William Buck books bigger Adelaide office to support serious growth plans
Accounting and consulting firm William Buck is backing its South Australian business with expanded office space in Adelaide intended to house up to 300 additional staff in the short-term.
William Buck will move one flight up in its current Victoria Square location opposite the Adelaide Central Markets, which includes an additional 500 square meters of office space, and has also secured naming rights for the building.
This year is celebrating its 80th anniversary in South Australia, William Buck said the move was intended to accommodate a significantly larger workforce based on its positive outlook for the state and an annual double-digit growth target.
“We plan to grow our Adelaide team from 250 to 300 people in the short-term as we continue to build our service offering to business and individual clients, so we’re moving up a floor and effectively adding an additional half a floor to our tenancy in the process,” said Adrian Chugg, who took over as managing partner in 2024 as just the seventh in the firm’s 80-year local history.
That history traces back to a small accounting firm named Giles and Giles established in Adelaide in 1946, which joined the William Buck group 50 years later and then continued to grow over the following years through a series of mergers & acquisitions – a future option Chugg said remained on the table should the right opportunity arise albeit with expectations growth would be organic.
Meanwhile, the firm moved into its current city location – where new signage was installed to mark its 80-year milestone – almost twenty years ago now after having outgrown its previous Greenhill Road address, and has since swollen to a team of more 250 professionals led by around 40 partners and principals – making it one of the state’s largest accounting and advisory firms.
Chugg however noted the difficulties facing the state’s business community: “William Buck has been part of the landscape here since 1946 helping local businesses expand while navigating challenges such as recessions, the global financial crisis, and the pandemic, while the current global uncertainty is another significant challenge facing local owners, operators, and investors.”
He continued, “The months ahead will test the mettle of our business sector as firms face escalating costs to operate and with limited ability to pass these onto customers. As a state we have the calibre of businesses to see us through, and the long-term outlook remains very positive, but there will no doubt be some corporate casualties along the way.”
Such economic volatility can also however provide a boon to professional services firms. William Buck said its local wealth advisory practice had grown almost twofold over the past five years as families and individuals sought assistance in an increasingly complex tax and super environment, while its business advisory practice is currently experiencing high demand across a range of sectors.
