Case Study Profile: Mairead O'Carroll

Mairead O'Carroll
Chief Financial Officer
Irish Life International

Completed Certificate in International Cash Management as part of the AMCT Diploma in Treasury.

Your route to treasury?

I joined Irish Life as a trainee accountant and developed my career within various roles including tax, IT, payroll, industrial branch business and currently in Irish Life International.

What did you study and why?

I wanted a practical qualification which would develop my practical skills quickly so that I could apply the learning at work. The study programme was challenging while the concepts were clear and particularly relevant given the turmoil in financial markets.

CertICM has provided me with a much clearer idea of how to structure corporate bank accounts in an efficient way. It’s very helpful as background understanding to the settlements function and the swift system. I found the residential course very useful at pulling all the study material together – and would recommend that you prepare for the five-day course to get the most out of it.

I took CertICM as part of my AMCT and found the combination of the subjects very relevant to my role in finance. In addition to the cash management paper I found the risk management course especially useful as it broadened my appreciation of the risks and control frameworks that need to be in place.

My advice

AMCT is quite in-depth so it’s important to be organised - the more prepared you are about getting through the course the more you will get out of it. If you put the time in to fully understand the material you will be able to demonstrate your understanding not just at a theoretical but also at a practical level.

Future plans

Following AMCT I plan to continue in a financial role with a broader area of responsibility and I think the AMCT now provides me an opportunity to move into other areas with increased dependability.