Our Team
Our team is led by three highly accomplished professionals who are Chartered Accountants, one of whom is an internationally recognised professor.
John Watson FCA PHD MCOM
Director
After completing his Bachelor of Commerce Degree at UWA (with honours), John began his working career at Price Waterhouse and Co where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He then returned to The University of Western Australia in 1976 as a tutor while completing a Master of Commerce Degree (in Finance). John continued working for UWA for some 40 years during which time he was Head of Department for three years and completed his PhD in 1995. John was also involved in setting up the Institute of Chartered Accountants Professional Development week which, in the early years, was held at UWA; and in recognition for his efforts he was made a Fellow of the Institute.
John’s primary research interests are in accounting, finance and entrepreneurship (in particular, evaluating SME performance). John has published numerous articles in leading international journals and his research has been cited in over 6,500 publications. John is now helping business owners better understand the key concepts associated with analysing their business’s performance and the importance of strategy development.
Samuel Watson CA GDAF BCOM(HONS)
Managing Director
Sam is a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years of experience working in both public and commercial practices. He graduated from UWA in 2010 with a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Financial Accounting, Corporate Finance and Marketing and with Honours in Financial Accounting and Marketing. Sam has also furthered his studies and completed a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance.
He began his career at PwC as an auditor with exposure to listed companies before moving into the Private Clients Business Improvement division where his focus was on helping businesses: understand key drivers of financial performance; develop strategic plans; and identify process improvements.
Sam then moved into commercial roles working as a financial analyst in the aged care and education sectors. His focus was on financial modelling, data analysis and business improvement. His focus now is on providing advice to businesses to help them understand the relationship between key financial performance metrics and changes in business value.
Michael Watson CA DFP BCOM
Director
Michael has been working in accounting and finance since he graduated from The University of Western Australia in 2004. He is well qualified having a Diploma in Chartered Accounting, a Diploma in Financial Planning, a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Financial Accounting, Investment Finance and Corporate Finance.
Michael has more than 15 years of experience working in both boutique and top tier accounting and financial planning practices. He started his career as a tax accountant before moving into corporate finance where he provided restructuring advice and business solutions to listed companies at KPMG.
Michael’s knowledge of accounting includes business structures, board performance advisory, valuations, acquisitions and mergers advisory, tax, financial accounting, tax effect accounting, private enterprise and financial analysis.
Kelly Ferguson BCOM PostGradDipEd
Practice Administrator
Kelly completed a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance) at Curtin University in 2013 and then went on to complete a Graduate Diploma of Education in 2016 at Edith Cowan University. She has been with the Advali group since it was founded in 2014.
Kelly’s role within the company encompasses a broad spectrum of duties, including social media marketing, finance management, accounts management and client relationship management.
Vlad Kovtunov BCOM
Senior Software Developer
Vlad brings a wealth of experience to the project, which dates back to 2005 and includes more than 17 years of experience in PHP.
Vlad is a full-stack web developer. His impressive technology stack includes Python (Django, Flask), PHP (Laravel, Yii, Phalcon, Zend, Symfony), JavaScript (VueJS, Angular), CSS, Bash, DBA(PostgreSQL, MySQL) and UNIX system administration. He has been involved in several projects over the span of his career, including in the E-commerce and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) industries. He uses Monolith Architecture, and Microservice software development approaches.
Ilya Davydkin BCOM
Client Relationship Manager
Ilya joined Advali in 2020. He completed his degree in Finance & Marketing at Curtin University and is also undertaking Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) studies. Ilya provides both troubleshooting support and advice support for Advali clients as he is well adept in financial analysis and is Xero certified.
Ilya is also responsible for Advali’s digital marketing including SEO and Google Ads management.
Advali Analysis is designed by accountants for accountants.
