McInnes was educated at Strathallan School, near Perth, Scotland. He graduated from the with a degree in physics and received a Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. In 1963 he founded the Harvard Business School Reconstruction Finance Corporation with fellow Scot Jim Johnstone.
He has also been teaching for almost forty years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, ten years as the head of the accounting area and then as a visiting professor and lecturer on the Greater Boston Executive Programme. McInnes has held several senior financial executive posts. He was also a visiting professor at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
His expertise encompasses the design of budgetary control systems, linking strategy and operations, corporate financial management, and international analysis control.
In industry McInnes has served as a financial executive and board member for several international companies. He was the chief financial officer of a company listed on the London Stock Exchange and financial vice president for a major Kuwaiti company.
With his experience McInnes has consulted and lectured worldwide. He has published papers in numerous academic and professional journals including Accounting, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies and Certified Accountant.
McInnes is a past president of the Boston chapter of Financial Executives International.
