Our History

A man with a vision.

Barry Lambert founded Count Financial Limited, now trading as Count and Count Wealth Accountants, in 1980.

Barry had previously worked for the Commonwealth Bank for 19 years and started preparing tax returns at night. Tax clients often asked Barry where they should invest their money so he looked at becoming licensed to one of the investment organisations available at the time. Barry found these organisations unsuitable as they were largely sales based and few talked about helping the end investor, his client.

Realising that every accountant must be asked the same question by their clients, and knowing that professional and independently owned dealer groups were difficult to find, Barry resigned from the Commonwealth Bank. He began providing specialised advice and training to accountants in public practice so they could give professional investment advice to their tax and accounting clients.

With their comprehensive tax knowledge, Barry believed accountants were well positioned to offer clients a truly comprehensive financial planning service. Today, the Count Financial network has been extended to also include specialist non-accountant advisers, whose clients can now benefit from Count's high quality, proven range of services and support.

Barry’s wife Joy, left her teaching career to help build the Count business and was a Director for 15 years.

Barry and Joy’s three children all contributed to Count's success. Daughter, Kylie, making a significant contribution as the Deputy Managing Director from 1995 to 2004.

Where we are today
While Count is now part of the Commonwealth Bank Group of Companies and enjoys the benefit that ready access to Australia's largest financial institution brings, it maintains its unique culture and brand and continues to champion professional accountant-based advice which has served its clients since its inception in 1980.

We advise clients with as little as $100 to clients with many millions on how to invest their money.

Our franchisee network is now over 300 accounting firms* across Australia, many of which are CPA and Chartered .

Around 650 qualified financial advisers are licensed to Count and we have around $10 billion funds under advice.We advise clients with as little as $100 to clients with many millions on how to invest their money and protect their wealth.

The Count team is over 60 strong, based at our Head Office in Sydney.

*A small number of Count Advisers do not offer accounting services.

What type of licence do we hold?
Count holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (No. 227232) which enables Count Advisers (or Authorised Representatives) to give advice on a wide range of financial products including personal risk insurance and investments such as unit trusts, shares, listed property trusts, and retirement products.