Our CEO comments: Why soft skills are key to the future of accountancy
As documented during an interview with The Times, Peter Gallanagh, UK & Ireland Chief Executive of Azets, believes that as automation and AI take over compliance and data-heavy tasks, more accountants must evolve into those trusted advisers. That shift at scale requires a new focus: soft skills.
Hospitality-inspired training for trainees
Azets is exploring partnerships with major hotel, pub, and restaurant chains to offer secondments for trainee accountants.
“We’ve got some very early conversations ongoing with some national hospitality businesses. I just feel that hospitality is a fantastic move,” said Peter Gallanagh.
“Giving some formal base training to our trainees as they come into our business - the foundation of how they deal with people, how they do front of house – most accountants don’t think that way.”
“Historically, the focus was on financial accuracy and compliance. I’m not saying we lose any of that, but a lot is now being done by AI and automation. We need to move towards a more front-end, front of house, advisory relationship.
Investing in people, not cutting back
According to Indeed data reported by Scottish Financial News and The Telegraph, UK accountancy firms posted 44% fewer graduate job adverts in 2025 compared to 2023.” While many firms are reducing graduate intake, Azets is taking the opposite approach:
- 384 graduates and school leavers hired in 2025
- 15% increase in intake
Our CEO’s goal: fast-track young talent into advisory roles to future-proof the firm.
He said: “My mindset is slightly different from a lot of the other firms, who are saying, ‘Oh, compliance is going to be much cheaper and we’re doomed.’ If you’re cutting people at the front end, how are you ever going to get them to that advisory role?”
“We lowered the benchmark in terms of a first-class honours or a 2.1 [university degree], because we believe that gives social inclusivity,” he said. “That’s really important to me; I come from quite a deprived background.
“My father was a manager of some grocery stores in Glasgow. I was one of 12 kids so we were all sent to work at the age of 15. It taught me a lot. Number one: it’s not easy, it’s very difficult, to deal with ‘Joe Public’. It builds resilience.”
Gallanagh added: “What I got taught with my dad in the shop, I still use a lot of those skills. How do I speak to an individual who’s in front of me that makes them understand what I’m saying? How do I, when they are not in a very good mood, speaking back to me, deal with that?
“What we will also do is look at, actually, what are the skills that people are bringing? Have they done some hospitality through their university or their schooling? Because that’s a good benchmark, that’s a good standard for us.”
Sylvie Coudene, Group Head of People (M&A), echoed the sentiment: “At Azets, we believe that technical excellence goes hand in hand with strong people skills. This approach is an example of how we’re continuously differentiating ourselves through a people-centric culture that values empathy, adaptability and real-world experience.”
Find out more about our culture by visiting our ‘Life at Azets’ page.