Townsville Bulletin 6 November 2013

Townsville Bulletin 31 October 2013

WHEN young Sydneysider Phil Clarke met a North Queensland girl on a holiday cruise of the South Pacific he didn’t know where Townsville was.

He knew it was either north or south of Cairns.

But it hardly mattered, He had fallen in love and that girl from Townsville, Mary, Brought him to the city where he has played a critical role in its development.

Almost 40 years later as he takes his final day with accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, he is a true convert.

“I love the place,” Mr Clarke said yesterday. “Take away four months of the year and the weather is fantastic, the people are friendly. It is a great community.”

Mr Clarke had joined the accounting firm in Sydney in 1974 and moved to Townsville in 1980.

The managing partner of the firm will retire today to work part-time in his own business advisory firm.

“I’m to young to retire,” he said. “I probably work at the moment 65 or 70 hours a week.

“I’m looking to halve that and spend more time with my wife and family.”

Mr Clarke has been intricately involved in Townsville life, working as a volunteer at the Townsville Chamber of Commerce, where he is a life member, and as business adviser to the Cowboys football club.
He helped write the business plan which launched the club in 1995, including that it would win a premiership within 10 years.

He said the city had changed dramatically since his arrival in 1980,

Another change was technology. He said many businesses used to have little idea how they were performing until handwritten annual accounts were done.

“Now most people have the accounting software and do the inputs themselves… all the better, it’s more efficient,” Mr Clarke said.

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