+34The winner of the CEO category at the IMAGE PwC Businesswoman of the Year Awards 2026 reflects on reshaping the accounting sector from rural Donegal,
Sponsored By The winner of the CEO category at the IMAGE PwC Businesswoman of the Year Awards 2026 reflects on reshaping the accounting sector from rural Donegal, the reality of scaling a remote-first team and why visibility remains essential for female leaders.
When Larissa Feeney entered an accountancy practice in Derry, her official job title was director of first impressions. In reality, she was the receptionist. Armed with a degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management, she had spent years working gruelling hotel shifts. Following an unusually chaotic summer season in Dunfanaghy, she wanted a complete change: “My only stipulation was it had to be Monday to Friday, nine to five.
That’s all I wanted at that time. ” That receptionist desk became the launching pad for her impressive career. Motivated by the young trainees around her, Feeney asked the firm’s partner if he would sponsor her professional exams. She had to ask a few times, but he agreed, citing her first-class honours degree as proof of capability.
Three and a half years later, she qualified as a chartered accountant, placing first in Northern Ireland and tenth overall across Ireland. Yet, academic excellence did not shield her from self-doubt.
“I had massive imposter syndrome, actually,” Larissa recalls. Coming from a non-traditional background, she felt out of place among colleagues with accounting degrees: “I always felt as if I was a step behind the other trainees at the same level as me… I felt that all the way through. ” With that self-awareness, Larissa made a bold move and left the organisation on June 30, 2005, the exact day her training contract ended.
“I felt I was constrained,” she explains. “I knew myself that I was capable of more, but I had to build up my confidence. ” Her journey to self-assurance was steady and rooted in execution.
“There is a saying… with competence comes confidence, and that is certainly what it is like for me,” she shares. It was that grounded competence that powered the creation of Kinore . She founded the company in 2015 in rural Donegal, and it pioneered digital-first, remote accounting for SMEs across Ireland and the UK. From generating €300,000 in revenue in 2017, Kinore is forecasting €7.5 million this financial year, with a workforce of nearly 95 people.
For Larissa, scaling meant deliberately building a well-rounded leadership team, which initially skewed heavily female.
“ company was predominantly female… And it’s only really this year now that it’s closer to 50/50 male-female across the senior team. That balance is important because you get different approaches to challenges and to solving situations… the attitude to risk is balanced as well. ” Kinore’s growth model stands out in a traditional sector. Upfront monthly subscription pricing based on turnover and transaction volume was offered to clients to assist with pricing certainty.
Technology and automation were integrated as early as 2019 to eliminate non-value-add tasks.
“With AI , we can see an impact on productivity, but not profitability… For us it is about enabling our people to add value. ” Managing a remote team has required discipline around talent acquisition. Unlike others in the industry, Kinore is regularly inundated with applications, but Larissa notes that “remote work actually requires you to work a lot harder at making yourself visible,” she says, also noting the self-motivation and intentional effort required by anyone working remotely.
“Not everyone can do it. ” Kinore has recently expanded rapidly through strategic mergers and acquisitions, completing three acquisitions in 2025 within six months and aiming for two more by the current financial year-end. Integrating traditional accountancy practices brought some surprising contrasts, including “a huge clear-out of manual files – and I haven’t seen manual files in a long time,” she laughs.
“It was like stepping back in time. ” This trajectory culminated in Larissa winning the CEO category at the IMAGE PwC Businesswoman of the Year Awards in May this year.
“I didn’t even want the time to pass after the speech and the photographs,” she says of the win. “I just wanted to stay in my winning bubble as long as possible. ” Even at the peak of national recognition, old feelings briefly surfaced: “It was imposter syndrome all over again, the fact that I was even there and shortlisted, never mind winning,” she laughs.
As an active mentor and advocate for female business leaders, Larissa frequently sees women holding back professionally, observing how female professionals often “let perfect be the enemy of the good”. She notes: “In school, perfection is rewarded… in the workforce, perfection isn’t rewarded. Progress is. ” This is something she encourages women to be aware of, but she is quick to point out that balance works both ways.
“We talk about how women need to make decisions faster. But equally, for men, sometimes they will make decisions without considering the impact… balance is part of the solution here – women can learn from men and men can also learn from women. ” Equally important to her is dismantling the myth that successful female leaders manage everything alone without help.
Scaling a business while raising her three sons, now aged 20, 18 and 16, required strong support structures at home.
“I was able to do it because my husband was able to work less for several years,” she shares. “He was able to do the drop-offs and the pickups and all that allowed me to work later… You can only do it with support, just like our male colleagues. It’s just the reality.
” From a rural startup to an industry-disrupting firm, Larissa’s path proves that competence and clear-eyed ambition can reshape an entire sector, while opening doors for the next generation of leaders. Following the outstanding 2026 IMAGE PwC Businesswoman of the Year Awards, we are bringing interviews with all winners to our readers through our ‘Beyond the Awards spotlight’. If you would like to read more about the winners who took to the stage alongside Larissa,
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