Director Profile – Aidan Ryan
Aidan Ryan joined our audit team as a director in the summer of 2022.
Aidan grew up in Leixlip, Co. Kildare and is the eldest of four siblings, with a brother working in insurance, a sister in pharmaceuticals and his youngest brother, also an accountant, working in practice. His mother works with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and his father is retired after 40 years working with Eircom, but keeps himself busy volunteering with our local GAA club, St Mary’s GAA in Leixlip.
“From a family perspective, my main influence in terms of choosing accounting as a career came from my uncle. He trained in a small accountancy practice in Dublin in the 80s and eventually went on to set up a successful plumbing supplies business amongst other enterprises. I had decided fairly early on in secondary school that I was going to head down the accountancy route. My strongest subjects were maths, business studies, accounting and history. I worked hard at these because I have always had a keen interest in them, however, this was often to the detriment of other subjects. History is still something I remain hugely interested in – looking to understand how events of the past have shaped the world today and what may lie ahead in the future. Amongst my favourite holidays are the European weekend city breaks where we would join the walking tours and learn about a city’s history.”
Sport has always been an important part of Aidan’s life, particularly hurling and Gaelic football but also soccer and golf. “Dad was always heavily involved in coaching underage handball and hurling teams while we were growing up and we naturally gravitated towards that. Playing senior hurling and football for my club for many years is always something I’ve been very proud of. I have missed it since I’ve moved on from it.” Sport was also a big part of Aidan’s life in school, not just playing but also coaching and helping out with junior teams. “I won a Sports Personality of the Year Award at our school graduation. Growing up, our house was generally a very busy and active place. Most evenings and weekends involved trips to and from the GAA club, matches around the county or big championship days out in Croke Park, Thurles or Páirc Ui Chaoimh.”
Aidan joined Moore, or HLB Nathans as it was then, back in 2008 straight after finishing his degree in Finance & Accounting from NUI Maynooth. After 14 years with the firm and after progressing to director level, he moved to Crowe in August 2022. “One of the most enjoyable aspects of working in mid-tier practices like Crowe is the variety that comes from one day to the next. Working closely with businesses from a range of sizes and sectors, understanding how they work, understanding what they need and helping them to achieve their goals is what drives me. It’s not just about providing them with compliance services. It’s also about being innovative and using your wider knowledge and experience to help them succeed – when presented with any particular problem or opportunity to improve, always asking yourself, what has worked elsewhere that might work well here?”
Aidan says another aspect of working with practices like Crowe is that he enjoys the opportunity to work with people across all stages of their careers, from trainees entering the professional world for the first time to directors and partners with long-established careers in the industry. “There’s always something to learn from both ends of the scale. Throughout my career, I have always looked to get involved in the training and development of more junior team members and implementing processes which will help us improve what we do. I’ve always believed that the more working knowledge you can obtain, the more you can contribute and the more valued you will feel as a result. In any profession one might work in, feeling valued is the biggest motivating factor.”
In 2019, Aidan married Kathy and their son Odhran (2) was born the following year. Kathy is an optometrist and runs an optician’s practice in Dublin city centre. They moved to Portmarnock in January 2022 where they hope to raise their family. “Many of our neighbours are in a similar position to ourselves, starting out in a new community with a young family. We are very lucky to live where we live, only a short walk from the sea and the beautiful grounds of Malahide Castle. In our short time living in Portmarnock, we already have a great sense of the strong community spirit in the area and we are very much looking forward to getting involved in the sporting clubs and other activities in the coming years as Odhran grows up.
“Once a week, the neighbours meet for a game of six-a-side football. It’s a fantastic way to keep the fitness ticking over and catch up with people.” Apart from the weekly six-a-side football, in his spare time Aidan enjoys watching sport, listening to podcasts and playing the fiddle. “I’ve always had an interest in traditional Irish music and particularly the violin, but I never actually went and learned how to play it. After finishing up playing football and hurling last year, I finally decided I would buy a fiddle and have been attending weekly lessons ever since. While my progress has been modest to say the least, I’m really enjoying it and it has deepened my appreciation for traditional Irish music even more.”
