Barden, the partner-led talent advisory, recruitment and executive search firm, has strengthened its leadership team with four senior appointments, including the promotion of three new partners. The appointments of Fellow Chartered Accountants (FCAs) Ornaith Giblin and Catherine Drysdale, and Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) Brian O’Connor bring the number of partners at Barden to 13.

Within Barden Leinster, Ornaith Giblin, formerly of KPMG and Ardagh Group, has been appointed Partner, responsible for leading Accounting & Finance Senior Qualified Appointments, while Brian O’Connor, formerly of Deloitte, has been promoted to Partner, leading Barden’s Accounting & Finance Recently Qualified Appointments practice.

Catherine Drysdale, former Head of Finance & Transformation at ESW, has been promoted to Partner within Barden Ireland, heading the firm’s Projects, Transformation & Change practice.

In a further senior appointment, Cole Carroll has been promoted to Head of Organisation Development, also in Barden Leinster.

Speaking on the appointments, Elaine Brady, Managing Partner of Barden Leinster, said: “These appointments reflect both the depth of leadership within Barden and the continued growth of our business. Ornaith, Brian and Catherine each bring exceptional experience, insight and values-led leadership to their respective practices, and we are delighted to see them become Partners. As we continue to evolve, Cole’s appointment further strengthens our focus on building a sustainable, future-ready organisation. We are proud to continue investing in our people as we partner with organisations to shape the leadership and talent strategies that will define their future.”  

The appointments follow a year of strong growth for Barden, including the continued expansion of its Executive Search offering, partnering with Boards and executive leadership teams to appoint senior leaders. Barden, which employs 44 and has offices in Dublin, Cork, Waterford and San Francisco, also recently achieved B Corp certification, reflecting its commitment to using business as a force for good.

Ornaith Giblin joined Barden in 2022 and has over 20 years’ experience, having trained with KPMG and held senior finance leadership roles with Ardagh Group plc and EY, including Finance Director for Ardagh’s Irish business. She is also Deputy Treasurer of Chartered Accountants Ireland’s Leinster Society. Her experience enables her to partner strategically with clients, guiding finance professionals through their career transitions and quickly identifying organisational needs and challenges for clients.

Brian O’Connor brings a strong blend of professional services and industry experience, having trained with Deloitte and gained international exposure in Australia before joining Barden in 2020. His insight-led approach supports recently qualified accountants and clients through long-term, values-driven talent partnerships.

Catherine Drysdale brings over 20 years’ experience delivering complex finance and transformation programmes, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations, payroll optimisation, automation and data analytics initiatives. A member of the Chartered Accountants Ireland’s Technology Committee, Catherine’s hands-on transformation background allows her to support clients in building and delivering high-impact projects, transformation and change teams.

Cole Carroll brings a strong focus on organisational capability and long-term growth, shaped by experience partnering with clients on senior, business-critical appointments. She holds an Executive MBA (Master of Business Administration) from Trinity College Dublin. Cole’s new role supports both Barden’s internal development agenda while also partnering with clients across the Leinster region to hire senior talent during pivotal moments of organisational change.

About Barden 

Barden is a partner-led talent advisory, recruitment, and executive search firm, with practices across Accounting, Legal & Tax, Technology, Transformation & Change, and other strategic business appointments.

We are passionate about people and work with organisations and individuals who believe talent decisions truly matter. We are proud to be B Corp Certified, using our business as a force for good. Innovative, ambitious, and united by shared values, we are a team of uniquely different personalities who are relentless in supporting each other and those we work with.

In Barden, we really know the value of people; work with us to uncover yours.

Welcome to the next edition of the Barden Recently Qualified Accountants blog series. Here, we demystify contract roles and address some key questions that professionals often encounter when considering a contract position.

What are the key differences between permanent and contract roles?

• Sometimes, the only difference between a contract and a permanent role is that a contract is initially for a defined period of time. Quite often, the duties and responsibilities are the same as those of a permanent role, but for a defined period of time.
• If the contract has arisen due to a project or a backlog of work, the nature of responsibilities will usually differ.
• With permanent roles, you’re likely to be entitled to annual leave and some benefits, whereas quite often with a contract role, you may not be entitled to benefits, particularly if you’re on a temporary contract.

Why do organisations hire on a contract basis?

Contracts can arise for a number of reasons, the main ones being…

• Maternity covers.
• Projects with a finite timeline.
• Headcount reasons, and that’s the way companies do their hiring initially (e.g. many of the multinationals hire people initially on contracts).

What are the different types of contracts?

• Fixed-term contracts – you will officially be an employee of the company for a fixed period of time. You will be entitled to the same amount of annual leave as a permanent employee (pro-rata for the period of your contract), and sometimes there may be other benefits on offer.
• Temporary contracts – you will be paid by, and will technically be an employee of, the recruitment agency, but you will be working for the company. Some things to note with temporary contracts
  • You may be paid a daily rate.
  • You may be paid an hourly rate.
  • You’ll have to accrue annual leave.
  • You may not get paid for sick days.

Contracts will vary in length; in most cases, they can range from a few weeks to 2 years. On occasion, they may be longer than 2 years.

Some of the advantages of contracts:

• At the end of a contract, you will likely have gained experience in an area that you don’t already have, and therefore you will likely have a wider pool of options available to you (e.g. if you qualified in practice and took on a 9 month contract Financial Accountant position, you will have relevant and practical post-qualified experience when coming to market again).
• It can allow a person the opportunity to experience industry and see if they like it, without being tied into a permanent contract.
• There is often a chance that your contract will be extended or made permanent, so it can be a good way of “getting your foot in the door”.
• Sometimes there are fewer “barriers to entry” with a contract role, i.e. the client may be a little more flexible with their requirements than if they were hiring on a permanent basis.

I’ve heard that contract roles “don’t look good on a CV”. Is there truth in this?

• If you have taken on a contract role for strategic reasons (e.g. to get experience in an area that you don’t already have), then there is no negative association with a contract role. In fact, companies can often respect someone who has taken on a contract role due to strategic reasons, as it shows the person is career-focused, proactive and willing to consider all options in order to further their career.
• If someone has worked in multiple contract roles, it can be a concern for future employers when hiring on a permanent basis, if they feel there is a risk of someone leaving after a short period of time. However, it really depends on the individual employer’s perspective on this.

Finishing your training contract in 2026? Do you want to make sure you make the very best first step after qualifying? Do you want a coffee meeting with an expert talent advisor; someone who is a qualified accountant, just like you (meet our Leinster team here>>> and our  Munster team here>>>)? Do you want a little help to create your very own best financial future? No problem. Just drop us a line today on hello@barden.ie and we will take it from there. Simple.

Barden is working with a leading professional services firm to hire an Associate Director – Payroll for their Dublin team. This is a great opportunity for an experienced payroll professional to step into a senior role with real exposure to global clients and complex payroll environments.

You’ll work closely with international teams to deliver payroll across multiple jurisdictions, acting as a key contact for clients while also driving improvements, leading projects, and mentoring a growing team.

What you’ll be doing:

• Managing end-to-end delivery of global payroll services
• Acting as a main point of contact for clients and resolving queries
• Leading payroll transitions and implementation projects
• Driving process improvements and automation initiatives
• Supporting audits, projects, and ongoing client needs
• Mentoring and developing junior team members

What we’re looking for:

• IPASS (or equivalent) with strong payroll experience
• Exposure to international or high-volume payroll
• Strong Excel and systems skills
• Confident communicator with solid stakeholder management
• Organised, detail-focused, and comfortable juggling priorities
• Experience leading or mentoring others

For more information, get in touch with Phonsie Irwin in Barden (Phonsie.irwin@barden.ie).

Here in Barden, we are proud to be working exclusively with a global technology business to identify an ambitious and smart Senior Financial Accountant to join their well-established and highly collaborative finance team.

The successful person will work closely with the Finance Manager on a range of areas including month-end reporting, statutory reporting, analysis and project work. This person will get broad exposure across the global business while liaising with multiple teams across finance and beyond on a daily basis.

“This person will join our growing Finance team and take on a wide range of responsibilities. This would be a great step for someone ambitious looking to progress in their career in the Finance & Accounting space. A fantastic opportunity for someone to expand their skillset for the long-term” – Finance Manager

Responsibilities include:

• End-to-end accounting for your assigned entities;
• Preparation of the month-end and quarter-end reporting processes;
• Responsible for supporting and preparation of the Statutory Accounting Activities for your assigned entities;
• Liaise with internal and external auditors and support the audit process by providing timely and accurate information and data;
• Evaluation of processes and recommendations and implementations of process improvements;
• The development of strong relationships with key stakeholders across the business;
• Involvement in key projects as required to support the continued growth of the business.

About the person:

• Recently qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA or CIMA);
• Experience in a multinational environment is a strong advantage but not essential;
• Strong Excel and systems experience;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
• Strong team player with the ability to interact with stakeholders at all levels of the organisation.

Interested? Feel free to get in touch with Siobhán Sexton in Barden (siobhan.sexton@barden.ie) for more information.

Barden are proud to be working exclusively with a global manufacturing/technology organisation to identify an ambitious and smart financial accountant to join their well-established and highly collaborative finance team.

The successful person will work closely with the Finance Manager on a range of tasks including month-end reporting, variance analysis and ad-hoc project work. This person will get broad exposure across the global business while liaising with multiple teams across finance and beyond.

Responsibilities include:

• End-to-end accounting for your assigned entities within the EMEA region;
• Preparation of the month-end and quarter-end reporting processes;
• Completion of variance analysis and related reports for your entities;
• Liaise with internal and external auditors and support the audit process by providing timely and accurate information and data;
• Assistance with Corporate tax, VAT and payroll tasks;
• The development of strong relationships with key stakeholders across the business;
• Ad-hoc projects as required.

About the person:

• Recently qualified accountant with 1/2 years’ PQE;
• Experience in a multinational environment is a strong advantage but not essential;
• Strong Excel and systems experience;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
• Strong team player with the ability to interact with stakeholders at all level of the organisation.

Curious? Feel free to get in touch with Siobhán Sexton in Barden (siobhan.sexton@barden.ie) for more information.

A well-established and highly successful Irish business have engaged Barden to identify a commercially-minded Financial Analyst to join their Finance team. This broad role is a great opportunity for an ambitious and commercially minded person to work closely with various stakeholders across the business.

This business is well known for its strong culture and work/life balance.

“Working within our commercial team, the ideal person for this role will be a driven individual who is not afraid to hit the ground running and get stuck in. I’m looking for a focused, commercial individual who is keen to contribute to the bottom line of our business. Individuals who can recognise opportunities, act on them and give recommendations that will make a positive impact is what we are looking for.” – Finance Manager

ABOUT THE ROLE:

• Conduct financial analysis in order to identify opportunities for profit improvement across the business;
• Coordinate and project manage various cost saving initiatives identified for the organisation;
• Provide detailed analysis and key financial insights to relevant stakeholders;
• Build and maintain cross functional relationships with both internal and external stakeholders providing support on new and improved ways to drive improvement & profit across the business;
• Promote cost awareness, saving opportunities and a continuous improvement culture throughout the business;
• Ad-Hoc Project work as required.

ABOUT THE PERSON:

• Qualified accountant with 1/2 + years PQE;
• Financial analysis experience is an advantage but not essential;
• Excellent attention to detail, numeric and analytical skills;
• Process, systems and controls focused;
• Excellent communication and relationship building skills.

Sound interesting? Feel free to get in touch with Siobhán Sexton in Barden (siobhan.sexton@barden.ie) for more information.

Ever looked at a job title and got excited, only to read on and find it is not the job you thought it was?

Welcome to the world of misleading job titles!

In one organisation, a ‘Financial Analyst’ is someone who is very involved in partnering with commercial functions to provide insights, while in another, it refers to someone who performs the month-end close; both are quite different roles yet with the same title.

Likewise, as your career progresses, you will find that the further you move up and through the organisational chain, the more differences you will see in job titles – a Financial Controller in an SME company will be doing a very different job than a Financial Controller in Meta. Managing a Finance team of two people in an SME  will be a bit different from overseeing several finance teams of 4-6 people in each team.

To help you navigate your career in the right direction, we have highlighted the main groups of positions you will encounter coming out of contract and all their titles!

#1 FINANCIAL ACCOUNTANT

AKA GL Accountant, Financial Analyst, Management Accountant, Financial Reporting Accountant, or just plain… Accountant.

Do not let the term ‘Analyst’ sway you here.

This group can be defined by the common objective of “producing a set of financial statements for a business.” The role is also likely to include other variants, but your core mandate will be financial accounting delivery. Look out for items in the job description that might point to additional tasks you have and also consider the structure of the organisation itself. Please see our article on organisational structure (here>>>) where we discuss the difference of where a role can sit in the finance function of a MNC or SME.

If it’s a shared service centre for a US business, you can bank on the fact that a lot of the work will be very month-end focused and may have less interaction with the ‘business’ than with a ‘Financial Accountant’ role in an SME or group finance function.

#2 MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANT/ FINANCIAL ANALYST

AKA Commercial Accountant, Finance Business Partner, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Commercial Finance Analyst, or, yet again, just… Accountant.

You’re starting to see the overlap in titles!

So, let’s define this category as everything you do after the financial statements or month-end results are produced – variance analysis, budgeting, forecasting and profitability analyses, assisting with core strategies and key decision-making. These roles can be OpEx, CapEx or revenue-oriented.

What you will need to assess here is the % of time spent behind the computer screen analysing information, and the time spent interacting with key stakeholders and influencing decisions, i.e., business partnering. A 90%/10% split in this dimension is a very different job to a 10%/90% split. The key here is that ‘financial analysis’ can have a broad range of connotations and serve different purposes from one company to another. The function of the ‘Financial Analyst’ and the structure of the organisation/finance function often defines the distance between you and key internal stakeholders.

This visual demonstrates that Financial Accounting work is focused on the past, while Financial Analysis roles are looking towards the future.

#3 INTERNAL AUDIT

No confusing alternative job titles here; it’s just known as Internal Audit!

This is the most misunderstood of the categories. Get rid of those ideas of it being the same as External Audit – it’s not!

Internal Audit roles can be a fantastic way of accessing certain industries, which ordinarily may not be accessible to you, given your experience, and to gain an understanding of how a business actually works. Despite initial impressions, IA presents a commercial opportunity, so it’s worthwhile assessing the long-term opportunities that can be afforded to you by choosing an IA role at this stage in your career.

Most of the Group FCs and executive-level finance professional we work with have spent some of their career in IA. Why? Because IA gives you access to senior (if not executive) management like no other role and will enable you to pick your career path within the business in the future, given the exposure you get in the role. If you’re particularly ambitious and are striving for the top, IA is a smart and strategic career move to jump you ahead of your peers, so it’s definitely one you should explore further.

#4 EVERYTHING ELSE

Every other role that falls outside these three areas includes in-house corporate finance, tax accounting, and systems roles. What is worth noting for these roles in industry at NQ level is that the people who land these roles tend to have worked in these areas in practice.

Roles Can be a Blend

Roles within SMEs often blend Financial Accounting and Financial Analysis, reinforcing the point that job titles alone don’t tell the full story. In many cases, a role may involve core financial accounting responsibilities, such as month-end close, accruals and prepayments, and elements of tax compliance (including returns), while also covering more commercial aspects, such as annual budgeting and monthly forecasting. It’s worth keeping this in mind and reviewing the job description carefully to assess where the role sits on that spectrum and what it truly involves day-to-day.

Overall, the key takeaway here is to read beyond the title and get into the details. Do your research on the organisational structure, establish what it is you want from your career and don’t get misled by preconceptions you may have developed in external audit.

Finishing your training contract in 2026? Do you want to make sure you make the very best first step after qualifying? Do you want a coffee meeting with an expert talent advisor; someone who is a qualified accountant, just like you (meet our Leinster team here>>> and our  Munster team here>>>)? Do you want a little help to create your very own best financial future? No problem. Just drop us a line today on hello@barden.ie and we will take it from there. Simple.

Barden is partnering with a Global Aircraft Lessor to introduce an AP/AR Specialist to their Dublin-based finance team.

This full-time role is ideal for a motivated finance professional with 3+ years’ experience across Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable looking to take ownership of key processes within a collaborative and international finance team.

Key Responsibilities

• Process supplier invoices and support weekly payment runs
• Manage vendor and customer accounts and resolve queries
• Perform reconciliations and support month-end processes
• Issue customer invoices and monitor AR ageing reports
• Assist with improvements to AP/AR processes and reporting

What We’re Looking For

• 3+ years’ experience across AP and AR in a corporate environment
• Strong understanding of accounting principles
• Strong Excel skills and experience with accounting systems
• Highly organised with strong attention to detail
• Confident communicating with internal teams and external partners

For more information, get in touch with Phonsie Irwin in Barden (Phonsie.irwin@barden.ie).

As the march of AI continues, it is crucial that companies identify how to and who manages the opportunities it creates, as well as the risks it can pose.

Responsibility for AI strategy in a company is rarely restricted to a single person.  This is because AI impacts everything, from supply chains and product delivery to interpreting data, identifying new products and marketing them.

AI, if used effectively, can reduce costs, labour needs and increase the speed of “go to market”.  However, we all know it is a double-edged sword, with risks including misinterpreted data, not using an adequate population of base data and (un)ethical business practices.

As such, the responsibility for a company’s AI strategy must be a collaborative effort spanning the C-suite, board of directors, and specialised business unit leaders.

However, let’s be very clear – the ultimate ownership must lie with the CEO and the Board of Directors.

AI touches every aspect of business, and leaders need to fully understand the potential risks and opportunities it offers. Nearly 30% of AI-leading companies now have AI or generative AI formally on the board agenda. This reflects a growing recognition that AI isn’t a narrow IT or innovation topic; it’s a full-board issue touching risk, growth, and competitive positioning.

Top-performing enterprises have moved beyond using AI to improve existing processes. They are now focused on using AI to build new products, open new markets, and reinvent business models.

Where to Start?

The starting point for a board or CEO to consider the potential for AI in their company can come down to 2 basic questions:

• Where to deploy AI? and
• How to manage the risks that come with it?

The more effective companies have already made their choice.

In these companies, the CEO and the C-suite are setting the tone for AI. They acknowledge that AI is not a separate technical initiative but a strategic need that transcends all aspects of the business; AI strategy is a bridge spanning technical teams to the business, commercial, and operational strategies.

The leaders of respective teams, such as product offerings, customer experience, growth, and finance, whatever it may be, define their goals (much as in a traditional organisation structure), the AI lead and their team respond by making the goals achievable by best harnessing AI. This ensures that AI innovation will have an ultimate ROI focus rather than “AI for AI’s sake”. However, this only works when the CEO puts AI on the agenda and encourages the use of an internal team to enhance the business strategy with effective AI.

Final Thoughts

A strategy of “AI for AI’s sake” will not work – AI is a lever used to best achieve the ultimate business strategy. Whilst roles such as Chief AI Officer (CAIO) and Chief Data & Analytics Officer (CDAO) are growing in popularity and, indeed, need, the ultimate ownership for AI in a business must sit at the top. If a CEO or a Board delegates this responsibility, the tail (AI) will undoubtedly begin to wag the dog (strategy).

Barden Executive Search

Barden partners with Boards and executive teams to appoint leaders and build future-ready organisations. Our founders and senior leaders work directly with clients, bringing first-hand experience of scaling businesses and driving growth. Reach out to ed.heffernan@Barden.ie to connect. Your Leaders, found by Ours.