A discussion with his headmaster as a 17-year-old led to a career in finance spanning 57 years for tax practitioner Bill Hackett. Now having turned 74, Bill is hanging up his ledger for the final time to spend more time with his family and restore his 1973 Italian motorbike.

Bill’s long and diverse career includes saving failing businesses from bankruptcy, managing the complex transition to Goods and Services Tax, and working in a small country town for a food and wine company which, unusually for its location, operated a multi-million-dollar export business.

While the digital world plays an ever-increasing part in the role of tax practitioners, Bill recalls a more labour-intensive time for tax returns.

‘When I started as a tax agent, every tax return was typed’, recalls Bill. ‘We had to proof read through every balance sheet to ensure everything was included and typists relied on two different coloured ribbons – one black for incoming funds and a red ribbon for outgoing funds’. 

By his own admission Bill is one of the ‘old school’.

‘I love accounting but must realise that I will fall behind in my knowledge and that is not good when advising clients. Continuing Professional Education (CPE) is a necessary obligation and I don’t want to let my clients down’, Bill said.

The TPB would like to wish Bill a long and happy retirement.

Although Bill’s long service is remarkable, the TPB hopes all practitioners will remain healthy so they too can have long and successful careers that provide valued service to clients. Therefore, we will temporarily be allowing some educative health and wellbeing activities, such as attending webinars about how to manage stress and self-care, to count towards CPE hours.

More information on CPE can be found on our website.

About the Tax Practitioners Board:

The Tax Practitioners Board regulates tax practitioners in order to protect consumers. The TPB aims to assure the community that tax practitioners meet appropriate standards of professional and ethical conduct. Follow us on Twitter @TPB_gov_au, Facebook and LinkedIn