Paul McCann returns to his accounting roots as CEO of Irish firm Ecovis

Irish accounting firm Ecovis Ireland has appointed Paul McCann as its chief executive.

McCann is a former managing partner of Grant Thornton, one of the biggest firms in the Irish market, and spent 22 years with the group.

He was a high-profile insolvency practitioner at the firm, including being appointed in 2010 as joint administrator of Quinn Insurance Ltd, a major part of Seán Quinn’s business empire.

On leaving the firm he served as interim chief financial officer for a time with lender PTSB and until recently was the head of Irish IT solutions company Ergo, which was founded by John Purdy.

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In January, Ergo was sold to Presidio in a deal that reportedly valued the Irish business at €100 million. McCann left Ergo in February after four and a half years in charge.

McCann already had a connection to the firm, having served as non-executive chairman of Ecovis since the middle of last year. The firm is part of the Ecovis International network and was formerly known as DCA Accountants.

The firm said McCann would focus on scaling Ecovis Ireland’s operations, strengthening its advisory offering and supporting “strategic growth both organically and by acquisition”.

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The firm is backed by investment group BGF, which itself has backing from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. BGF took a stake in the firm last year with a stated ambition to drive consolidation among Irish accounting firms, and to scale rapidly.

Commenting on McCann’s appointment, Declan Dolan, founding partner of Ecovis, said: “Paul’s appointment and our transition to Ecovis Ireland marks a significant step forward for the firm. His leadership experience combined with his deep understanding of the business positions us strongly for continued growth and supports our goal to acquire firms with a similar culture to our own.”

McCann said he was “delighted” to return to the professional services arena. “As an Irish-owned and -managed business, I believe Ecovis Ireland can become a focal point for consolidation among Irish firms and as an alternative to the UK-owned consolidators,” he said.