MEMBER PROFILE
Al Esmail, CPA, CGA
Profile by Michelle McRae
Photo by Kent Kallberg Studios
Practice Director & ERP Consultant, Advisory IS Solutions
Passion, planning, and mentorship. According to Al Esmail, these are the requirements
for anyone looking to make the leap from
employed to self-employed.
“First off, you must be passionate about
what you do,” says Al, who launched his own
consulting practice, Advisory IS Solutions
(AIS), in November 2011. “You’ll be taking a
risk going out on your own, and you won’t be
able to rely on a consistent income. Second,
you have to be able to make money at it—the
product or service must be marketable so
you can sustain the lifestyle you want. Third,
you should have a mentor who can guide you
as the company is developing and growing.
“Lastly,” he adds, “even if you think you
know all you need to know about your business, do more research! Make sure the move
you make will enable your company to
thrive and be successful.”
Al definitely did his homework before
branching out on his own. By the time he
founded AIS—which specializes in enterprise resource planning (ERP), helping
companies plan, implement, and maintain
business management software—he’d been
involved in over 200 systems implementations, in over eight countries, over a 15-year
42 CPABC in Focus • July/August 2015
period. From his early days as a systems conversion/accounting manager for Shoppers
Drug Mart in Toronto to his role as a professional services manager for Infor in North
America, to his most recent previous gig as a
business development manager for Lawson
Software, he was able to experience the ERP
industry from a variety of angles.
“Over the years, I’ve been involved with
several implementations as the accountant
for the companies I worked for,” he says. “I’ve
had the opportunity to work for multiple
ERP vendors or the resellers for companies
like SAP, Microsoft, Infor, and Sage, and I’ve
held positions ranging from project management to solution delivery.”
The idea to branch out on his own was
sparked by a trend he’d observed in the marketplace.
“When I started in this area, the process of
implementing accounting systems was pretty
straightforward,” Al explains. “But over time,
ERP applications have become more sophisticated, with lots of overlap among the software solutions on the market. As a result,
buyers have become increasingly reliant on
software vendors for guidance, and this can
make the decision-making process more
challenging. I wanted to change that.
“I also saw a need for experienced project
managers—particularly ones with strong accounting skills—to help clients with system
implementation,” he adds. “I wanted to help
clients avoid some of the problems associated
with these kinds of projects—problems like
project scop