accounting training in one of the big four accountancy firms, and had worked in a number of large and small companies both client facing and industry side before stumbling into the world of advertising.
While my job role had significant similarities to what I did in other companies (Management accounts / Financial statements / Cash flows etc etc) it felt like I had started a new career. I was immediately struck by the genuine passion and creativity throughout the office. People staying late because they were obsessing about cracking an award winning idea that they had been hatching for weeks.
The nature of agency life is it’s all hands on deck every day. I quickly found myself reviewing work for research, being pulled into lunch and learns around the latest technologies and included in agency wide creative briefings (I still have yet to get any of my idea’s made, but I’m hopeful for a few I have in the pipeline).
John Mathews, Head of Finance, In the Company of Huskies
My experience in the roll has been incredibly positive. It has extended me invaluable exposure to the strategic direction and the commercials of the business at a relatively early stage in my career.
The nature of advertising agencies in Ireland is that they range from 2-3 people to 200+ people, meaning they offer great opportunities for young accountants to take on a senior role with a fair amount of responsibility early in their career that will give them invaluable exposure and experience at a level that will test them and bring the best out of them.
My experience has been one where I would say the role is for someone who likes autonomy, is able to self-motivate and someone who likes to work with people in a lively, fun work environment. Since I took the role I have never looked back. The depth and breath of the role means that the straight-up accounting side of role is at best 50% and the rest is made up of input into Business Strategy and Vision, Agency operational effectiveness, client and supplier negotiation, Contract and legal advisory, HR function and when I can creative ideation.
