My Business Life: Tommy Doherty, Forvis Mazars

Tommy Doherty, partner and head of Audit & Assurance for Forvis Mazars in Ireland, shares his life and business lessons.

Doherty leads the audits of large corporate and public sector organisations, particularly in the food and drink industry for Forvis Mazars in Ireland.

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

I grew up in Belfast and studied engineering for a brief stint at Queens University before moving to an Accountancy degree in Scotland.

After college, I trained as a Chartered Accountant in a small firm in Dublin before moving to a Big 4 firm for seven years and then on to what was then Mazars, now Forvis Mazars, in 2006 as a Director. I was made Audit Partner shortly after joining and was appointed head of Audit and Assurance for Ireland nine years ago.

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

Sometimes, I think I may be a dying breed as an auditor! I enjoy getting to know different companies and the people leading them, understanding what drives the business and providing assurance over the key financial information they publish.

And it’s that people element that is most important – establishing a strong partner-client relationship is really critical in what we do and something I believe we do exceptionally well at Forvis Mazars.

Markets need competition – we deliver high-quality audits to complex organisations, meeting our clients’ ever-evolving and dynamic needs, with a strong emphasis on the personal element.

What are your growth plans?

When I became Head of Audit and Assurance, we had less than 100 people in the department, it has grown to over 500 now.

Based on our international expansion plans and continued investment in people, this is set to double again over the next five years. It’s a very exciting time for us in audit.

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

I’m fair, direct, strong and focused. When I put my mind to something, I’m determined to always see it through.

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

For me, it has not been just one individual. When you surround yourself with great people, which we do at Forvis Mazars, you develop naturally, learning through osmosis.

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

Do the right thing!

As leaders, we are faced with many decisions – when they are tough, I bring it back to doing the right thing by my clients and my team.

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

In my opinion, it’s starting a new firm people don’t recognise and growing it into one they want to do business with.

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

Carefully, day-by-day, looking after our clients and team by being there for them. I learnt to be more tolerant – that ranged from family, who were seeing a lot more of me, to my work environment and recognising when people were struggling and giving them the support they needed.

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

It’s increasing in use, but what’s most important to me is data security, which means that it will be an iterative process.

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

When you are growing a successful business, there are always things along the way that you need to learn from, but you can’t go back, and therefore, my outlook is always forward, changing how you do things in the future.

Who inspires you in business today?  

Fellow business leaders inspire me because of their resilience in an ever-changing landscape.

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

The first thing is helping new team members embrace and understand our culture of ‘doing the right thing’ and what that means in their role as they advance in the firm.

The second is ensuring that we create an environment where everyone feels comfortable talking about issues or challenges they face.

Lastly, it’s about helping them to develop their self-awareness and being able to lean into their strength while addressing the areas that they can improve.

What business books do you read or would recommend?

I have been doing a lot of technical CPD (continued professional development) over the last 18 months: PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) and CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting), so my books tend to be lighter, thankfully.

I read ‘The Bureau’ by Eoin McNamee recently –  it’s about a backstreet Bureau de Change and questionable movement of money.

It made me think about how fraud has evolved in the digital world and the frequency of cyber-attacks. I am surprised by the relatively low prevalence of these stories in the media, as I would suggest it does not reflect the staggering statistics.

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

I use my Microsoft Calendar for work – if it doesn’t get in, it doesn’t get done!

For personal, I tend to move between WhatsApp and my Notes which is an ever-changing list of everything I have to do.

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

I would keep it short, as I’m not sure if my 21-year-old self would listen to me for very long, but good advice for any 21-year-old willing to listen is to ‘Do something that you really enjoy – it’s important as you spend most of your time doing it.’

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