Meet the finalists for Australia’s top young accountants awards
A number of young professionals from Australia’s large and leading mid-tier accounting and advisory networks have been named as finalists in Accountants Daily’s 30 Under 30 awards for 2021, including professionals from Grant Thornton, RSM, BDO, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and Mazars. Winners will be announced at a gala event in December.
The 30 under 30 Awards seek to recognise the star young talent working in or supporting various segments of the accounting industry, with the awards helping to elevate resumes and cement further career progression. This year, almost 120 finalists nation-wide have made the shortlist in 15 categories spanning bookkeeping and wellness advocacy through to business advisory and tech innovation.
Leading the charge this year is Mazars, with five finalists, Adrian Citton and Casey Bourke (Business Advisory, with the latter also nominated in the Public Accountant and Tax & Compliance categories), Evan Cooper (Audit), Farhan Fuad (New Accountant) and Shaunie Huzzey, who was shortlisted for both Management and Tech Innovator.
Grant Thornton has three of its young talent shortlisted; Ben Napier for Business Advisory, Thomas Caldow in the Specialist Consultant category, and Liam Te-wierik as a Tech Innovator. Despite still being under 30, all three hold senior roles at the firm. Te-wierik, a director, is head of audit data analytics, and Caldow and Napier serve respectively as a director in forensic accounting and senior manager in private advisory.
“Recognising the talents of the next generation of accountants is paramount to running a successful professional services business, at any level,” commented Greg Keith, CEO of Grant Thornton in Australia. “We are proud to have three of our team members named as finalists for these awards acknowledging each for their specialisation, hard work, and dedication.”
Fellow mid-tier firm BDO also has three nominees. Owen Lonergan, a manger in the BDO’s Brisbane office with a decade of service under his belt, is a finalist in the Multiservice category, while Blake Robertson, who joined BDO from Deloitte in Melbourne last year, has made the Tax and Compliance shortlist. Taila McBride is a finalist in the Public Accounting category.
Steven Cuffe and Matthew McCarthy of RSM have also been named as finalists, respectively in the Business Advisory and Specialist categories. Cuffe, of the firm’s Wagga Wagga office, serves as RSM’s national Xero delivery manager, having joined in 2014. A neuroscience major, McCarthy meanwhile is a manager in R&D and Government incentives out of Sydney.
Across at the Big Four, Isabel Lutvey, a manager within Ernst & Young’s restructuring team (part of Transaction Advisory Services ) in Melbourne has been named a finalist in the Restructuring and Insolvency category, while Deloitte’s Rakin Hasan, a Senior Manager for Technology & Controls and former consultant at PwC and EY, has made the shortlist in two categories; Audit and Specialist Consultant.
The full list of finalists for the Accountants Daily 30 Under 30 awards:
ACCOUNTANT
Diana Burrows, Bachmayer Accounting
Carla Frino, Papandrea Partners
Bradley Goyne, Grow Advisory Group
Zac Hayes, The Business and Wealth Collective
Isha Miglani, Count Out Loud
Kayla Russell, Palfreyman Chartered Accountants
Kristian Said, MKS Group
Mace Turco, M2 Corporate
Jak Venables, David Venables & Associates
Justin Wong, Aero Accounting Group
AUDIT
David Chen, Ax3 Partners
Evan Cooper, Mazars
Rakin Hasan, Deloitte
Andrew McEwen, HLB Mann Judd
Marithe Solis, Nexia Edwards Marshall
BOOKKEEPER
Emily Bargerbos, Digit
Beatriz Angela de Grano, Corporate Technology Services
Michelle Knight, Little Miss Bookkeeping & Neapolitan Collective
BUSINESS ADVISORY
Casey Bourke, Mazars
Adrian Citton, Mazars
Steven Cuffe, RSM
Patrick Fitzsimmons, MGI Joyce Dickson
Jason Hood, BourkeHood
Blake Jenkins, Count Out Loud
Ben Napier, Grant Thornton
Pasquale Princi, JBC Corporate
Brooke Steedman, ESV Business advice and accounting
Nicholas Stevenson, Dobbyn + Carafa
CORPORATE
George Boyd, Newcastle Permanent Building Society
Matthew D'Cruz, Canva
Sophie Levy, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
Mavis Jingming Lu, E&P Financial Group
Thomas Mathew, DWA Media
Jayden Perry, DuluxGroup
Eric Sengstock, ATP Science
Nathan Sloane, Penrith Christian School
Nicole Shu Wen Wong, Lexicon Digital
Luka Zivkovic, Gold Road Resources
MANAGEMENT
Matthew Bebawy, Choice Accountants
Matthew D'Cruz, Canva
Beatriz Angela de Grano, Corporate Technology Services
Shaunie Huzzey, Mazars
Danielle Key, Box of Books
Christian Martinez, Kraft Heinz
Drew Ratty, MD Taxation & Advisory
Kayla Russell, Palfreyman Chartered Accountants
Nathan Sloane, Penrith Christian School
Nicole Shu Wen Wong, Lexicon Digital
MULTISERVICE
Damian Cocking, Elevate Accounting
Beatriz Angela de Grano, Corporate Technology Services
Alexander Holmes, Crowley Calvert & Holmes
Michelle Knight, Little Miss Bookkeeping & Neapolitan Collective
Owen Lonergan, BDO
Ahangama Withanage Perera, Morris Cohen Glen & Co
Kayla Russell, Palfreyman Chartered Accountants
Justin Wong, Aero Accounting Group
NEW ACCOUNTANT
Beatriz Angela de Grano, Corporate Technology Services
Farhan Fuad, Mazars
Melody Howe-Jackson, PLH Accountants
Sanika Joshi, Hudson
David Lerch, Palfreyman Chartered Accountants
Kunaal Lubah, Patrick Rowan & Associates
Jason Sahni, Pitcher Partners
Urusha Tamang, The Adding Value CFO
Carl Tapper, Collins Hume Accountants
Alvin Yap, McKern & Associates
PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT
Anurika Abeyasekera, Smart Business Solutions
Casey Bourke, Mazars
Luke Brand, Ashfords Accountants & Advisory
Alexander Holmes, Crowley Calvert & Holmes
Taila McBride, BDO
Mollie Smith, The Field Group - Accounting
Brooke Steedman, ESV Business advice and accounting
Huy Tu, 360 Partners
Kristina Wakim-Dalger, MGI Sydney
Alvin Yap, McKern & Associates
RESTRUCTURING AND INSOLVENCY
Emily Choquenot, Vince & Associates
Daniel Drayton, SV Partners
Matthew Hudson, SV Partners
Declan Lane, HMW Group
Isabel Lutvey, Ernst & Young
Allan Ly, Aston Chace Group
SPECIALIST CONSULTANT
Thomas Caldow, Grant Thornton
Rakin Hasan, Deloitte
Alexander Holmes, Crowley Calvert & Holmes
Kaushika Jayalath, Monash University
Blake Jenkins, Count Out Loud
Matthew McCarthy, RSM
Cynthia Ong, Castaway Forecasting
Kayla Russell, Palfreyman Chartered Accountants
Emma Sullivan, MWM Advisory
TECH INNOVATOR
Thomas Brown, Hudson
Ethan Cooney, Practice Ignition
Jake Duignan, Accru Felsers
Carry Fungsi, Chris Packer & Associates
Shaunie Huzzey, Mazars
Roxanne Mercado, LMS Advisory
Cynthia Ong, Castaway Forecasting
Kayla Russell, Palfreyman Chartered Accountants
Liam Te-wierik, Grant Thornton
Justin Wong, Aero Accounting Group
TAX AND COMPLIANCE
Casey Bourke, Mazars
Patrick Fitzsimmons, MGI Joyce Dickson
Isha Miglani, Count Out Loud
Andrew Phelan, Liston Newton Advisory
Blake Robertson, BDO
Jason Sahni, Pitcher Partners
Brooke Steedman, ESV Business advice and accounting
Nicholas Stevenson, Dobbyn + Carafa
Tristan Tan, Transurban
Alvin Yap, McKern and Associates
WELLNESS ADVOCATE
Zac Hayes, The Business and Wealth Collective
Rose McKenzie-Booth, Castaway Forecasting
Kayla Russell, Palfreyman Chartered Accountants
