General News
21 April, 2023
Murray reaches 40-year milestone
SINNOTTS Accountants senior partner Murray Whiting celebrated a milestone 40 years with the Warrnambool and Camperdown-based firm this week.
Mr Whiting reached the milestone on Tuesday (April 18) after first joining Sinnotts Accountants in 1983 as a trainee accountant, fresh out of high school, and rising through the ranks to become a partner in 2001.
Mr Whiting said working for a business which provided him opportunities to advance his career had formed the foundations for his professional loyalty.
“It’s a long time but everything feels like it has fallen in to place for me,” he said. “Every time I’ve needed to progress, an opportunity has opened up.
“I had the opportunity to step up as a senior accountant when I was ready, and the opportunity to become a partner came later on and eventually senior partner. “It’s a small firm and it hasn’t had the high-pressure some of the other firms have had with big demands; we focus on a family-first, caring approach.”
Mr Whiting has specialised in taxation and business advice through his career, drawing a diverse range of clients over the decades. The ethos of working with family-run, small businesses, notably within the agricultural industry, was engrained in him from the beginning as a focus for the firm.
He said the opportunity to build a unique connection with the community had perfectly suited his own professional approach. “When I first started, a family-focused approach was the attitude of the senior partner, and that’s what we have tried to impart all the way along,” Mr Whiting said.
“That’s been good, I’ve been able to work with the same clients all the way through. “In some cases, I now work with third generation clients. “It’s good to see the next generation coming through, and you get to know those clients and families pretty well.”
While the family-friendly approach has lingered through his years, he acknowledged the rapid development of technology had drastically changed the landscape of the business.
“Obviously technology has been the biggest thing to change, along with legislative changes and different attitudes,” Mr Whiting said.
“We had just one main computer when I started, and then a few years later we had a work station on our desk. “Now everything runs through technology, and you can’t walk out of the room without it.
“The biggest change has been the progress from the technological side of things.” In line with many careers, bigger opportunities in bigger markets come with bigger pay, but Mr Whiting said leaving the south west had never interested him.
“I could have got more opportunities and more money at bigger firms but my family is here, my history is here and it’s where I want to stay,” he said.
“I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in the community; you start with the sports clubs, then the kids come along and everything revolves around that, so I’ve gone from preschools to hospitals along the way.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of things along the way, and that’s just a small-town mentality that you get involved.”
Mr Whiting is a father of three, grandfather of two, and said family had always been big for him.
“My attitude is family first, so I get to spend a lot of time with my family,” he said.
Mr Whiting said building a career in an industry based on passion rather than financial motivation was the secret to success. “Doing something that you are interested in is the most important aspect,” he said.
“The financial rewards will come at the end, but if you’re interested in it and work to get good at it, everything else will look after itself.
“Stick with what you want to do, rather than what you think you should do.”
