My Business Life: Sandra Clarke, Xeinadin Ireland

Sandra Clarke, managing partner Ireland at Xeinadin, shares her life and business lessons.

Xeinadin is one of the largest multi-disciplinary business advisory and accountancy firms in the UK and Ireland. They have more than 2,000 employees across Ireland and the UK, including 500 in Ireland.

Sandra has more than 30 years’ experience in business advisory and was a founding partner of BCC Accountants, where she played a key role in expanding the practice from four people to 40 until they were acquired by Xeinadin in 2019.

She’s now regional managing partner at Xeinadin, having overall responsibility for Xeinadin Ireland’s operations, as well as supporting and embedding their merger and acquisition activity.

Tell us about your background, what journey did you take to arrive at where you are?

I joined an accountancy practice straight out of school, working by day, studying by night. I am a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser. I have over 35 years of experience in the accounting industry, advising some exceptional businesses over the years, especially in the health profession.

As a founding partner of BCC Accountants, I helped the practice grow from just four employees to forty. BCC joined Xeinadin in 2019 and in 2023 we said goodbye to our BCC brand as we fully embraced Xeinadin. It was around the same time as I was appointed as Managing Partner Ireland at Xeinadin in May 2023. Since joining Xeinadin, I have developed and led the strategic delivery of our operations in Ireland.

Why are you doing what you are doing? What need are you meeting? What’s your USP?

Xeinadin’s Point of Difference is that we pride ourselves on being led by locally forged, trusted relationships that are supported by the power and knowledge of a collaborative international group. We pride ourselves on being ‘Partner Powered’: We’re not just here to provide a service and give business advice, we are here to help businesses achieve their personal and business goals with business advice that will make a difference. We are committed to remaining present in our local communities across Ireland and the UK.

How did you fund and start the business and what are your growth plans?

Before joining Xeinadin, I had a pivotal role in building BCC Accountants from the ground up, increasing employee numbers tenfold. In 2019, we joined Xeinadin and we later rebranded in 2023 to further integrate with the firm.

Xeinadin has big growth plans, especially in Ireland. In June of this year, we recently announced that we would earmark €40m for investment into Ireland over the next 18 months as we expand our footprint across Ireland.

What are your key skills and qualities that set you apart?

Being respectful to everyone I work with, my work ethic, it tends to be all or nothing with me!

I lead by example, building relationships and earning people’s trust and belief in me.

What (or whom) has helped you most along the way? Who was your greatest mentor/inspiration?

First and foremost, my parents have been my greatest inspiration in life. I got my respect for people and my work ethic and resilience from them.

My business partners, Paul Byrne who trained and mentored me and Alan Connolly who I have worked alongside for 35 years has been a huge inspiration for me too. There are others as well but too many to mention them all!

What was the greatest piece of business advice you ever received?

Never make assumptions and if at first you don’t succeed, pick yourself up, and try again, you will get there. Practice makes perfect.

What circumstances/qualities/events can mark the difference between success or failure in life or business?

In order to succeed, there has to be a strategic plan to focus on and then work out how to deliver that plan and the timeframe to achieve same. It sounds easier than it is and you have to allow for bumps along the road. You also need to revisit the plan regularly. You need to build up resilience and a positive mind and attitude make all the difference too.

Surrounding yourself with like minded people helps boost your focus.   

What was the most challenging aspect of either starting or growing the business?

The most challenging aspect has been hiring the right people who have similar visions and ethos of how to deliver the best service we can to our clients and to help them achieve their goals.

How did you navigate your business through the pandemic and what lessons did you learn?

Thankfully we were already cloud based from an IT perspective so the transition to working remotely for our teams was not too painful. It was a difficult time for those with families to look after while working but we got through it. Like all businesses, we learned new ways of communication with our teams and clients with Zoom and Teams becoming the norm.

We had to think and act fast as there were so many changes in legislation and supports for employees which we had to administrate and process for our clients. It was a hectic time in our profession trying to keep all our clients updated with so many changes ongoing throughout the pandemic.

How has digital transformation been a factor in your scaling journey and do you believe Irish firms are utilising digital technologies sufficiently?

We set about going paperless in 2019, startling slowly with an aim to achieve same within three years. The Covid pandemic escalated these plans as we all had to learn how to work differently like all businesses during that time. Our digital transformation has been successful and we are now also leading the way and helping other offices to transform.

While Irish firms are utillising technology, there is room for improvement and to use more efficiently than we currently do.

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

Get the work/life balance sorted! Involve the team on the journey earlier and delegate more and let the teams make more decisions.

Who inspires you in business today?  

I am actually inspired by the people I work with. There are so many talented people in our business who are all great to work with and we share the same culture and vision for Xeinadin.

We are on a very exciting journey and while sometimes we have tough days and tough decisions to make, the vision and goal of what we will achieve make it all so worthwhile.

What advice/guidance do you give new hires and how do you nurture talent in your organisation?

Everyday is a school day, if you have not learnt something new, you shouldn’t go home!

You can climb as high up the ladder as you want with Xeinadin, we have a competency framework and we want to encourage and recognise promotions where deserved.

What business books do you read or would recommend?

I am currently reading Atomic Habits by James Clear.

What technologies/tools do you use personally to keep you on track?

I use the usual Microsoft Outlook Diary for meetings and diary management and Onenote for making quick notes/reminders/actions. I have recently started using Monday.com helps keep me on track with my work

What social media platforms do you prefer and why?

I use LinkedIn for business and Instagram but that is more to see what my daughters are up to!

What are your thoughts on where technology overall is heading and how it will apply to business generally and your business particularly?

Technology is constantly changing and improving. It enables a faster, wider and more efficient means of communication. It helps increase the efficiency of the services we deliver and streamlines processes which enables us to grow the business. With technology performing repetitive tasks this frees up peoples time to concentrate on providing the business advisory and support our clients need and want.

Finally, if you had advice for your 21-year-old self – knowing what you know now – what would it be?

• Be respectful
• Don’t beat yourself up when something goes wrong
• Focus on your personal career goals
• We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act but a habit!