Hi, I'm Dylan Walsh

Professional Profile

I bring more than 20 years of experience across accounting, audit, finance, operational leadership, and aged care. My career has combined professional services, family-owned businesses, not-for-profit organisations, property development, and entrepreneurship.

I began developing an interest in technology at a young age while attending primary school in Dunoon, New South Wales. In 1996, I assisted with the brochure design for The Pure Spring Water Company—an early experience that sparked a lasting interest in practical technology, communication, and business development.

At Richmond River High School in Lismore, I continued to pursue technology and completed major programming and multimedia projects. These included a recipe-management application, an interactive CD promoting New South Wales national parks, a school merit-card system, and an interactive presentation for prospective students and families. I also gained early business experience through website design, vinyl signwriting, property marketing, and recruitment support.

Early Career and Professional Foundations

I commenced my accounting career with Blackburn Prior in Lismore, where I completed a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Accounting, through Southern Cross University. This role provided a strong foundation in financial reporting, client service, and business systems. I also developed and tailored financial-reporting templates to meet the needs of different entity types and presentation requirements.

In 2008, I joined Lawler Partners in Newcastle, now part of PKF. As an auditor, I worked across a broad range of internal and external audit engagements in Australia and internationally. My responsibilities included audit planning, team coordination, complex audit procedures, stakeholder reporting, and financial-risk assessment.

During this period, I helped develop a data-driven fraud-detection methodology using Excel and client datasets, before specialist software became widely used. The approach contributed to the detection of a significant fraud and reinforced the value of sound systems, controls, and analytical thinking.

Aged Care Finance and Leadership

In 2012, I joined Hunter Valley Care and Empowered Living Support Services Limited, progressing from Project Accountant to Head of Finance. This was a formative period in my career, combining strategic finance responsibilities with operational involvement across family-business and not-for-profit environments.

Key responsibilities and achievements included:

Managing a $20 million group refinance with two major bank lenders.
Negotiating commercially practical banking covenants.
Reducing director and property cross-guarantees, enabling a significant number of land titles to be released from security.
Overseeing tax, insurance, legal, corporate-restructuring, and litigation-related projects.
Implementing finance systems, sub-systems, internal controls, and digital record-management processes.
Preparing general-purpose and special-purpose financial reports, including prudential reporting.
Managing the restatement of financial reports following the identification of material errors.
Supporting aged care home operations, brownfield and greenfield development projects, property transactions, and rebranding initiatives.
Collaborating with the University of Newcastle on a dementia therapy fine-art program.
Establishing a Jakarta office and recruiting a software-development team to build a single-page application for the aged care business.

PwC

In 2016, I joined PwC to help build its aged care advisory capability. My work focused on identifying opportunities, developing client relationships, and supporting the design of financial-modelling tools during the deregulation of the home care sector.

I also developed a strong professional network to raise the profile of PwC’s aged care expertise. Within 12 months, I built a LinkedIn audience of more than 5,000 relevant followers and, at one point, was PwC Australia’s most-viewed staff member on the platform.

Entrepreneurship: Providence Living and Muswellbrook Serviced Apartments

In 2018, I established my own group after identifying the potential of a property at 59 Tindale Street, Muswellbrook. I led the acquisition, remediation, renovation, fit-out, and operation of the site, developing both an assisted-living business, Providence Living, and a mining-accommodation business, Muswellbrook Serviced Apartments.

The project involved restoring a heavily vandalised property and designing it to accommodate a range of operating models, including accessible bathrooms, appropriate water-heating and temperature-control systems, and upgraded fire detection.

Before COVID-19, the site accommodated assisted-living residents, as well as approximately 42 fly-in fly-out mining workers. The business provided accommodation, meals, cleaning, laundry, transport, social activities, and support services, working closely with local allied health providers.

I was also responsible for developing and managing key mining-services relationships with UGL, Sedgman, and BHP. This experience strengthened my ability to work collaboratively with stakeholders at every level, respond quickly to changing needs, and balance commercial, operational, and community priorities.

The property was sold on 1 December 2020. I am no longer associated with the site or its current owner.

Areas of Expertise

My experience includes:

Accounting, audit, financial reporting, and financial modelling
Aged care, disability services, and accommodation operations
Corporate structuring, refinancing, and valuation management
Banking, insurance, tax, legal, and litigation management
Stakeholder, contractor, and key-client management
Property acquisition, renovation, asset management, and building compliance
Employment, WHS, quality, risk, and complaint management
Information systems, digitisation, and business-process improvement
Disaster recovery, fire and water management, and operational continuity

Personal Commitment

A personal family experience involving the long-term identification of my aunt, Susan Isenhood, reinforced for me the importance of persistence, compassion, and advocacy for missing persons and their families. Her identification contributed to broader awareness of the potential for DNA technology to assist with unresolved cases. I remain hopeful that those responsible for her death will one day be brought to justice.

Complex Litigation and Access to Justice

From March 2020 to April 2025, I was involved in complex litigation in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The proceedings concluded through out-of-court settlements. Key cases included Zagga Investments Pty Ltd v Walsh; Walsh v Preston Rowe Paterson Newcastle & Central Coast Pty Ltd [2024] NSWSC 1447 and [2024] NSWSC 1500.

The business held a mining-accommodation agreement with BHP/C-Res, although BHP personnel had not occupied the property since late March 2020. BHP/C-Res were not parties to the proceedings. The business also provided assisted living for a small number of older residents, who remained at the property until the administrators asked them to secure alternative accommodation.

I cannot discuss the parties’ details or the settlement terms. However, the case materials are publicly available and address several important legal issues, including the ranking of secured debt in a retirement village, alleged valuation negligence, cross-claims, and the dismissal and strike-out of pleadings.

The experience strengthened my respect for the legal profession and my commitment to equitable access to Australia’s legal system—particularly in life-changing civil matters, which should not be available only to the wealthy or those with insurance funding.