Irish tech veteran Mee joins board of software firm Accounts IQ amid plans to set up UK base
VETERAN Irish software tycoon Pearse Mee has joined the board of cloud accounting firm Accounts IQ .
The company’s founder and chief executive Tony Connolly said Mee’s expertise would help Accounts IQ grow its UK presence.
Galway entrepreneur Mee (74) was behind Memory Computer — the first computer-related firm to float on the Irish Stock Exchange.
Later he cofounded AMT-Sybex, a software firm that was sold to Capita for €100m plus a conditional €27m in 2014.
Connolly said that Accounts IQ has tended to sell in to the UK from Ireland, but is now looking to set up a base there.
“It was in that context that Pearse came on to the board because he’s obviously got specific experience...when AMT-Sybex started to take off it was largely based in the UK,” Connolly told the Sunday Independent.
“We already get nearly 40pc of our revenues from the UK, we’ve had customers there for quite some time... our plan is to capitalise on the existing strong base that we’ve got and start to build it, and we see the UK as being one of the strong markets for us,” Connolly added.
“We have customers in Australia and the US as well, but I suppose a particular focus is the UK because although we get a decent chunk of revenue from there, our presence is fairly small and we’re relatively unknown in the UK.
“Getting software known in a space like that requires investment, it requires a bit of sales and marketing effort to get the name known and get the brand known so that’s where we’re focusing our attention.”
Connolly said the company would look at raising additional funding “largely internally”. Its software is designed to make it easier for firms to carry out accounting functions across multiple entities.
Mee is an investor in Accounts IQ via his family fund Clannmee Holdings. He was ranked 111th on the Sunday Independent’s 2016 Rich List with a fortune of €125m.
Another investor and Accounts IQ’s chairman is Mee’s fellow tech entrepreneur Gerry McKeown, whose McKeown Software business — which also focussed on accounting — was sold for £12m in 2001 and is now part of Capita.
McKeown later became chairman of Mee’s AMT-Sybex, which also counted former UK foreign secretary William Hague among its directors.
Eddie Murphy, the founder of web development business Labyrinth which was sold to BT, is also a board member and investor at Accounts IQ .
Murphy recently led a strategic review of listed tech firm Zamano, whose board he joined earlier this year.
Earlier this year Fayezul Choudhury, chief executive of the International Federation of Accountants, told the Sunday Independent that advances in data-processing capability raise questions about the role human beings will play in accountancy in future.
“The effect of technology on all professions, including the accountancy profession is going to be very profound. Because if you have that much processing capacity, than arguably artificial intelligence becomes much more realistic,” he said.