Johnny qualified as a chartered accountant in 1994 and worked in several internal audit and financial management positions in the US before returning to Ireland to complete a masters in development studies in 2001. Since then he has provided financial management and other consultancy services to a range of clients in the development and humanitarian fields.

He spent several years providing drawdown consultancy services to the Evaluation and Audit of Irish Aid, working with internal systems and procedures, bilateral arrangements and civil

society partners. He has also provided consultancy services to a range of other donors, including DFAT Australia (AusAid), DFID, European Commission, ECHO, Sida, UNICEF, and the World Bank. Assignments included audits (compliance, financial and systems), performance audits/VFM studies, strategic planning, organisational assessments, investigations, appraisals of funding applications, and evaluations.

Johnny has assisted donors and partners to develop internal systems and procedures, including writing audit policies and procedures, financial procedures, risk management and internal controls guidance, fraud policies, and value for money/ performance audit guidelines. He has also helped a range of civil society organisations to prepare for audits, evaluations, monitoring visits and to successfully develop proposals and applications for funding to donors, including Irish Aid and DFID.

Johnny has been working with the Core Humanitarian Standard, undertaking audits and verifications of quality management systems to ensure that they meet accountability commitments, primarily in humanitarian environments in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He is a certified social auditor and board member of the Institute of Social Auditing of Ireland (2004-12).