Retired finance lecturer Ronnie Patton, from Northern Ireland, has been elected president of the global professional accountancy body, the ACCA.
Mr Patton, from Bangor in Co Down, now leads more than 750,000 Association of Chartered Certified Accountants members and future members across 181 countries.
He joined ACCA in 1981 and is a former president of ACCA Ireland.
Mr Patton was a senior lecturer in Professional Accounting Practice at Ulster University in Belfast from 2003 until this year.
He is also the second member of ACCA Ireland in three years to serve as ACCA President, following Orla Collins from Dublin in 2021/22.
"The themes that I have chosen as my focus for the year ahead are Purpose, Professionalism and People. They're about how ACCA stands for more than just making money; about how the professionalism of ACCA members makes them stand out in the crowd; and about how our people are special because they embody values and a purpose that make the world a better, more sustainable place," Mr Patton said.
