INTHEBLACK July 2022 - Magazine - Page 43
THE CLIENT
LEAH TOURISH
CO-OWNER, TOURISH
HOSPITALITY GROUP
We’ve always been in hospitality. Our
background is McDonald’s restaurants,
where we had two restaurants in western
Sydney. Then we thought we would
semi-retire and have a going concern in
the Northern Territory to come back to
as our base between travels.
We were in for a rude shock. We
ended up working harder than we ever
had in our life, but we loved it and still
do love it. There are not many towns
like Gove or Nhulunbuy.
I’m grateful that we looked at the
business and made our decision before
walking down to the beach, because
I would have been sold just with the
beach.
McDonald’s business is very regulated
and process-driven, and it has a policy
for every imaginable thing.
Although the tavern was built in the
1970s, there were no processes in place.
It was quite a daunting experience, and
we fumbled along as best we could.
We had an accountant based in Sydney,
and he was travelling in and out every
three or four months. Then we heard
about this lady who was doing some
work for another business in town.
I think this was in 2006 – we’d been
up there about six months – and I was
floundering in the office.
Our accountant said, “I think you
need to talk to her”. We arranged to
have an informal chat in the restaurant.
Afterwards our accountant said, “You
are absolutely crazy if you don’t take
this lady on. She will save you so much
time and money”. It was the best
decision we ever made.
CLICK HERE
TO LISTEN
to a CPA Australia
podcast with
Belinda Howie
FCPA and
Leah Tourish
W H AT D O YO U VA L U E A B O U T B E L I N D A?
I think it is amazing the trust and honesty that we have for each other. Belinda
holds me accountable. I struggle at times to remember what I had for breakfast,
let alone [details from] a year ago, and the processes that she’s put into place
have taught me the importance of source documents. I just love that she’s
made us 100 per cent accountable – whether it’s me, a manager or an employee.
Belinda’s almost like a secret customer for me at times, because she has been
going across to Gove [from Darwin] continually since she moved. She will report
back if she’s been to dinner or stayed overnight. She’s full of praise and very
encouraging – my little cheer squad at times.
CLICK HERE
TO BORROW
It Starts with
Clients from the
CPA Library
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au July 2022 43