IB Woman
Issue No. 21 - February/March 2005
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling……
Olive McGabhann
The strategy employed by Olive McGabhann to chart her career is just starting to show signs of blossoming. After spending an Irish childhood working in her brother’s construction company during school holidays, Olive developed an interest in accounting and systems. However, she viewed these as mere stepping stones to a career offering more challenge and glamour than financial reporting.
Gaining a Bachelor of Accounting and Finance from Dublin University in Ireland, Olive migrated to Australia in late 1998 and worked for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as an Analyst in Assurance and Advisory Services, where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant. In 2001 she moved to Bridgestone Australia where she was employed as a Corporate Accountant.
"I knew that accounting was an excellent base skill that would help me move in to other areas," says Olive. "It’s a disciplined learning, very methodical. In relation to my role in audit I knew that I wasn’t going to spend my whole life in an area where I’d just get to grips with how a company operated before the audit ended; and then I’d move to the next audit. I need to see progress and improvements; it’s part of my nature. So when I feel I have achieved something I look for the next opportunity."
Opportunity knocked when a position at Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd (MMAL) became available. Olive was appointed to undertake the day-to-day management of Parts and Accessories Finance and MMAL Economics. One of her challenges was to manage the SAP Finance implementation, a standard software program used worldwide.
"This was a big challenge for me because it involved making changes to how the accounting processes worked. Even though the P & A section is a division of Mitsubishi Motors, because MMAL is so big the P & A section is in itself bigger than most businesses in South Australia. While the challenge was unlike anything I had experienced previously, I found the work invigorating a...
