BAS agent Steve Pike combines his passion for numbers with 70s rock’n’roll
For Hobart Business Activity Statement (BAS) agent Steve Pike, it’s numbers and music that have kept him in his accounting career for 50 years.
“I started as a trainee accountant northwest of London,” he says. “It’s certainly the job I was destined to do, because I love numbers. That said, much of the work is automated now – software has taken over.”
But his passion for live music more than his aptitude for mathematical equations or his ability to keep up with digital advances has kept him in the role.
Globetrotting BAS agent keeps clients happy through remote work
Pike spends his time and his money travelling internationally to see ‘70s rock icons, with some new stars thrown in. “I’m an old rocker and I really enjoy live music,” he says.
In true accountant style, he uses a spreadsheet to keep a record of every concert he has seen since immigrating to Australia and moving to Hobart in 2000.
He has been to 341 concerts, including songwriter and guitarist Tom Petty in Colorado, jazz and pop maestro Tony Bennett in Minnesota and British singer and songwriter Peter Gabriel in Copenhagen. He’s also seen young superstar Billy Eilish, American singer songwriter George Thorogood and classic crooner Engelbert Humperdinck, but that’s just to name a few.
Perhaps his obvious love of music, easy banter and classically dry British sense of humour keep Pike’s BAS clients coming back. They range from plumbers, beauticians and mussel farmers to restaurateurs, debt collectors and a football club.
Hobart BAS agent Steve Pike works remotely while travelling the world to see his rock icons.
“It doesn’t matter what the trade is, they all need assistance with their BAS,” he says.
“I do the accounts preparation, make sure the books are straight, and prepare the statements. I am, of course, the go-between for the ATO and the client.”
As a registered BAS agent with the Tax Practitioners Board, he can represent clients in relation to all GST matters, as well as paying fringe benefits tax, all PAYG withholding matters and payment matters, all Taxable Payments Annual Reporting System and superannuation guarantee matters relating to payroll and charges.
“I also work closely with some tax agents but, the truth is, as a BAS agent, I have to know everything they know,” says Pike, who was previously a tax accountant in the United Kingdom.
Digital bookkeeping helps work flexibility
He’s not only a music fan but an avid traveller. Digital bookkeeping means his globetrotting is unhampered by his accounting work.
“I take my laptop with me,” says Pike. “That is one of the benefits of tax going digital I guess.”
On his last trip to a tax conference in London, he was able to combine working with flying to Helsinki to see Steve Hackett (ex-Genesis guitarist) and Paul Weller (ex Style Council).
Besides working in the accountancy field for most of his professional life, Pike ran an internet café in Hobart before home computers really took off. “It was a fantastic sideline to a bookkeeping business,” he says. “I loved working in retail.”
For the rest of 2024/25, he expects to be grappling with GST records, as well as continuing to add concert dates and ‘70s rock stars to his spreadsheet.
Pike says his client base continues to grow through word-of-mouth and, of course, through the power of rock ‘n’ roll.
