Today, we’re sitting down with Matthew Baggs, an accountant from England, who has recently joined Saward Dawson for a three month secondment. We asked Matthew about his experience adjusting to life in Australia, the challenges and opportunities of working abroad, and his insights into the differences between the accounting practices in the UK and Australia.
What brought you to Australia and why did you choose to do a secondment?
The secondment offered a unique opportunity for me to meet new people and explore a new country and culture, with Melbourne being a city I’ve always wished to visit with a global reputation as vibrant place to live and work. It also offered a number of exciting opportunities for me professionally, such as exchanging ideas and tapping into the expertise of a different audit team which will undoubtedly always have different strengths and approach things with a different mindset.
How does accounting and auditing in Australia compare to the UK?
Australian Accounting Standards are quite similar to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). I have some experience of IFRS from my work in the UK, which has certainly helped me avoid feeling like I’m starting from scratch. Having said that, the majority of my experience in my career so far has been in reporting under Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in the UK (UK GAAP), which while very similar to IFRS in a lot of areas and converging towards it over time, is a few years behind in some areas such as lease accounting and revenue recognition. Because of this, it’s been really useful to see how Saward Dawson approach auditing these areas specifically.
In terms of auditing, the principles are broadly similar which has made the transition quite straightforward. The most notable difference is probably the difference in seasonality. While “busy season” in the UK certainly brings resource challenges, the high proportion of entities with 30 June year ends is very evident here and it’s been interesting to see how Saward Dawson manage this within their audit department.
What’s been the most exciting part of working at Saward Dawson so far?
I’ve found Saward Dawson’s focus on community impact really uplifting and I think it contributes significantly to the very positive culture that’s been created amongst its employees. I enjoyed attending the firm’s “mid-year dinner” back in July, which offered an opportunity to meet people that I haven’t worked directly with in my time here. It was very clear from that event how much pride Saward Dawson takes in its staff’s achievements as well as its specialism for NFPs and the positive role the firm has in the local area because of this. This pride is also very clear within the firm’s internal communications which create a really encouraging and celebratory environment.
What do you enjoy most about living and working in Australia?
On the working side of things, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know my new colleagues and in particular discussing the differences in our audit methodology. I’ve found these conversations really stimulating and that they’ve given me a fresh perspective in many areas. It’s also been enjoyable to learn more about the differences between Australia and the UK, whether that’s from more practical audit discussions or heated debates about the overlaps, conflicts and nuances of our cultures!
Living here for around 12 weeks has really given me a once in a lifetime opportunity to explore Melbourne, Victoria and other parts of Australia, with each weekend an opportunity to see something new that I would never have been able to do otherwise!
