IT’S all adding up for Rathbane mother-of-two Lorna Forde who finished in an astounding first place in the world in her Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) exam.
The exceptional accountancy student took top spot in Ireland, and the world, in her Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) exam.
Lorna received higher results than 8,000 ACCA students here in Ireland, and 500,000 across the world, but her impressive achievements didn’t end there.
The Limerick woman, an ACCA student at Dublin online and blended learning college, Accountancy School, also finished first in Ireland in three further exams — Strategic Business Leader (SBL), Strategic Business Reporting (SBR), and Performance Management (PM).
Married to husband Marc and mum to two daughters, Aoife (19) and Líadain (6), Lorna worked in Limerick accountancy firm Dennehy O’Gorman for eight years, where she got her accounting technician qualification.
“I moved to Sligo in 2016 and I started working for my current employers, Gilroy Gannon Chartered Accountants, in 2020,” she told the Limerick Post.
Lorna started pursuing her ACCA qualification that same year before achieving first place in Ireland in six subjects and first place worldwide in another two subjects.
She placed first in world in Audit and Assurance in December 2022 and then first in the world in Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) in March this year.
“I was absolutely blown away to get first in the world in my AAA exam. I wasn’t expecting it at all as I’d found it to be a very tough subject, but my tutor, Michael Donnelly, was fantastic and gave really good feedback throughout the course.
“My husband and two daughters have been incredibly supportive and I couldn’t have done it without their encouragement.”
Lorna sat her final ACCA exam this month and is currently waiting for her results. It may just be another world-beating score.
