INTHEBLACK July 2026 - Magazine - Page 17
“You do not need to be a specialist
in a particular field. But you do need to
understand the place of that field in the
system as a whole, and how it might affect
governance, reporting and accountability.”
This interdisciplinary approach has shaped
Murray’s view that accounting is, in a very
real sense, a social practice. It is a practice
that operates within organisations,
relationships and communities. “Accounting
is not neutral or purely technical,” he says.
“It is built inside social spaces and social
relationships.”
This becomes especially clear in
Indigenous organisations, where
organisational boundaries often overlap
with community life. Decision-makers live
in the communities that experience the
consequences of those decisions.
“The important relationships are not just
economic,” Murray says. “They are social. That
changes how accountability is experienced.”
In this context, trust is not a by-product
of good governance, but a prerequisite. When
trust, not just within economic markets but
within communities, becomes a guiding
consideration, accounting still requires strong
technical rigour. But it must also be paired
with an ability to navigate complex social
dynamics without compromising ethical
and professional obligations.
Murray’s work in governance, including
a recent role with the Office of the Registrar
of Indigenous Corporations, involves
understanding how various elements interact
across an organisation and a framework.
Then he designs infrastructure that can work
within that framework, as well as satisfy
regulatory requirements.
“I take a step back and look at it in
a more strategic way around what the needs
are, costing the needs, thinking about the
various consequences,” he says. “I think this
is the advantage of being a CPA. You can
understand and add value in a lot of different
corporate functions.”
This broader view has helped to shape
Murray’s career beyond traditional
accounting. It has led him to areas such as
IT systems and organisational design, into
spaces where accounting training is not
always obvious, but where its value can
be profound.
For those in accounting who expect
their reporting to impact decisions, a wider,
multi-discipline view that takes stakeholders
outside the business into account is
increasingly essential, he believes. So much
so, in fact, that Murray says accounting
should be considered a fundamentally
social practice.
DIVERSE THOUGHT
A constant theme in Murray’s leadership
approach is diversity — though not in a
narrow or tokenistic sense.
“When we talk about diversity, what
really matters is diversity of thought,” he says.
“You might have people from different ethnic
groups who still approach problems in the
same way.”
Education, social class, professional
training and institutional incentives can
often homogenise thinking, even across
people in diverse categories. Without genuine
differences in how problems are framed and
challenged, Murray suggests, diversity risks
becoming superficial.
“Genuine diversity shows up in how
people frame issues. It is in the assumptions
they question and the solutions they
consider possible.”
At its core, this mindset reflects Murray’s
belief that governance and reporting are not
purely technical exercises. Instead, they are
deeply human ones. What does a conscious,
deliberate approach to diversity look like
in practice? First, it is about combining
technical experts in particular areas — legal,
accounting, HR, IT — with technical
experts from other areas. Then it requires the
introduction of people who understand
the broader organisational function and
strategy, and those with a firm grasp on
the community impact of organisational
decisions across all impacted communities.
“An IT problem is not just an IT problem,”
he says. “It can affect all of your systems
and a wide range of stakeholders.”
Of course, this mindset is particularly
important when designing systems that
will be used by diverse groups of people,
each with their own expectations, constraints
and ways of working.
ORGANISATIONAL INTROSPECTION
Many Indigenous organisations operate
within a policy environment that emphasises
self-determination.
According to the Australian Human
Rights Commission, “self-determination
is an ongoing process of ensuring that
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