Green is go

Ward says: ‘ESB Networks has set out the strategy, and my role is to track how we’re performing against it, to make sure we’re implementing it at pace and on time. If we are off course, it’s about understanding what we need to do to get back on track.’

Figuring it out

A background in consulting and financial services gave Ward a range of skillsets that took her to a director’s role with Grant Thornton before joining ESB.

Experience in receiverships, liquidations and regulatory transformation projects, Ward says, all made her comfortable with ‘creating systems that have strong reporting and controls in place and that track clearly against strategy’. Added to that is a keen and enduring interest in corporate social responsibility, often expressed in volunteering roles where she has sought to have a positive community impact.

The opportunity to move into non-financial reporting took a major leap forward around 2022 after she completed the ACCA Certificate in Sustainability for Finance. What happened next, she says, proves the enduring value of the ACCA network above all else. ‘After completing the certificate, I didn’t really have a clear plan as to how I was going to move into the sustainability area. Realistically, I thought it would be a five- to 10-year process.’

At an ACCA event a few months later, Ward ran into a colleague as passionate about the subject as she was. That connection led to a role in drafting sector-specific sustainability guidelines for the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG). ‘You should never underestimate what can happen when you participate in ACCA events,’ she says. ‘It’s not just knowledge gathering, CPD and the connections you make really can be life-changing!’

Her EFRAG experience provided another invaluable insight. ‘What I learned was you don’t need to be an expert to get involved. In fact, that is the whole point: everyone is trying to figure this out. What matters is having the mindset to do the right thing, to test, to challenge and to validate.’

Accounting lens

If real change is the crux of what Ward does, she also accepts that people can be sceptical of sustainability being a genuine organisational goal or even whether it should be undertaken at all.

The first thing she stresses is the era of greenwashing is over. ‘With the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive [CSRD], we have moved on from aspirational assertions with no planning and no requirement to track and trace.’

That doesn’t mean non-financial reporting can be put on the same footing as financial reporting overnight. ‘Some people look at CSRD requirements and see what isn’t being done in their company. For me, the whole point is to say, “This is what we’ve achieved to date, and this is where we know we have more to do.” The beauty of CSRD is it puts rigour around those plans and places a financial reporting and accounting lens on them. Companies should be aiming for progress, not perfection.’

So what does she have to say about Ireland’s actual achievements in climate action falling short to date? ‘Many ambitious plans have met roadblocks that are well known, but that’s not to say we haven’t made huge inroads,’ she argues. ‘Ireland’s carbon footprint has massively declined over a period of 20 years. It’s not moving as fast as many would like but I believe some of the plans in place that will happen in the next five to 10 years will really move the dial.’

The emerging trend of climate scepticism also requires pragmatism. ‘There are always going to be people who have a different view to you, and, to a point, you have to respect you’re not going to change some people’s minds, no matter how much scientific information you give them.’

She adds that the current crisis in the Middle East has prompted many to put action over words. ‘The numbers signing up for solar panels around the country has grown exponentially this year. Many people who would have been completely resistant to these ideas now see a clear win: reducing bills by bringing generation into their own hands and potentially making money by exporting to the grid too.’

Community outreach

Married to Ronan with two children, the Limerick native now calls Glencorrib, Co. Mayo, home. ‘Like many parents of young children, I’m living vicariously through their activities at the moment but I’m loving it,’ she laughs. She praises the Mothers and Others initiative run by the Ladies Gaelic Football Association as a fantastic way to meet people locally, and she goes to the gym and swims when she can.

As ACCA Ireland chair, community outreach is central to her year in office. In the pandemic years, she played key roles in setting up the ACCA Red Box member networking initiative and the Galway practitioner network, and later was instrumental in developing the ACCA Ireland employer community at Grant Thornton and ESB.

With an eye to future membership, ACCA Ireland’s Schools Initiative and University Outreach are priorities for her this year. ‘Our members can tell second- and third-level students stories that really bring to life what it means to be ACCA and the doors that it opens – the flexibility of being able to travel with the qualification, and the amazing network you develop along the way’.

Building your network is a message she will stress at the New Member Ceremony in October, while the ACCA Christmas Lunch at the end of the year looks set to be another highlight. Ward was chair back in 2016 when ACCA Leinster ran the festive gathering, so she is set to be the only person to have had the honour of hosting it twice. All going to plan, it won’t be the only claim to fame in coming years on an increasingly impressive CV.