Rory Finegan Speaker, Trainer & Mentor Business Growth & Leadership Dublin Ireland
Rory Finegan FCA

Speaker, trainer & mentor

An advocate for sustainable business growth and insight-driven leadership, Rory has inspired countless entrepreneurs with his thought-provoking talks and lectures.

His framework is built on four fundamental values:

Give the best of yourself in relationships

Be fair, and make sure others succeed

Work hard and enjoy the rewards together

Face your flaws and always be transparent

Rory’s philosophy

Businesses can no longer afford to be retrospective. Today’s leaders are using smart business intelligence to make proactive decisions.

Themes for talks

How To Go For Growth The Gazelle Way (from €1 m to +€12 m)

Only 20% of startups in Ireland survive more than four years. Of those, only 3% ever exceed the CRO classification ‘small’ (>50 employees and >€12m turnover). That’s just over 0.5%!

In this talk Rory will:

  • Explain why most startups fail and why even those that succeed find it difficult to grow.
  • Identify the strategies and skills that will enable Irish companies to beat the odds, including the crucial areas of productivity and team-building.
  • Reveal how to work ON your business, instead of IN your business – tools to help you transition from startup to medium company.
  • Define a ‘good business builder’. Rory champions the professional business builder over the entrepreneur, so he looks at what skills and attributes will allow you to grow a business and how these differ from the characteristics of the serial entrepreneur.
  • Cover his top Rockefeller tips.

How To Invest To Grow (And Who To Ask For Money)

It’s an inescapable fact that growing companies need money. Often, business owners planning for growth will rely on the 3Fs; however Friends, Family and Fools are generally the worst investment option! 

For this talk, Rory draws on his long experience in business as well as the many successful funding strategies he has helped clients to implement. He has coached Irish companies with successful pitches/applications on Dragons’ Den and to Enterprise Ireland’s Competitive Start Fund, HPSU programme, and New Frontiers programme.

This talk will cover:

  • What are the different funding options available to growing Irish businesses, including newer sources of capital such as P2P loans?
  • Ways to build your financial projections to attract investment.
  • How to develop a rolling plan or live plan, and what tools to use.
  • Should you go for equity or debt? Which one makes sense for your company?

How To Maximise Profitability Through Digital Transformation

Rory has been a trailblazer in his industry for years. From the moment he set up his accountancy practice, he embraced global technological innovations such as SaaS and PaaS, that were being largely ignored in Ireland. As an early adopter of tech solutions, he quickly identified the ways digital transformation can supercharge a business, and has been using it to help clients achieve great things ever since.

In this talk, Rory will:

  • Explain what digital transformation is and how it can allow you to outsource services.
  • Discuss the best strategy for outsourcing your finance, HR, and IT support functions.
  • Look at intelligent ways to integrate systems and processes in your company.
  • Examine which KPIs you should be using to measure and improve performance.
  • Consider team building and incentivising as part of your digital transformation, including how to achieve high adoption rates.

How To Assess The Financial Health (Or Otherwise) Of Your Business

Do you know how to assess the health of your business? What are the early warning signs that issues such as cash flow are likely to seriously impede your ability to operate? Drawing on his experience both as a Chartered Accountant and as Finance Director of large companies, Rory takes you through the process of assessing your financial health and identifying ways to improve it.

Rory has worked with a number of fast-growing startups in accelerators and hubs such as NDRC, Guinness Enterprise Centre, The Digital Hub and Fumbally Exchange – watching them put his framework into practice to achieve sustainable growth.

In this talk, Rory will:

  • Explain the different financial ratios you can use to assess the health of your business
  • Show you how to understand cash flow and manage it proactively
  • Demonstrate how you determine if your business is profitable
  • Give you a formula to see if you’re getting high enough returns from your business
  • Reveal the key steps you can take to improve your business performance

All these talks can also be delivered as masterclasses aimed at the CEO, COO, or CFO.
They are usually held as a half-day or full-day session, depending on the company.

Rory’s philosophy

Businesses that achieve growth tend to be the ones with a real sense of purpose. But they also balance that ambition to succeed with a high regard for personal relationships and and a supportive culture.

Trainer

A qualified trainer, Rory regularly delivers courses and talks on finance and business topics for Local Enterprise Offices, Enterprise Ireland, The Entrepreneurs Academy, The Institute of Chartered Accountants, and Springboard and Momentum Programmes.

Accountant

Rory is a Big Four-trained Chartered Accountant with over two decades of experience running the finance functions of businesses in Ireland and the UK, initially as Financial Controller, then Finance Director and lastly as CEO.

Business advisor

Heading up the advisory practice at Beyond, Rory advises businesses on their financial strategy and works with them to achieve growth, profitability and positive cashflow.

Business hubs

With connections to Dublin’s leading business accelerators such as the NDRC, The Ryan Academy and Enterprise Ireland’s Competitive Start Fund, Rory mentors high potential businesses to achieve growth, improve profitability, and manage cash.

Entrepreneur

Rory is the founder of Beyond, an accountancy firm based in Dublin 2. Beyond specialises in cloud applications, automated bookkeeping, and paperless accounting, and offers a range of business development services to clients.

Corporate Ambassador

Rory acts as an ambassador for global cloud accounting market leader, Xero, representing their interests in the Irish market – at trade shows and with their customers. Previously, Rory represented Vodafone as a mentor on its Smart Startup programme.

Experience

From 2013:
Founding Partner & COO, Beyond

From 2014:
Founder, Beancounters

2007-2010:
Managing Director, Buy & Sell

2001-2007:
Finance Director, Buy & Sell

1998-2001:
Finance Director, Media Directories International

1997-1998:
Transition Accountant, McAfee Software Europe

1993-1997:
Financial Controller, Dean Street Post

1989-1993:
Chartered Accountant, KPMG

 

More than 20 years’ industry experience

Rory has headed companies

in both the UK and Ireland

Rory on LinkedIn
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