Adrian Raftery FCA, doesn't think he's a high achiever, he likes to think he's just an Aussie Rules player in a suit.

Adrian Raftery CA is adamant he’s no high achiever. “In terms of my peers, they just know me as a normal person," he says. However, this 34-year-old chief executive can’t deny his impressive resume, he is one of the youngest FCAs in Australia and being named in Personal Investor’s Masterclass Top 50 for 2006. Apart from a hoard of degrees including an MBA, Raftery still finds time to play senior Aussie Rules, this year with Sydney AFL’s Wollongong Lions.

His time on the field gives him a fresh perspective. “My team mates put me down a notch,” admits Raftery, who’s been playing senior Aussie Rules for 18 years. “They don’t care what qualifications you have as long as you can kick the next goal.” Like many high achievers, he has a touch of humility when he talks about his three firms – a general accounting practice, a national accountancy service and a firm specialising in the financial services industry. “Opportunities have fallen our way,” he says. "I could afford to be selfish. I haven’t been married with children, so I’ve been able to study.” Despite his modesty, Raftery can’t deny his fast rise. He kicked off his career as a cadet with Pannell Kerr Forster before becoming a manager with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. He spent a year working as a stock market option trader, before establishing Adrian Raftery Wawrzyniak (ARW) in 1997, specialising in financial and business planning, and tax. “I was young [at 26] to be setting up a practice. I was confident in my ability and my marketing skills,” says Raftery. “I'm regularly told I have too much personality to be an accountant and I say that it’s my competitive advantage.” While accountancy has been his passion for the past decade, he’s become aware of a common fault of many accountants. “Basically, one thing accountants are poor at is marketing themselves,” he quips. These skills are essential for his next project. After forming ARW, based in Sydney, Granville and Cairns, Raftery and his two chartered accounting partners Andrew Wawrzyniak and Ian Hounslow formed Accountants R Us last July. This service helps clients find a qualified accountant in their local area. “It was established to create a network of small and sole practices, and get them to enjoy significant economies of scale,” says Raftery. After forming the company, 51 firms have joined. He expects 100 on the books by July. "One thing we've identified, with the Accountants R Us model, is the number of people who contact us outside traditional business hours," Raftery says. "We've found 54% of clients contact us outside these hours – some at ungodly times like 4am – by calling our 24-hour call centre or logging onto our website." The firm uses the 1800 TAXMAN and 1300 TAXMAN smart numbers. After hiring a media consultant, Accountants R Us now advertise on radio, print and the Internet as well as at business trade shows. “We were considering getting celebrities for the radio ads but our media consultant suggested a jingle. Hopefully we are starting to get more saturation.” Calling the firm Accountants R Us has also created advantages. “Our solicitor said he had joined a network called Lawyers R Us, so Accountants R Us symbolises the collective of accounting firms.” With the two practices thriving, Raftery and his partners have found time to establish ARW Mac, specialising in the financial services industry. Despite Raftery’s fast climb to the top, he admits it wasn’t easy. “The hardest part I’ve found was starting on my own. Now being able to spread workloads and pressure across other staff has helped. I’m now in the most relaxed state I’ve ever had in business, because of the quality around me.” And that’s what a high achiever always says.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions of the authors appearing in Charter are not necessarily those of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants and should be viewed as such.