Building Businesses, Not Just Slides

Meet the people behind the new Consulting division — their career journeys, defining experiences, and what’s next.

Ash Little | Consultant, Hall Chadwick WA

Ash shares his perspective on what consulting means to him, the experiences that have shaped his career, and what he’s most looking forward to as the Consulting division continues to grow at HCWA.

Consulting means different things to different people. For me, it’s never been about frameworks for the sake of frameworks, or producing glossy decks that sit untouched on a shelf. It’s about people, businesses, and the real-world challenges that come with trying to build something meaningful — often with limited time, capital, or certainty.

I’ve spent more than 20 years as a CEO and business leader, building businesses from the ground up, scaling operations, growing revenue, navigating governance, managing risk, and learning — sometimes the hard way — what actually works. That experience shapes how I approach consulting today. I’m not a career consultant whose only experience is consulting. I’ve lived the decisions, the trade-offs, the sleepless nights, and the responsibility that comes with leading organisations and backing your people.

Why Consulting Still Excites Me

What I enjoy most about consulting is working alongside passionate business owners, boards, and leadership teams — people who care deeply about what they’re building. I love hearing their stories, understanding where they’ve come from, and giving them the space to be heard and genuinely understood.

From there, the real work begins: unpacking opportunities and challenges, pressure-testing ideas, and finding practical, creative, and proactive solutions grounded in reality. My focus is always on giving clients tangible tools they can actually use — not just advice, but clear steps for implementation, growth, and long-term sustainability.

Providing an independent, outside perspective — and helping businesses move from intent to action — is where I take the greatest pride.

A Diverse Range of Work, One Common Thread

Since launching the Consulting practice at Hall Chadwick WA, I’ve had the privilege of working across a wide range of industries, including technology, mining, professional services, NDIS, construction, agriculture, aviation, transport and logistics, farming, marine services, training and development, and marketing and design.

While the sectors differ, the common thread is always the same: people with ambition, ideas, and a desire to build something better.

Highlights and Early Wins

Some of the most rewarding work so far has included:

• Supporting the development of a new marine services business, taking it from concept to reality and helping secure engagement with major contractors to unlock long-term opportunities.
• Assisting an established residential business to transition into the commercial market, unlocking broader growth potential and a more scalable operating model.
• Supporting multiple businesses with grant and funding applications, enabling them to expand, diversify, and strengthen their operations.
• Delivering feasibility studies and acquisition due diligence to support informed investment and growth decisions.
• Assisting with the establishment and development of not-for-profit organisations, including governance frameworks, compliance requirements, strategic planning, and access to funding.
• Developing strategic plans for newly acquired businesses, refreshing vision and objectives with a strong focus on sustainability and long-term value creation.
• Facilitating and delivering an Indigenous Business Masterclass series, designed to strengthen foundational management and financial capability for Aboriginal businesses across Western Australia.

Together, these projects showcase the breadth of capability within the Consulting practice — but more importantly, they reflect our commitment to practical outcomes, not theoretical advice.

Looking Ahead

Over the coming months, the Consulting division is focused on deepening engagement with the existing Hall Chadwick WA client base — sharing our experience, skills, and insights, and offering a truly integrated, firm-wide solution that goes beyond traditional accounting services.

We’re also excited to continue enhancing our Grants Hub, providing clients with more timely and up-to-date visibility of funding opportunities across multiple sectors, and expanding our hands-on support for grant and funding applications from start to finish.

At its core, consulting at Hall Chadwick WA is about helping businesses grow with clarity, confidence, and capability. It’s about partnering with people who are building something real — and helping them turn opportunity into outcomes.

And yes, sometimes it even involves a whiteboard, a strong coffee, and a good laugh along the way.

Alexander Veiga Malta | Associate – Corporate Finance, Hall Chadwick WA

Alex reflects on how his corporate finance background shapes a consulting approach focused on clarity, commercial rigour and practical execution, and how HCWA is building an outcomes-driven capability designed to deliver measurable impact.

My Professional Foundations

As a corporate finance professional, I’m focused on the decisions that shape performance and enterprise value. Clients rarely need more information. They need clearer choices, stronger conviction in the numbers, and a plan that management can execute.

My background in corporate finance also brings a practical edge to consulting. Working across transactions, funding and capital decisions builds strong commercial judgement and a disciplined approach to risk. It means understanding what boards, lenders and investors look for, knowing how to pressure-test assumptions, and being clear on the value drivers that matter. That experience translates directly into consulting work that is credible, evidence-led, and built for decision-makers.

Turning Intent Into Action

That is the mindset behind Consulting at Hall Chadwick WA. We partner with business owners, boards and leadership teams to help solve complex commercial problems, prioritise the highest value initiatives, and move from intent to implementation.

Our work is practical and outcomes driven. We support clients across growth strategy, operating model improvement, governance and performance uplift, funding and grants, feasibility assessments, transaction support and due diligence. Across each engagement, we bring a disciplined approach: establish a defensible fact base, test assumptions, quantify trade offs, and translate recommendations into a clear execution pathway with accountability.

What clients value most is clarity. Clarity on what matters, what can be delivered with available capital and capability, and what steps will deliver measurable impact over the next 3, 6 and 12 months.

Building What Comes Next

Launching this consulting capability is a natural extension of the advisory support Hall Chadwick WA already provides. We are building a practice that is commercially rigorous, implementation oriented, and designed to help clients make better decisions with confidence.