Continuity critical for corporate accountants moving forward

In conversation with Accounting Times, Cura Day Hospitals Group head office accountant Hugh Tower – who last year won the Corporate Accountant of the Year – Healthcare category at the inaugural Corporate Accountant Awards – said that the biggest market challenge facing healthcare organisations in the new financial year “isn’t a single cost line as supply costs and wages remain the largest inputs, and outside a handful of sites, wage movements are tracking closer to CPI at around 3.5 per cent than the headline figures suggest”.

The real pressure, he said, is retention.

“In an inflationary environment, people move, and healthcare has seen sustained churn at management level.”

“That makes the finance function’s job about continuity: reporting accurately and verifiably regardless of who’s sitting in the chair. Adjusted financial strategies matter, but so does building processes that survive a change of leadership,” he said.

To this end, Tower said, corporate accountants in the healthcare sector need to be adaptable to balance financial sustainability with continued investment in patient care, workforce capability, and digital transformation.

“The priority is being prepared for things to change rather than assuming they might. Systems, funding models, technology and personnel are all moving quickly, and the AI shift is accelerating that. The practical version is documentation, reproducible processes, and models someone else can pick up,” he said.

“That’s what lets an organisation keep investing in care and capability while the ground shifts underneath it.”

When asked what emerging trends he believes will have the most significant impact upon finance leaders in the new financial year, and how best businesses can prepare, Tower said that inflation still running above the RBA’s target band, and being forecast to remain so for some time, is “less a cost problem, and more a signal of instability” – which is, he said, the same environment driving rapid change in regulation, technology and funding models.

“The best preparation isn’t a forecast or a new process, it’s keeping existing staff educated and engaged.”

“Organisations that hold onto capability through a volatile period come out of it in better shape than the ones that rebuild.”

Against this backdrop, however, Tower sees opportunities for corporate accountants in healthcare to create long-term value that goes beyond financial stewardship, in two primary areas.

“First, partnering directly with hospital executives and leadership from the reporting lens, sitting with the people running the sites so the numbers inform operational decisions rather than just describing them after the fact. Second, working much closer with billing teams. Understanding cash collection and timing at a practical level is where finance adds real value in this sector, and it doesn’t happen from behind a reporting pack or BAU tasks,” he said.

Taking advantage of such opportunities, Tower went on, will require corporate accountants to go further than being technically competent.

“What separates people is a mindset open to learning, and the ability to turn a correct number into a decision someone will act on. Beyond that, it is breadth, comfort with ambiguity, and a willingness to take on problems that sit outside your position description.”

Finally, when asked why it is so important for such practitioners to put themselves forward for recognition for their achievements for businesses, Tower said corporate accounting is invisible when it’s done well.

“Recognition makes the work visible and reminds people that technical finance is a career worth aspiring to rather than a back-office cost. It’s also an independent benchmark and it doesn’t depend on one organisation’s internal view of you, which is genuinely useful early on in a career,” he said.

“Mostly, though, the next cohort needs to see this work get valued.”

Australia’s in-house finance professionals play a critical role in helping organisations navigate complexity, drive performance and deliver long-term growth. The Corporate Accountant Awards 2026 recognise the individuals and teams whose expertise, leadership, and commercial impact are helping shape the future of corporate finance.

For professionals looking to benchmark their achievements against the nation’s best, the awards offer an opportunity to gain recognition on a national stage among peers, leaders of the profession, and the broader business community. Those who aren’t eligible to enter themselves can still help recognise excellence by nominating a colleague, leader or finance team whose contributions deserve to be celebrated. A nomination is often the catalyst that encourages high-performing professionals to share their story and receive the recognition they’ve earned.

Submissions for the Corporate Accountant Awards 2026 are now open and will close on Friday, 31 July at 5:30pm AEST. To submit an entry or nominate a deserving colleague, click here.