Firm Profile
Pigot Miller Wilson Mission Statement
To provide effective, efficient, ethical, professional Chartered Accounting, Audit and Financial planning services, where accountants are total business partners and trusted advisors by facilitating access to all facets of financial service.
We at Pigot Miller Wilson pride ourselves on being accessible and professional. Pigot Miller Wilson has the depth of experience to be a Total Business Partner along with the personal touch that only comes from being a locally owned firm.
Pigot Miller Wilson has been in business for over three generations hence we have a thorough understanding of the challenges you face. We are acutely aware of the realities of owning regionally based business, from the large to the small and are committed to providing you with specifically tailored financial and accounting advice. We know that you and your business are unique and the financial solutions we develop are tailored specifically for you.
We take the time to listen to our clients so as to provide practical, useful business recommendations to help businesses prosper and grow. We explain and minimise the complexity of any situation by using clear and simple terminology.
At Pigot Miller Wilson we are committed to forming partnerships with our clients- we know this is the only way to understand your needs and what you want to achieve. Our partners, and their teams, are ready to provide advice and support, so contact us today.
Background of the firm
Mr E S Hunt AASA, ACIS, ACI (Aust) known as John Hunt commenced practice as a public accountant in Orange shortly after World War II in premises at 205 Anson Street Orange in 1947. (Building now demolished and is part of the Woolworths Supermarket)
Mr M H Bertie (Mervyn Henry) AASA, ACI (Aust) commenced public practice as an accountant in 1949 in Molong.
It is known that Mr Bertie had a very distinguished career as a bombardier seconded from the Royal Australian Air Force by the British Air Force to be part of a Lancaster bomber air crew during World War 11.
Mervyn Bertie flew many bombing raids over Germany during the Second World War and was shot down when returning from one raid over Denmark. He and the pilot parachuted to safety and escaped capture by the Germans. The rest of crew on the plane also parachuted to safety but were caught by the German Army shortly after they parachuted to land.
For approximately six months Merv Bertie with the aid of the Danish underground eluded the German army until he could be smuggled back to England in a Danish fishing boat to rejoin his Air Force Unit and continued his role as a bombardier until the German surrender in mid 1945.
During the time he was in Denmark he was assumed dead, missing in action and his family in Orange was notified accordingly.
On learning of Mervyn Bertie’s survival there was naturally great celebration and relief by his family, relatives and friends here in Orange and his return back to Australia was eagerly awaited.
Mervyn Bertie returned to Australia with an English bride, Eileen, whom he met in England during the war years.
Eileen was a secretary to the British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill and worked long hours alongside him, deep in the underground bunkers, half a mile below the Parliament buildings in London.
John Hunt and Merv Bertie amalgamated the two practices in 1951 and the practice become known as Hunt Bertie & Co. No details are held as to when John Hunt retired from the practice, but it is believed to have been the mid 1950’s.
Merv Bertie continued the practice as a sole practitioner at 205 Anson Street Orange and eventually the firm changed its name to M H Bertie & Co.
Derek Carter Pigot FCA, CPA, FLGA, FTIA joined Merv Bertie as a partner in the practice in September 1975 and at that time the practice employed four staff and all records were hand written and/or manually typed. Therefore were no computerisation or mechanised records held in the office.
The partnership between Merv Bertie and Derek Pigot continued for two years with Merv Bertie retiring at 30 June 1977.
At the time of Merv Bertie’s retirement the firm was known as M H Bertie, Pigot & Co and two years later changed its trading name to Derek Pigot & Associates.
Under the guidance of Derek Pigot the firm grew and expanded its client base and in September 1977 the practice acquired its first computer.
The acquisition of the firm’s first computer allowed the office to rapidly expand its client base without the need for additional staff.
In 1980 the building at 205 Anson Street was sold and the firm moved to upstairs in the Weltall Casa Building at 222 Anson Street Orange.
At the time of the change of the office address the firm was employing six staff and further developing with the sophistication of computerised accounting and record keeping as and when the new technology become available.
The firm continued as a sole practice accountancy firm up until 1 July 2004 when Raymond Michael Miller B.Comm, CA was admitted to the practice as a partner. At the time of Raymond Miller’s admission the practice’s staff had grown to fourteen and the client base was in excess of 3,000 clients.
On 30 June 2005 Andrew John Miller B.Bus, CA joined the practice as a partner and on 30 June 2006 Daniel John Miller B.Bus, CA became a partner of the practice.
In 2005 the practice expanded its services into financial planning and specialist financial planning qualifications were obtained by Derek Carter Pigot and Raymond Michael Miller and fulltime financial planning staff employed.
Derek Carter Pigot retired from private practice on the 30 June 2009 and Glenn Wilson joined the firm as the Financial Planning Partner on 1 July 2009. 1 July 2009 was a busy day! It also saw the change of the firm name to Pigot Miller Wilson and the opening of a second office in Forbes.
As of May 2010 the firm has four partners with twenty eight staff (three of which were engaged fulltime in financial planning) a complete suite of computer technology throughout the whole office and has expanded its operations from occupying the total first floor of the Weltall Casa Building to incorporating new reception and interview rooms down stairs on the ground floor, which were completed during the financial year ended 30 June 2006 and the wonderfully renovated Forbes office at 69 Lachlan Street.
The practice continues to grow and expand and with a commitment to high level professional training of all staff including internal and external professional training, an extensive professional library and sophisticated record keeping electronic procedures the firm is well placed to continue into the future and for the history of the practice to be a work in progress as the firm moves forward servicing its large client base in the Central West of NSW.
