Justin Smith

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Justin Smith

Director at Meridian Accounting & Business Services

Best Practice 2018 Young Gun of the Year. From starting his business from scratch in 2014, Justin has maintained compounding organic growth of >20% year on year, plus successfully completed one merger and more recently an acquisition.

Justin commenced as an undergraduate accountant in 2005 as a then twenty-year-old, with a highly respected chartered accounting firm Christmas & Volling, a two-partner firm. 10 staff Rockhampton (QLD) office and Victor Harbor (SA) Office.

In 2006, Justin graduated university with a bachelor degree and commenced the CPA program in 2007 (completed by 2012 at 27 years of age).

In 2009, Justin commenced a family business with his father and brother, taking over a small rundown boatyard/ lifting/ repairing / marina facility on the Yeppoon coast. With no figures, took it to $900k t/o per annum in 2 years including a team of five employees.

During this time (December 2010), Justin was headhunted to take over financial management of two companies for a dynamic husband and wife. The first was a real estate business (with five employees) and the other contract industrial painting/ sandblasting (with eleven employees). Achievements included taking the real estate business from $1m to $3m in 2 years.

Then doing well, the marina owner wanted to take back control of this business to trade it himself in 2013.  Justin’s father wanted to go sailing for 12 months on our recently built catamaran, and Justin was too busy with accounting, his brother stared a second cabinet making business from scratch so the family let go of the marina.

In the background, Justin commenced his own part-time accounting practice (August 2011) with $18k fees, while working for the husband and wife team and supporting his own family business.  In April 2012 Justin decided to go full time into his own Accounting practice working from home and then moved into a small office in April 2014.

In May 2015 Justin hired two employees at the same time, one accountant, and a receptionist, and fee income had grown to $350K. On July 1st, 2016, Justin participated in a merger with another sole practitioner, creating a two-partner firm with 6 employees, growing to a team of 8 by December 2016.

Justin is married to Shanna and amongst all that have three lovely children, Mia (born September 2012), Toby (born April 2014), and Sebastian (March 2017)