Matthew Hunt: Finalist for the Young Accountant of the Year
We are very proud to announce that our Client Director, Matthew Hunt is a finalist for the ‘Young Accountant of the Year’ at the 2017 Australian Accounting Awards, hosted by Accountants Daily. This award recognises the most outstanding young accountants in the industry, who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to success in their accounting career in 2016. Matt’s success in becoming a finalist is not only because of the activities, strategies and actions he has taken in terms of positioning himself for future success, but also because of his strong alignment with his values, goals and his personal ‘why’.
Matt began his career in accounting with a traineeship straight out of year 12, which lead to him completing a Bachelor of Commerce and then his CA, going on to become a Manager at the age of 23. Matt joined SiDCOR in 2013 and worked his way up to Client Director by 2015. To summarise Matt’s achievements in 2016, let alone his career, is not as easy task. Matt is not only a committed and dedicated accountant, Client Director and professional, he is a husband and father to two beautiful daughters. Every day, Matt lives through his why in every aspect of his life, which is to “grow into my potential everyday so I can have the confidence, courage and wisdom to help others do the same”.
One of Matt’s personal philosophies in life is to say ‘yes’ to as many challenges as he can; and with this he has achieved an array of accomplishments throughout 2016. This has included co-hosting a number of client seminars, welcoming his second daughter to the world, moving to his dream suburb, selling and buying three properties and writing relevant and valuable content for SiDCOR. Matt has totally restructured how he sets goals, with the intent of pushing himself to achieve his potential, instead of what is just comfortable. Matt says he backs himself by building a strong network of mentors, and is now surrounded “with a team of highly respected, successful and genuinely great people and mentors that have decided to support me on my journey, which helps me do the same for my clients”. He does this all whilst focusing on achieving a sense of work-life integration rather than work-life balance.
Matt has not only excelled in his career but expanded his own personal horizons by acting as Treasurer for the South Newcastle Rugby League Football Club, organised and spoke at a variety of seminars, attended every personal development course he could get his hands on (such as UPW, Simon Sinek, Jack Daly and Robert Kiyosaki) and is also as a self-proclaimed Ted-Talk-Tragic (he finds chunking down on a 20-minute video as opposed to reading the books is a massive appeal, being a father with kids). He has established a great network of like-minded professionals and business owners and taken great pride in his Linkedin profile, utilising it to share and exchange as much valuable content as he can.
As a naturally proactive person, Matt believes that there are a number of opportunities in the industry right now. Stating that, “The biggest opportunity in our industry is to bridge the gap between what clients expect from their accountant, their trusted advisor and what the vast majority of accountants to SME’s deliver, that being tax returns and financial statements. Specifically, I mean capitalising on the abundance of real-time information that’s available to measure performance and pairing this with a deep understanding of a client’s driving force or goals, which can only be achieved through a commitment and capability to ask the questions that count.”
There is a lot to be learnt from such an inspiring individual, and we couldn’t be prouder to call him a part of the SiDCOR family. Congratulations Matt, on becoming a finalist for the Young Accountant of the Year.