Changing of the guard at Count

It was probably coincidental that Count chief executive Barry Lambert handed the reins of the company over to Marianne Perkovic the day after the release last month of a damning report on women’s advancement in the Australian workplace, but you can never be sure.

It would, after all, be a move entirely in keeping with the stridently independent philosophy that has characterised Lambert’s steering of Count from a small home-based business 26 years ago to one of Australia’s largest dealer groups.

In fact, it would be vintage Lambert if Perkovic’s appointment was intended to be confirmed on the day after Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EQWWA) released its controversial ‘2006 Australian Census of Women in Leadership’.

Ironically, Perkovic became Australia’s youngest ever chief executive of a public company on the day after EQWWA said the rate of women progressing into senior business roles in Australia had virtually stopped in the two years since its last census.

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That Perkovic, who has been with Count for eight years, has been chief executive in all but official title for the past few years, is also characteristic of Lambert’s renowned attention to detail where Count is concerned, including in this case his succession.

All things considered, it came as something of a surprise to the assembled analysts and journalists to see Perkovic — and not Lambert — mount the Count podium last month to announce a 46 per cent increase in net profit for 2006.

Hearing her speak brought back memories of Lambert telling analysts and journalists in no uncertain terms at the release of Count’s annual results for 2005 — which also saw a 46 per cent net profit — that Count’s future lay in “being independent”.

Acknowledging a number of offers from some big financial institutions in the past, Lambert added, “there’s no takeover in the wings for a long, long, time, if ever”.

The thoroughness of Perkovic’s mentoring by Lambert as his successor coincided with “such a momentous period of change” in the dealer group that in her own words she has been “left with relatively little to do by way of restructuring the business” now that she is officially chief executive.

“I’ve worked so hard in changing our business and its structure while gearing up to take over as a chief executive officer that I’m in the interesting position from day one of not having a lot to change in the business.”

She readily acknowledges that this period of change was also in effect a “litmus test to see if I was able to right-size the business, and also to take on the leadership challenge. I guess my appointment means I have been able to demonstrate to the Count board that I’ve created efficiencies within the business and changed a lot of processes that have been key growth drivers over the past few years.”

Equating the test with “an extremely long interview process”, she said it was “easier for the board to decide to allow me to take over from Barry given that I had already delivered the results”.

Her main focus as chief executive will be on “organically growing” Count, which has more than $14 billion of clients’ funds and loans under advice, and also “keeping growth ticking along by acquiring quality franchisees”, she said.

“My focus at present is to try to extract quality firms to join Count out of ProfitPlus, which comprises accounting firms that offer only loans and leasing, and as such is effectively our practice warehousing business for growing Count.”

The scale of the challenge for Perkovic in this regard is clear when one considers that there are now about 280 firms in ProfitPlus, with the subsidiary becoming a victim of Perkovic’s success in embracing a growth strategy for the business set by the Count board over the past couple of years.

Another key target for her is to help Lambert grow a new second business, Count Plus, through a strategy of acquiring accounting firms under the brand.

“Once a firm is acquired at Count Plus, the Count team will then work on transitioning those accounting firms to offer clients financial planning services.”

Asked if Count was on course to reproduce a 40-plus per cent net profit in 2006-07, Perkovic said the “only target we have set ourselves is an earnings per share growth of 25 per cent” for the year.

She said Count would be able to “provide some profit guidance” at its annual general meeting in November, but added that the business is “still growing organically, and if we have good markets we will hopefully achieve our target”.

The strength of the relationship she has with Lambert as a mentor will also be a key determinant of meeting those targets, she said.

“Barry is an entrepreneur, and working with any entrepreneur has its challenges, but we have really great communication, which is the key to any successful professional relationship.

“We make a good team because Barry concentrates on the big picture and the strategy to deliver it, while my skills are to implement the delivery of the strategy, picking out any holes in it along the way.”

Lambert is “intent on stepping increasingly away from the running of the business”, she said.

“He’ll always be there for us on a needs basis, continuing to mentor me and other people in the business. Why would you change that with his vast industry knowledge and experience? On the other hand, he hasn’t had a lot of involvement in the day-to-day running of Count in the past few years, and that will continue to lessen over time.”

It seems that in one way, at least, Perkovic and Lambert are as one, and that is about having their say on issues that concern both Count as a business and the industry as a whole.

Lambert is renowned for his forthright opinions on industry issues, and, judging by her participation in Money Management’s latest bi-annual industry roundtable forum, Perkovic is in the same mould.

“Up until now, the main thing I have spoken to the media about is improving the efficiency of our industry, which is entirely understandable since I have been enmeshed in the running of the Count business.

“However, stepping into the chief executive role has given me the opportunity to focus on strategy, and with Count being a unique independent model, this always gives us a great point of view on industry issues.”

One of her key industry hopes is for an “improvement in efficiency by getting straight-through-processing from the planners’ front-end to platform providers and fund managers. The systems are ready for that, so now it is just a matter of changing people’s attitudes.”

Another hope is “to strive for an industry where Australians can get advice from people not aligned to product manufacturers”.

Perkovic is also determined to work on smoothing Count’s relationship with the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and other industry bodies.

“We’ve had a colourful past with the FPA,” she said, diplomatically, “and we hope that can change and we can work together”.

“However, we will always have our own views on industry issues as a non-aligned product manufacturer, and sometimes these may be aligned with industry bodies and sometimes not. That won’t change.”