Manik Pujara

Manik's passion for numbers sparked early, helping his father evaluate projects in the family's property development business in New Delhi from the age of thirteen. It is no surprise he ended up a director of an accounting firm.

Manik started in public practice in Perth, where he learned the trade on small business work: tax, compliance and the advice that goes with it. He then spent several years in industry, at ASX-listed shipbuilder Austal and in energy, where he managed the financial and commercial performance of three projects worth more than $500m between them. In 2015 he came back to practice and founded his own firm, Informed Accounting, and merged it with Patison in 2019 when he moved to Melbourne, drawn to a firm with a family and community focus and the sort of long, multigenerational client relationships he values.

Today he is also Non-Executive Chair of Peak Processing (ASX: PKP) and Non-Executive Director of Nutritional Growth Solutions (ASX: NGS). It means the things our clients work towards, raising money, bringing in a partner, building a board or selling the business, are things he has done himself.

Day to day, Manik likes knowing he has made a difference, whether that is helping a client through a cash flow squeeze, a system change or a decision they have been putting off. The variety is part of the appeal: builders one minute, manufacturers or logistics the next.

Manik's weekends are filled with refereeing his son Viaan and daughter Shayna. Otherwise, you will find him enjoying a good wine and taking in some cricket, footy or tennis.