Then – Age 25

Claiming that accountancy could easily turn one into a ‘philistine’ didn’t put McAuliffe off the profession. His eagerness to learn more about French culture and a desire to go into business made him direct his career towards accountancy. Having said he had to ‘work hard to come out a bit better than average’, he was grateful that he eventually got paid for his training at Arthur Young’s Southampton office within the audit department – which had a history of catering for French clients. But it wasn’t so easy for McAuliffe to join the division. He had to dedicate an autumn studying French full-time at the British Institute in Paris.