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Career Heroes - Matt Shannon

Job title

Accounting Consultant

Employer

Allstate

Tell us more about you

I'm a 33 year old accountant. I qualified with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland in 2015. Becoming a qualified accountant seemed a natural follow-on after completing a BSc in Accounting at Queen’s University. I've found it to be a very good career decision and it has certainly created a lot of opportunity for me in terms of companies I have worked for and places I have got to visit.

What kind of work do you do?

I began my career with Allstate four years ago, leading a team in the delivery of the financial reports for Allstate Life Insurance. I've recently moved to the Finance team, which has provided me with the opportunity to work on a range of projects covering financial reports, payroll, grants, accounts payables/receivables, and fixed assets.

The opportunities in Allstate are second to none in terms of getting to move to new roles internally and ensuring you have experience across a wide range of roles.

Top 5 Skills & Attributes Needed for your job

Planner

Communicator

Flexible & Adaptable

Technical

Resilience

How did you become a Accounting Consultant?

After completing the BSc in Accounting at Queen's, I joined PwC as a Trainee Auditor. This was a great learning environment, giving me exposure to a multitude of different industries and companies.

After completing my training contract and becoming a qualified accountant, I joined Augentius (now IQEQ) as a Fund Administrator. This was my first accounting role and I enjoyed being the primary point of contact between the Investment Fund Managers and the Financials. It was a great role in that it allowed me to develop my resilience and take real ownership for the first time over my own deliverables.

After four years working for Augentius I moved to Allstate, my current employer.

What you do enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy the work-life balance that Allstate has provided me. I was working full time in the office before Covid and do not think I honestly could go back to that type of work. I enjoy the flexibility provided by our hybrid working policy. I mostly work from home but have the option to join colleagues in the Belfast office if we're working on a project that requires collaboration. Not having to commute every day is great, this allows me more time before or after work to go to the gym, take my kids to sport activities, cook dinner, etc. In addition, there is a great social side to Allstate with plenty of team bonding events, charity days, nights out, and a busy sports and social calendar.

If you could do-over, What would you do differently?

I would have spent more time at school and university developing my IT skills. The workplace is becoming more and more IT-focused, with AI (artificial intelligence) and more automation being the way forward. So being more technologically minded would be an advantage.