Paul Graus - The Profession

1980 - 1984 - Supervisor, Hendry Rae & Court, Chartered Accountants, Perth, Western Australia.

1979 - 1980 - Accountant, CP Bird & Associates, Perth / Merredin, Western Australia.

1985 to 1988 Manager / Partner, Nelson Wheeler, Perth, Western Australia

After joining the firm as an information systems consultant in 1985 and working in the firms Information Systems Division, I was promoted to manager of the division and then was appointed a salaried partner in the firm. As a salaried partner, I assumed responsibility for managing all of the affairs of the division including marketing, project management and staff.

The orientation of the division was towards Personal Computers, small business and office automation. It was during this time I gained considerable expertise in many accounting systems, word processing, financial modelling and database systems as well as hardware and communications.

The philosophy on which the Division was established was to provide high quality systems and accounting advice to the firms clients including, where necessary, highlighting taxation, regulatory and other issues which arose during a project. Agencies and dealerships were obtained for many packages and I was the principlal support consultant for most of the packages.

Nelson Wheeler at that time had a considerable presence in the Western Australian Goldfields and, as a result, many assignments I undertook were for mining companies in the region. I also developed considerable expertise in specialist areas such as payroll and systems for public practitioners.

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1980 to 1984 Supervisor, Hendry Rae & Court, Chartered Accountants, Perth, Western Australia

HR&C was a Western Australian mid tier firm employing over 100 staff at the time of my employment. As was typical for young accountants undertaking completion of their professional qualifications, I was first allocated to the firms Taxation Division followed by the Management Services Division and eventually into the Audit Division where I remained for 18 months.

I participated in and managed a variety of projects ranging from small taxation clients to audits of large public companies and insolvency work. The time spent at Hendry Rae and Court was useful training in both regulatory and compliance work.

I was considered "expert" in primary production matters having completed some time in the wheatbelt and undertook audits of companies including the Westwools Group, several local councils, finance companies and other small businesses. It was during this time I completed the Professional Year and commenced my Graduate Diploma studies.

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1979 to 1980 Accountant, CP Bird & Associates, Perth / Merredin, Western Australia

I was employed by C.P. Bird before completing my degree and shortly after commencing with the firm I was transferred to Merredin. The firm recognised my interest in law and my legal studies at uni.  I was one of the first students to complete a law major as part of my accounting degree. My first posting was directly into a specialist Taxation Advisory Division.

At the time of my recruitment, CP Bird had a strong presence in regional WA. After a period of training in Head Office, I was transferred to Merredin where I was appointed Regional Taxation Manager and also looked after the affairs of a small client base of my own.

My role included the provision of taxation and accounting services to the firms client base and also the provision of taxation advice to regional accountants. Unfortunately, the Institute of Chartered Accountants regulations prohibited me from completing my Professional Year whilst posted to Merredin and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant. The Regional Manager in Merredin at the time was not a CA.  I left to join a city practice working directly with a CA so I could continue working towards my chosen career path and studies.

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