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Last modified on 21 September 2020
Congratulations to our financial accountant Bill Lofthouse who is celebrating the impressive milestone of 40 years working in local government.
Bill has enjoyed his time in local government but ironically it wasn’t something he wanted to go into when he left school. He said: “I know it is a cliché but it is the closest level of government to the community and provides a great range of services that has evolved over the last 40 years. I began my career in local government when we were using cash accounting and financial statement figures were typed onto large paper schedules. There were no computers or excel templates to use back then. As an accountant it is always important to hold onto your ethics such as the stewardship of funds. This is certainly the case in local government. We are looking after the funds of the community and need to ensure that they are used responsibly for the benefit of the community. It’s the friendships you make and the networks that are built along the way. We all do things a bit differently but there is always someone at the other end of the phone that can help you out. It provides a good avenue to share ideas and experiences. I love the people in the industry and have enjoyed seeing more women (being a father of two daughters and having two granddaughters), in finance roles over the years. As an industry we need to encourage more young people to look at local government as a choice for employment.
I have enjoyed the past ten years as part of the Finance Professionals Executive and the opportunity to serve in that capacity.”
Bill started his local government career at Blacktown City Council as the voucher clerk in 1980. He worked there for 11 years in a number of roles before moving to Parramatta City Council then Auburn Council where he was assistant treasurer then financial accountant.
He started with us at Willoughby City Council in April 2003 and is responsible for the completion of the annual financial statements, cash flow forcasting, investment of funds, loan management, GST and FBT compliance and bank reconciliations.