The Practising Accountants Update 2025
Registering for The Practising Accountants’ Update at CPD Fest 2025 couldn’t be more straightforward. We have three packages for you to choose from – 8 hours, 16 hours and 24 hours of CPD – allowing you to customise the event to your own specific needs. Once purchased, pick ‘n’ mix the topics of most interest and relevance to you from any of the sessions running across the week of CPD Fest 2025.
CPD Fest Packages:
The 12 Gifts Of CPD Fest
Over the coming weeks we are going to give you advance access to hugely valuable extracts from the note packs The CPD Fest & The Essential Advisors’ Mix.
With The 12 Gifts of CPD Fest you will get guides, financial statements, checklists, tools, tax papers, letters of engagement and reports all the way up to and including the kitchen sink!
Registration for The 12 Gifts Of CPD Fest is free, quick and straight forward and you can do so here:
Event Details:
Session 1: Rescue, Restructure, Recover: A Practical Guide for Insolvency Professionals
Time: 09:00 – 10:40
Speaker: Tom Murray – Friel Stafford
Irish businesses continue to face headwinds from rising costs, post-pandemic debt, and tightening credit conditions. Accountants are often the first professionals to spot the warning signs of financial distress and are expected to provide informed, practical guidance. This session equips you with a clear understanding of the full spectrum of rescue, restructuring, and insolvency procedures available under Irish law, from examinership and schemes of arrangement to liquidation, receivership, and the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP). By attending, you’ll gain the confidence to identify viable rescue routes, advise directors and creditors effectively, and strengthen your practice’s advisory capabilities in a changing economic landscape.
Tom Murray will cover the following topics during this webinar:
- Recognising distress and assessing viability: How to interpret financial warning signs, assess solvency, and determine whether a business can be rescued or should proceed to a formal insolvency process.
- Formal rescue and insolvency options: A practical overview of Examinership, SCARP, Schemes of Arrangement, Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (CVL), Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL), Receivership, and Court Liquidation, including their triggers, processes, and outcomes.
- Directors’ duties and professional obligations: Understanding responsibilities under the Companies Act 2014, wrongful and reckless trading provisions, and how accountants can safeguard their professional position.
- Working with stakeholders: Managing relationships with creditors, lenders, the Revenue Commissioners, and the Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) during restructuring or insolvency engagements.
- Case studies and practical guidance: Examining real Irish cases that demonstrate successful business rescues and recoveries — what worked, what failed, and lessons for future advisory work.
By attending this session, you will:
- Understand the range of formal and informal restructuring options available under Irish insolvency law.
- Be able to evaluate which procedure from examinership to liquidation best fits a client’s circumstances.
- Gain clarity on directors’ legal obligations and the accountant’s advisory and ethical responsibilities.
- Learn how to engage constructively with lenders, creditors, and the Revenue Commissioners.
- Strengthen your practice by offering credible, proactive rescue and recovery advice to clients in difficulty.
This session will be of particular interest to:
- Accountants and business advisers with SME or corporate clients
- Insolvency practitioners and restructuring specialists
- Auditors and tax advisers handling distressed or insolvent clients
- Financial controllers, CFOs, and directors within Irish companies
- Practice owners seeking to expand into business recovery advisory services
Course Level: Intermediate
Session 2: Building Resilience and Thriving Through Challenges
Time: 11:00 – 12:40
Speaker: Edel Walsh – Edel Walsh Coaching and Consulting
In this webinar, Building Resilience and Thriving Through Challenges, Edel Walsh will explore practical ways to build strength and balance in every area of your life.
Edel will look at the connection between resilience and stress, and share strategies to boost your cognitive, social, emotional, and physical well-being. From focusing on your strengths and managing self-talk to setting boundaries, handling conflict, practicing self-compassion, and even improving your diet and exercise habits, this session is all about simple, real-world tools to help you thrive at work and beyond.
Edel Walsh will cover the following topics during this webinar:
Understanding Resilience
- The relationship between resilience and stress
Building Resilience in the Workplace
Cognitive Well-being
- Focus on your strengths
- Live your values
- Your self-talk management
Social Well-being
- Boundaries
- Interactions with others
- Dealing with conflict
Emotional Well-being
- Emotional regulation
- Breathwork
- Self-Compassion
Physical Well-being
- Diet
- Physical Exercise
By the end of this webinar, you will walk away with a clearer understanding of how to stay balanced, confident, and adaptable in the face of challenges. You will gain practical techniques to manage pressure, maintain focus, and build healthier habits that support both your performance and overall well-being, helping you feel more in control and ready to take on whatever comes your way.
Course Level: Foundation
Session 3: Directors’ Duties When Facing Insolvency & Overview of Formal Restructuring Processes
Time: 13:40 – 15:20
Speakers: Ian Barrett – BDO Ireland
Ian Barrett will cover the following topics during this webinar:
- Directors duties
- Signs of financial distress & company insolvency test
- Practical steps for directors to take when facing financial difficulty
- Common errors and risks for directors
- Overview of formal restructuring processes (survival and exit / winding up)
Course Level: Intermediate
Session 4: HR & Employment Law Update - December 2025
Time: 15:40 – 17:20
Speaker: Yvonne Clarke – RBK
The session will provide an overview of the updates and changes in Employment Law in 2025 and a review of same along with what is coming down the line in 2026.
It is important for employers to ensure they remain up to date and compliant with the latest updates to employment legislation. Staying informed about changes in employment law helps employers proactively manage risks, refine HR practices, and maintain a fair, compliant, and productive workplace. This not only protects the organisation from potential litigation but also enhances its reputation and fosters better employee relations.
The session will highlight the key employment law developments in the previous year which have impacted employers, including ongoing Gender Pay Gap Reporting, Leave updates, the expanded Employment Permit System, and the rules on Collective Redundancies.
What to look out for in 2026:
- The Pay Transparency Directive: What does it mean for Irish employers?
- Implementation of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act in Ireland
- General Scheme of the Employment (Restriction of Certain Mandatory Retirement Ages) Bill 2025.
- The official introduction of Auto Enrolment and key HR considerations
- Organisation of Working Time Act
- Right to Work in Ireland and Work Permits
By attending this session, you will learn about updates to employment legislation. Employers can then ensure they are compliant with the latest regulations, reducing the risk of possible litigation, fines, and penalties
This session will allow employers to refine their practices and policies to align with the latest legal requirements. This can lead to better employee management, reducing turnover and enhancing employee satisfaction.
Attending this webinar will also help employers identify areas where their managers and HR staff may need further training to ensure their organisation maintains high standards of compliance
Course level: Intermediate
CPD Course Facilitators
Maura Dolan - LECI
Maura is a highly accredited Senior Practitioner and Master Coach, Trainer and Facilitator with over 18 years’ experience coaching at C Suite to middle management high potential level. Maura’s clients include Professional firms, State and Semi-State Sector, Multi-national, and indigenous Irish companies, such as HSE, AGS and Revenue, Not-For-Profit, Academic, Financial Institutions, Pharmaceutical, Construction, Retail, Marketing/Branding, FMCG.
Maura’s coaching practice focuses on releasing potential, enhancing leadership skills and developing mental mastery and fitness. Her coaching programs and expertise are complemented by her dedication to achieving sustainable change and performance improvement.
Tom Murray – Friel Stafford
Tom qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) in 1997 whilst working with Chase Manhattan Bank. Tom has over 20 years experience in accounting and business roles.
Before moving into Corporate Recovery and Insolvency with Friel Stafford in 2003, Tom developed wide ranging experience in finance roles with a number of leading financial institutions in a number of diverse areas including Corporate Treasury, Corporate Finance and Corporate Accounting.
He is one of Ireland’s most experienced corporate recovery and turnaround practitioners and was one of the first Personal Insolvency Practitioners licensed in Ireland.
He also is an experienced Corporate Financier with particular interest and expertise in the area of equity and debt fund raising, and the buying and selling of businesses.
He has extensive experience of all areas of Litigation Support and Expert witness. He has worked with private clients, SMEs, national companies, multi-nationals, county councils and various Government and Regulatory agencies in defending and bringing proceedings.
He is heavily involved with the ACCA accountancy body and is a past President of ACCA Ireland. He represented ACCA Ireland at the ACCA International Assembly in 2011. He was nominated in January 2021 by ACCA to represent it on the the CCABI insolvency Committee.
He is engaged by the three leading Accountancy bodies in Ireland as a lecturer for their CPD (Continuous Professional Development) in the area of Corporate Recovery, Insolvency and Personal Bankruptcy. Tom has written and presented two of the six modules in the Diploma in Insolvency run by Chartered Accountants Ireland.
He has contributed technical articles on Corporate Recovery and Insolvency for the magazines of the three leading Accountancy bodies in Ireland. He is currently writing a monthly column in this area for Accounting and Business Ireland – the magazine of ACCA Ireland.
He was asked to make numerous media appearance as an Insolvency expert and has appeared on RTE’s main news bulletins, TV3, Sky News, Newstalk and Today FM for comments on insolvency issues and business matters.
Brian Walker - The Bar of Ireland
Brian Walker is practicing barrister. He has nearly 45 years experience of company law and company secretarial practice, having previously worked with the accountancy firms of KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
He has been CPD lecturer in company law to the main accountancy bodies for the past thirty years. His approach to company law is straightforward, direct and easily understood. He will focus on changes in company and commercial law and the most important issues that arise daily for accountants, auditors and company directors.
Alison Walker - The Bar of Ireland
Alison Walker is a practising barrister who specialises in Company Law.
Alison is an Accredited Mediator and a member of the ADR Committee of the Bar of Ireland.
BCL, UCD
Barrister-at-Law Degree, The Honourable Society of King’s Inns
Ian Barrett - BDO Ireland
Ian is a qualified accountant, Insolvency Practitioner and Partner in BDO’s Corporate Recovery practice. He has 20 years’ experience of managing large scale insolvencies and provides turnaround and restructuring advice to underperforming businesses, financial institutions, secured lenders and other key business stakeholders.
He acts as a formal appointment taker and managed some of the largest Creditors Voluntary Liquidations, Members Voluntary Liquidations, Court Liquidations, Examinerships, SCARPs and Receiverships across a wide range of industries with particular focus on construction, property, healthcare, retail, motor industry, technology and the hospitality sectors.
Ian regularly contributes to various business publications and presents to various representative groups / bodies on important restructuring topics.
Yvonne Clarke - RBK
Yvonne is MCIPD Accredited, with an MSc in HRM Leadership and she is also a Certified Workplace Mediator (The Mediators’ Institute of Ireland). Yvonne has a personal and practical approach and is experienced in working collaboratively with clients managing multiple, disparate activities, projects and transformation programmes ensuring people strategies are aligned with Business Strategic direction and Business Needs.
With over 22 years’ experience in all areas of Human Resource Management, she has worked in business areas such as Logistics, Manufacturing / Recycling, Not-For-Profit/Charity, Health and Social Care, Education and Corporate Functions such as Finance, IT, Quality & Corporate Governance and Strategic Planning & Development.
Edel Walsh - Edel Walsh Coaching and Consulting
Edel Walsh is the owner of Edel Walsh Coaching and Consulting.
She specialises in mental health and well-being coaching and workplace well-being coaching.
Edel is also a student mentor and coach supporting professional accountancy students through their exams. Edel supports her student clients get their exams as quickly as possible while maintaining balance and prioritizing their well-being.
Her corporate career started in KPMG where qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser. From there, Edel moved into professional education where she held senior lecturer and examinership roles within the professional accountancy bodies.
Barry Crushell – Crushell & Co
Barry is a former army officer, who served with the United Nations on multiple deployments. He trained with leading law firm Arthur Cox, before going on to establish the Dublin and London offices of a US law firm. Barry holds a BA in Law and Politics, LLM in Business Law, LLM in Dispute Resolution, MPhil in Linguistics and an Advanced Diploma in Employment Law.
His Doctorate in Law thesis examines the case conditions that typically lead to a successful claim before the Workplace Relations Commission. Barry is qualified to practice law in Ireland, Northern Ireland and England and Wales and is a member of the American Bar Association.
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