Denise Chinpire O’Reilly is proof that you don’t need to be a practising accountant to get enduring value from your ACCA qualification. As managing director of KS Chinpire Contracting Services, based in Trinidad and Tobago, she runs her family-owned business with her sister. A good grasp of numbers is invaluable in her role, however, and she believes that the qualification has equipped her with robust skills to analyse and interpret information.
Another benefit of the qualification is that it connects her with a broad network of ACCA members. ‘ACCA has opened so many doors for me,’ she says. ‘It helped me to network with other ACCA-qualified professionals and industry leaders as there is no need to reinvent the wheel in the learning process. The more you can learn from the outside, the more you can bring back to your business to do better.’
‘Structures, policies, procedures and systems remove the emotional elements from decision-making’
KS Chinpire Contracting Services
3rd
Generation family business
200
Approximate number of employees
1996
Incorporated as a limited liability company
30%
Female members of the workforce
2
Family members working in the business
Striving for improvement is important to Chinpire O’Reilly. ‘I’ve always had a one-year business plan, but now I’m making a conscious effort to work on a three-year strategic plan for our company to grow and develop the structure that is needed now and down the road to be successful,’ she says.
Diversification strategy
The company serves clients that primarily operate in the oil and gas industry and are based on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate; services include civil works, facilities management, heavy equipment rental and the supply of skilled and unskilled labour. Chinpire O’Reilly recognises that the business needs to diversify its client base beyond the energy sector, so it is moving into other sectors, including construction and industries that are not solely dependent on a gas supply from the local government.
Ultimately, Chinpire O’Reilly’s goal is that her children will have the opportunity to join a healthy company. ‘A family business has its pros and cons,’ she says. ‘Emotions run deep and sometimes prevent the best business decisions from being made. Structures, policies, procedures and systems remove the emotional elements from decision-making.’
Rising up the ranks
While KS Chinpire Contracting Services was incorporated in 1996, the business was actually started by Chinpire O’Reilly’s grandfather over 50 years ago. When her father died suddenly in 2013, she found herself elevated to the top job – a role she had been preparing for all her adult life, having joined the business at 16 and worked her way up through the ranks.
‘I wasn’t allowed to make mistakes; there was a higher expectation on me to deliver’
Although Chinpire O’Reilly had ambitions of becoming a lawyer, her father persuaded her to pursue the finance route, believing that accountants are always in demand, and she studied for the AAT and then CAT qualifications. Later, she studied for the ACCA qualification, attracted by its global reputation and the reach of the ACCA network.
Being the owner’s daughter made it harder, rather than easier, for Chinpire O’Reilly to succeed in the workplace. She had to prove herself to her father and they sometimes had disagreements, which resulted in him firing her on three separate occasions – but she was always rehired the next day. ‘I had to do a lot more research than other people before I took a decision,’ she says. ‘I wasn’t allowed to make mistakes, and I had to stay late when other people went home because there was a higher expectation on me to deliver.’
CV
2020-2022
President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago (ICATT)
2019
Representative for regional network partner, Professional Accountancy Organization Development Advisory Group (PAODAG), International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)
2016
Director (Trinidad and Tobago), Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) (secretary from 2023 onwards)
2013
Managing director, KS Chinpire Contracting Services
1995
Finance manager, accounting assistant, timekeeper, KS Chinpire Contracting Services
2005
Gained ACCA qualification
Nevertheless, working closely with her father strengthened their bond. She also learned a huge amount, which meant she was well prepared to succeed him when the time came. ‘I just went into leadership mode and took the reins,’ she says.
‘I wanted to be a leader with heart and compassion because the energy sector is a harsh environment’
‘My sister and I have a close relationship, so there wasn’t any conflict. I became the managing director; she became the director. It was like a switch was flipped.’
Inspiring leader
The biggest challenge that Chinpire O’Reilly faced at that time was assuming responsibility for areas such as whether to hire additional employees or buy more assets. Yet she also had an opportunity to define her personal leadership style and vision for the business. ‘I wanted to be a leader who could inspire, motivate and encourage people to work for me,’ she says. ‘I wanted to be a leader with heart and compassion because the energy sector is a harsh environment.’
Being a female leader in the male-dominated energy sector is a challenge, admits Chinpire O’Reilly. She says that to succeed as a woman in the sector, it’s necessary to take tough decisions, get out of your comfort zone and make a strong first impression. But it’s also important to remain authentic. In fact, her advice to other female leaders in a similar position is to ‘never stop being who you are’.
She also values the support that she and her sister get from their husbands, whom she describes as ‘rocks’. ‘Without them helping us to manage the home side of life,’ she says, ‘it would be difficult to do the things we need to do to get where we want to go.’
‘Young people need to see an example of someone who is not working in a big accountancy firm’
Active role
Chinpire O’Reilly has played an active role in supporting the accountancy profession in the Caribbean. As well as being an ACCA fellow, she’s a director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) and a former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago (ICATT), among other positions. Additionally, she represents ICAC on the Professional Accountancy Organization Development Advisory Group of the International Federation of Accountants.
‘I don’t think there are enough professional accountants in business who speak for us,’ she says. ‘You can run a business successfully as a qualified accountant, but if we don’t show young people that this can be done, we will struggle to attract them to the profession. They need to see an example of someone who is not working in a big accountancy firm and is still succeeding. I want to be that person, I want to be that anomaly.’
