The new head of accounting firm Farrell Grant Sparks (FGS) has declared plans to bring its annual revenues to more than €40 million within the next five years.

Ian Duffy, who joins FGS from a senior management position in Anglo Irish Bank, is believed to be the first non-accountant to assume the role of managing partner in a big Irish practice. A former IBI Corporate Finance executive, he was an entrepreneur for 10 years and ran companies in the watercooler, soft drinks and IT sectors.

Stating that FGS's current annual turnover is in the region of €20 million, Mr Duffy said he has a mandate to significantly expand fee income at the firm.

"In the next five years we'd be looking to at least double that and go beyond that. If we're not achieving that we're not working," he said.

Half of such growth could be realised through organic expansion, but FSG is on the lookout for merger opportunities.

Mr Duffy arrives at FGS after a three-way merger last September when the practice joined with Belfast firm McClure Watters and Lyons Keenan Kilemede in Longford to create a business with 20 partners and 200 staff.

Former joint managing partners Greg Sparks, a founding FSG partner, and David Watters, a McClure Watters founder, are staying with the business.

Mr Duffy has been tasked with refining the firm's corporate strategy and developing new business areas outside the firm's core audit and tax services. He aims to create a "viable alternative" to big international partnerships such as KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Deloitte and Ernst & Young.

FGS was involved in inconclusive merger talks last year with rival firm Mazars. Mr Duffy said such a merger was "not on the agenda now".