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All week behind a desk leaves one CPA Australia member yearning for fatigues.
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Bottom line or front line, Beasley earns his stripes
26 April 2022
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There’s been a bugle call echoing through Sean Beasley’s life for decades. A call to service, a yearning for the military life that simply won’t fade away.
Along with many thousands of Australians on Anzac Day on Monday (25 April), Mr Beasley got up before dawn and honoured those who have served.
Because for more than a decade he has been living a double life: accountant during the day at his practice in Robina on the Gold Coast, but at other times – and in spirit all the time – an infantryman, Lance Corporal in the 25th/49th Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment, Army Reserve.
Mr Beasley heard the call while a student at university, studying for his eventual profession. He inquired about a role in the Army Pay Corps, which would have allowed him to combine his qualification and his passion. The corps provides a whole range of services, from costing and financial analysis to accounting, auditing and advice.
But the defence forces missed a trick. Following training, it could not promise him a Pay Corps role.
“The Defence Force said, ‘We can’t guarantee you a job in finance. Basically, you get put where we need you’,” Mr Beasley said.
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“I wasn’t prepared to do an accounting degree and then be put in ordinance or looking after spare parts.”
So Mr Beasley let it go, finished his degree and began working as an accountant. The yearning, though, did not go away.
Then in 2009, it forced itself front of mind. Mr Beasley walked the Kokoda Track in PNG. It was a tribute to his grandfather, who had fought there during World War II, and it piqued a longing. “That kind of triggered me – listening to stories, what the lads went through,” he said.
He decided he needed to do some soldiering. He joined the Army Reserves.
“Normally I’m just sitting at a desk, typing away doing tax returns, taking phone calls. I didn’t want to be counting numbers all weekend as well in uniform,” Mr Beasley said.
“I wanted to join the infantry, not finance – I wanted to do something different from what I was doing every day. I thought, you know, I want to challenge myself physically.”
Since then, the two strands of Mr Beasley’s life have been gradually coming together.
“In the battalion we go out, we do exercises and, of course, you talk and people want to know where you’re from and what you do,” Mr Beasley said.
“Once you say I’m a tax accountant, everyone wants to be your friend!
“I’ve picked up maybe a dozen clients that have companies in engineering, mobile phones, IT businesses.”
He also began doing the books for his reserve regiment and when the Army regulars came around, they liked what they saw.
“I’d have a lieutenant or a captain do the audit on my accounts. Ninety-nine times out of 100, that lieutenant or captain was not an accountant. They’re following a piece of paper saying, check the bank account, check this, check that,” Mr Beasley said.
“After a couple of years they all kind of knew me, so I would help them.”
His experience of running his own firm, Sean Beasley Accountants, and being a CPA propelled him up the ranks. Unofficially, at least.
“When my officers found out I was a CPA and an accountant they gave me more respect. They put extra tasks on me because they knew I had studied and I applied myself,” Mr Beasley said.
“Even though I was only a lance corporal at the time I was made the commander of the catafalque party, which is a big responsibility they normally give to full corporals and sergeants.”
That meant command of the four soldiers standing guard over the tomb on Anzac Day, a role he took on from 2010 to 2018.
Then as COVID was about to hit Australia, Mr Beasley realised he needed to slow down. The infantry exercises were taking their toll.
“Now that I’m 47 it’s getting too much with the weight that we carry on our backs. The infantry is a young man’s game and I’m basically too old! I love the military, but I can’t do what a 22 year old does,” Mr Beasley said.
Does that mark the end of his military ambitions?
Not the least of it. The story has gone full circle.
“Now I’m sitting back just waiting for a new job. I’m looking to do a transfer from infantry into the Pay Corps and at the moment, I’m on a waiting list. When a job does open up, I could get my name on the list very quickly,” Mr Beasley said.
That would mean an accountancy role within the Reserves. Behind a desk, yes, but filling in for regulars when they go on holiday and spending one day a year on the firing range, making sure he still has what it takes.
If the pay was there, he would move over full-time.
“The work would be much more fun, to be honest. I’d much more enjoy my life if I was full time in the army than doing what I’m doing now,” Mr Beasley said.
These days, family responsibilities come first although if push came to shove, he would report for duty like thousands of other Army Reserves. Without hesitation, he would heed the call.
“If China invaded Australia, of course, I would have 30 days, maybe 90 days, to be ready. I’d be fully fledged and I’d be in there straight away,” Mr Beasley said.
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