Kerrie Hughson always had a plan.
Even when starting her first full time job at one of the world’s largest financial firms, the-then 21-year-old knew that she would one day find herself at Sinclair Wilson Accountants and Business Advisory.
“I knew I wanted to go to Melbourne after I graduated, but Sinclair Wilson was always where I intended to eventually be,” the 41-year old recalls.
Today, Kerrie is seeing her plans come to full fruition as she becomes the newest Partner of the region’s largest business advisory Group, 18 years after she first walked through its doors. She is also continuing to bring her planning skills to the fore, being the third Partner to oversee the Group’s Self Managed Superannuation Fund division – one of regional Victoria’s largest.
Born and raised in Warrnambool, Kerrie was an Emmanuel College alumni who, like many other of her fellow Sinclair Wilson Partners, completed her Commerce degree at Deakin University’s Warrnambool Campus.
Following graduation in 1999, Kerrie moved to Melbourne for a job with ‘Big 4’ finance conglomerate Deloitte, where she was one of more than 100 graduates added to just the Melbourne office that year.
Although she loved the pace and size of the international firm, a future at Sinclair Wilson was on the agenda from early in her university education, she admits.
“I did a two week placement here while at university, and even when I was at Deloitte, I was in contact with Partners here – our conversations were always about how this would be my first call if and when I chose to come back to Western Victoria.
After two years at Deloitte, Kerrie returned to the South West to Sinclair Wilson’s audit division, where she remained for the next four years. Family commitments and the introduction of a fast-growing Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) division in the mid to late 2000s created the new opportunity for the mother-of-three to move into a new area of advice and put her natural propensity to plan into action; strategically planning others’ futures as carefully and diligently as she had always planned her own.
Kerrie admits that while she has always been forward looking, becoming a Partner in one of regional Australia’s largest accounting and business advisory firms wasn’t always on her ‘to do’ list.
“While I have always had a good idea of what I wanted to do (Partnership) wasn’t something that was high on my list in my early years with Sinclair Wilson,” she confides. “It’s only been in the last few years that I turned my mind to it and started talking to my Partners about it.”
It’s the diversity of her client base that keeps Kerrie passionate about her work. “One day I can be having a first meeting with someone in their 30s or early 40s, who is right at the beginning of setting up their self-managed fund, to plan how they will be financially secure post-retirement, over the next 30, 40 or even 50 years.
“Then, I can be talking to someone who has been a client from my first day, who has now retired and is now living their dream thanks in part to the nest egg we have helped them build over time” she explains.
The range of options she can offer her clients is also an exciting element of the SMSF area.
“Being an authorised representative, I can advise our clients on how they can strategically organise and manage their SMSF over time – there are so many options as to what they can do in order to ensure their own financial stability in retirement – being able to get to know the client and work with them to tailor their fund is rewarding both personally and professionally.”
Kerrie maintains that it’s the breadth of the services Sinclair Wilson can offer its clients that always made her investment in the Group a low-risk, right-return option.
“What we have under one roof is exceptional. The level of expertise, and range of services available for our clients via people working in our Group – it’s unique to this region, and I’ve always been excited to be part of that.”
Sinclair Wilson Chairman John Bouwman said Kerrie’s addition as Partner cemented Sinclair Wilson’s SMSF division as one of regional Victoria and South East South Australia’s largest.
“Kerrie has a specialist level of technical knowledge, an impressive capacity to ‘think around corners’, so to speak, and devise strategies that best-fit her clients’ cashflow needs and future plans.
“We see with Kerrie’s clients, that they can focus on running their business, or taking care of their day to day life, knowing she’s always got her finger on the pulse about what they want now, what they want in the future, and how to continually monitor and adapt to make sure this can be realised.”
John credits the young Partners’ calm and focus as well. “Set a destination, and Kerrie is very good at calmly guiding and navigating clients along the best path – plus, she has a personable nature, that we know means that our clients enjoy the journey on the way to having a financially comfortable future.”
With Kerrie being admitted alongside new Tax and Business Advisory Partner Steven Van Ginneken, John said it was an exciting time for Sinclair Wilson to add another young pair of Partners to its group of 18 Principals. “We have always embraced the opportunities that come with integrating our Partnership with young, progressive partners to compliment the more experienced leaders; it ensures we keep across new developments and a wide range of client demographics,” he said.
“For new clients, it also means that developing a relationship with Kerrie and Steven now, it is likely that they’ll be able to enjoy constant contact with the same partner for many years to come.”
To meet Kerrie and learn more from her about how she can help clients managed their SMSF, contact Sinclair Wilson today.
