Ask SRJWW Director Shaun Reeves about ‘creative accounting’ and you’ll get more than the usual response.

“Compliance accounting always swims between the flags” says Shaun, “but great business advisory is all about imagining better—and that’s always a creative act”.

Shaun’s made creativity a major tool in his accounting practice and his life. He shares its benefits with business clients, a fact that’s helped find success for clients in the startup world in particular.

“Business and life is like a roller coaster—you stay on the rails, but if you’re not pushing yourself to feel the rush at the sharp corners, you’re missing out”.

A look at Shaun’s perfect accounting day pulls back the veil on what makes this creative accountant tick. 

The Perfect Day

For Shaun, creativity and communication go hand in hand—so Shaun’s perfect day starts with a client meeting.

“We’re often the first port of call for clients when change is afoot” says Shaun. “They need commercial input, so we’ll spend a couple of hours in the technical work”.

But for Shaun and his clients, lunch together is often where creativity comes into play.

“It’s all about asking big questions, listening, exploring deeper business objectives, uncovering some of the management challenges” says Shaun. “I can offer a combination of birds-eye view, experience across countless businesses, and creative ideas rooted in strong structural knowledge”.

It’s a winning combination for clients, and limbers Shaun up for his perfect afternoon—imagining better for clients facing generational change.

“It might be a bigger business with owners retiring, so we’ll be winding down structures, changing ownership, and ensuring asset retention—but always with empathy to the situation”, says Shaun. “In that sense accounting and advisory is a calling for me, not just a career”.

The Accidental Accountant

Shaun found that calling in an unconventional path to public accounting. His early study of commerce and  law was interrupted by a summer job at a large, household name manufacturer. After using software to automate his role (effectively making himself redundant), Shaun was moved into strategy. 

“I was 21 years old and doing a national feasibility study for the senior managers of all divisions”, remembers Shaun. “Accounting was probably the last thing on my mind”.

Shaun’s next step was just as unexpected—he did a stint working at the mines in Weipa—before moving to a national accounting firm while finishing his law degree in the evenings.

“I loved the advisory” says Shaun. “There was just no better way to be immersed and make a difference to so many businesses”.

The Senior Accountant

So the art of using numbers to build meaning and dreams became the foundation of a career spanning decades, steeped in the opportunities and challenges of major accounting practices.

“I never understood the solo accountant” says Shaun. “I see what clients got out of the big picture and the multidisciplinary approach more possible with bigger practices and teams”.

Shaun was the sixth person to work at SRJ Walker Wayland—a practice that’s now evolved to reach 60 staff. As the SRJWW team has grown, Shaun’s found creativity to be a major factor in success.

“Beyond the technical excellence, we’ve created an atmosphere of collaboration and sharing knowledge that ultimately benefits the clients”, says Shaun. “Yes we are accountants, but we’ve used that foundation to grow  an advisory team creating value on any and every business topic—from setting up a charity to minimising tax, from succession planning to funding startups”.

That advisory capacity and Shaun’s yearning to solve problems and help people has seen him contribute in Board and Treasury roles in community organisations as varied as local Rotary to regional footy clubs, as Regional Development Authorities to Chambers of Commerce.

Creative in Life and Work

The very creativity that Shaun uses to imagine better for clients is part of his passion outside of work too. Shaun works in visual arts, with drawing a regular hobby, and an emerging interest in linocut art—including some designs now gracing a craft beer label.

Shaun likes to apply that creativity to clients’ lives—and inspire that creativity in how they imagine better lives.

“I often ask clients—what would you do if you knew you could not fail? It tends to open up the horizon of possibility in life and business”, says Shaun.

For a confidential conversation with an SRJ Walker Wayland partner, contact us today.