INTHEBLACK December 2023/January 2024 Special Edition - Flipbook - Page 22
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Tasmania-based Dionie Lippis ASA uses the
communication skills she learned while studying
drama to thrive in her accounting career.
WORDS BETH WALLACE
PHOTOGRAPHY MATTHEW SCOTT
A
background in theatre may not seem like
a natural pathway to an accounting career,
but for Dionie Lippis ASA, it has been a
fruitful pairing.
Growing up in Launceston, Tasmania, Lippis was a
shy and reserved child who emerged from her shell
through drama. At one point, she even set her sights
on a professional acting career.
“I actually had no intention of going into
accounting, but then I enrolled in accounting in
college, for whatever reason, and loved it. I suppose
I’ve taken my confidence and skills from drama and
brought them into accounting,” she says.
Lippis’s family was initially unconvinced by her
career choice, worrying she would be “stuck behind
a desk all day, plugging numbers into a spreadsheet”.
However, they soon warmed to the idea.
“They understand that the industry is changing,”
she says. “It’s very much a client-facing role, which
is what I was excited about.”
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Lippis was aged 19 when she took her first junior
accounting job with Preece Martin Accountants
and Business Advisers in Launceston. She
remained with the firm for nine months, while
studying a bachelor’s degree in economics and
accounting and diploma of languages at the
University of Tasmania.
She then moved to Taiwan for a three-month
language study exchange. Having studied Mandarin
Chinese at university, she jumped at the chance to
live overseas.
“It broadened my mind in terms of learning how to
phrase things differently and understand that people
could be coming from different perspectives.”
Such lessons have proven invaluable in her
accounting work. Since joining public practice
firm Collins SBA, after relocating to Hobart in
early 2018, Lippis has relished every opportunity to
interact with clients. She is grateful that she was given
