Company loyalty has brought travel rewards

KPMG chairman Jonathan Hooley this year celebrates 30 years with the firm. While many people who have reached the top of their profession have moved companies, he has stayed loyal to one, as he told Rosie Allsopp AS THE saying goes: 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. And if working for one company is so

enjoyable, why bother moving?

Jonathan Hooley is probably quite rare, especially these days, as someone who has stayed loyal to one organisation throughout his career.

But KPMG, or Peat Marwick Mitchell and Co, as it was known when he began working there, offered him such good opportunities, it was an easy decision to stay.

'In a career in accountancy, when you qualify, you naturally think of leaving. I would probably have left but I had the opportunity to travel to San Francisco. Then an opportunity in tax came along and I couldn't have done better anywhere else. I would have been crazy if I had left,' he said.

Mr Hooley is Guernsey-born and bred but decided to train as an accountant in London with Peat Marwick, which would later become the P and M of KPMG. He joined the London office in September 1976.

'Guernsey's finance business was in its infancy and there were not the same opportunities in Guernsey in those days.'

The oil price rises in the 1970s provided much work from the Arab Gulf states and Mr Hooley was given plenty of responsibility early on by being asked to write up the books of one state's investment portfolio.

He remembers it was a great place to train and he is still in touch with friends he made at the time. There were also good opportunities to travel.

'I worked in Bahrain for a number of months in 1979 and it was there when I received the results for my final exams. It was lucky that Bahrain had a relaxed attitude to alcohol so I was able to celebrate.'

More travel opportunities arrived after he applied to work in Peat Marwick's international career-development programme. This time he went west.

'I was lucky enough to be offered an 18-month secondment to San Francisco. I had set my sights on going to the west coast as I had done some work for Wells Fargo.

'It was a wonderful experience. Accounting in the US is a completely different type of business, with a focus on process and less on being a general advisor.

'It was pre-Internet boom and California was a very vibrant place, particularly in the city.'

During his time in the United States, Mr Hooley married Lorna, a Guernsey girl, and this year the couple celebrated their silver wedding anniversary.

He was then offered a position in Hong Kong, but felt it was better not to spend too long away from the London office.

He returned to a very different City of London. 'It was booming and I switched to tax which was a fledgling industry at the time in the UK.'

The move provided great opportunities for him. Mr Hooley was made a partner and within five years the tax department, which had employed 20 people, grew tenfold.

It was during this time that Peat Marwick merged with KMG to form KPMG.

Mr Hooley spent eight very enjoyable years in London as a tax partner. He also became the father of two daughters and the family moved into the suburbs.

'It was the time of the Big Bang and the development of the new ways of conducting financial business through derivatives, the treatment of which had largely to be developed on the hoof.'

He noticed that Guernsey was becoming increasingly involved and began to think about coming home.

'The children were nine and seven and they were growing up in an environment where the extended family wasn't around. We knew we wanted to come back at some stage but didn't see the logic of retiring here, it was more sensible to come back and work.

'We wanted to give the children the opportunity to grow up in Guernsey, which they have embraced hugely.

'To be a teenager in Guernsey is the best place. There is a relatively good standard of living and the freedom to do pretty well what you want in a safe environment.'

For Mr Hooley, returning home meant starting with a clean sheet.

'It was excellent because I could market myself and it gave me the opportunity to get involved with more things that I otherwise wouldn't have done.'

He is currently the senior partner of KPMG in the Channel Islands and has enjoyed the opportunities that have presented themselves since he moved back.

'I don't know if I would have ended up as a senior partner if I had stayed in London. It's difficult to know.'

Mr Hooley was also involved in the establishment of the Channel Islands Stock Exchange with Peter Crook and Tammy Menteshvili.

He is a member of the Fiscal Policy Review Group, on which he has spent a lot of time advising the States. He is also on the executive committee of the Investment Funds Association and more recently has become a member of the CGi committee.

When he is not working, he loves sailing and enjoys taking the family yacht around the other islands and to France.

'It was another reason for coming back. The children love St Malo which is a great place.'

Some time ago the family ventured into getting a cocker spaniel.

'The great thing about it is that it makes you get out and find all the great places to walk on the cliffs and around the lanes.'