JOHN Curtin was 45 when he realised his rugby playing days were over. The moment, when it did come, wasn't so much a crushing blow as it was a respective nod, involving his then 16 year old neighbour whom John had drafted in to fill a vacant position. "I was coming up the field, slowly, with the ball in hand, when my 16 year old neighbour shouted for possession. "Only he called me Mr Curtin in doing so. My friends on the team fell over laughing and I realised then it was time to hang up the boots!"

The former Pres boy's passion for the oval ball is obvious. No matter where he was in the country he says he always managed to find a club. In sport hunger is paramount to longevity.

The same can be said about business. To put it again in sporting terms John's hunger for accounting has seen him play in almost every position the practice has to offer, from junior cost accountant to managing director of a global multinational. This experience has made the latest service John Curtin & Associates is offering, Business Health Checks, possible and extremely enticing to business owners.

Having attended UCC, where he studied Commerce, John followed his father into the betting industry, a decision born more from the insistence of his senior than any serious interest in the profession. However at 23, and by now a married man, he decided to follow his heart and become an accountant.

"I always wanted to do accounting once I learned that there was something else other than auditing to it," he says.

John found a job as a Trainee Cost Accountant at Sunbeam Limited where he spent three years before John Rohan approached him about a job.

"I became a management accountant where I did job costing. Since I had no building background John sent me out on site for three months. That was a hugely beneficial experience and gave me a better idea of how the business operated. I think more sales people should do it."

John spent six years with the Rohan group before he began to yearn for a new work experience and so he left for the family run Val O'Connor Funeral Home. "A unique business animal, the small family company, but a valid model; one learns the dynamics of working in a very close knit environment" says John, who spent four years with this enterprising family.

After approximately ten years John decided to try his hand at consultancy with a old college friends. While this venture did not take off as expected John gained some valuable insights into what was involved and prepared him for down the line. "I had the skills set, but not the maturity or the business development skills" – and so John next found himself undertaking his first multi-national experience with Digital Equipment in Clonmel, as a Financial Analyser.

He followed this with a role as Financial Director with adidas in 1986. When the operation closed in 1992 as part of a European centralisation plan John played a significant part in ensuring the employees there got a "soft landing", much to the upset of IBEC he says. He returned to Digital for a brief period before taking up a position in the Service Industry as Financial Director to an international furniture removals group (Nat Ross Ltd, Beverly Records Management and Iron Mountain Ireland).

Having amassed so much experience John finally felt equipped to take on the consultancy role again. Which brings us to the present day and John Curtin & Associates; a provider of Financial and General Management services to owner run businesses that do not have sufficient management bandwidth or expertise internally in these areas.