Our Insights

Stephanie Penn, Marketing and Client Relationship Manager  

There is a confidence that comes from knowing how a business really works. Not just on paper, but in the day-to-day pressure of deadlines, people, competing priorities and decisions that carry weight long after the meeting ends. That understanding is at the heart of Stephanie Penn’s role at Thorntons, where she has spent more than a decade building deep capability across administration, bookkeeping, business support, client service, and marketing. Her career path reflects something important about Thorntons, and that is, that expertise is developed through direct exposure to real businesses, real families and real commercial challenges. 

 Career Development in Accounting and Business Advisory Through Experience 

Stephanie’s journey into the profession was anything but conventional. After years working across hospitality and tourism in Perth, Melbourne and the UK, she returned to Western Australia and joined Thorntons as a receptionist in 2013. From there, her role expanded naturally as the firm recognised both her aptitude and her appetite to learn. “I’ve upskilled continually, asking a lot of questions, it’s been organic growth,” she says. Over time, that progression has taken her into accounts receivable and payable, client relationship management, marketing support and bookkeeping work for clients who need reliable, hands-on help. 

 Family Friendly Accounting Careers That Retain Talent and Build Capability 

Ask Stephanie why Thorntons was the right fit and the answer is immediate: people. In professional services, technical knowledge matters, but culture determines whether talented people stay and turn knowledge into judgement. “Everyone at Thorntons is friendly, and supportive. The directors are great … there’s a good balance,” she says. For Stephanie, who is raising three boys while helping run a business with her husband, that support has mattered enormously. She speaks candidly about the value of working in an environment where many colleagues understand the demands of family life and where flexibility is supported by trust rather than treated as a concession. 

Collaborative Tax Planning and Compliance Support for Changing Business Needs 

That supportive culture is matched by a strong internal commitment to learning. Stephanie describes a workplace where questions are encouraged, ideas are shared and ongoing professional development is embedded in the rhythm of the business. Tax law shifts, compliance obligations evolve and clients rarely present with simple, one-dimensional needs. In that environment, collaborative problem-solving becomes a practical advantage. As Stephanie puts it, “we work together as a collaboration at Thorntons … everyone works together and communicates.” It is a revealing comment because it speaks not only to internal culture, but to the way Thorntons approaches client work: informed, responsive and supported by collective expertise. 

 Regional Western Australia Business Support for Primary Producers and Manufacturers 

Thorntons long-standing work across Western Australia, including regional communities, gives that expertise a competitive edge. The firm’s experience with primary producers, growers, manufacturers and multi-generational family enterprises means it understands that advice cannot be generic. Regional businesses often operate within highly specific commercial and regulatory frameworks, and Stephanie has seen that first-hand in her work. Agricultural clients, for example, may face payroll and employment conditions that differ significantly from metropolitan businesses, alongside the seasonal pressures and succession complexities that come with land, family and long-term ownership. “It’s been an interesting experience working with regional clients and multigenerational businesses,” she says, noting both the technical complexity and the grounded nature of the people behind these businesses. 

 Succession Planning and Generational Change for Family-Owned Enterprises 

That depth of understanding matters most when business decisions intersect with family realities. Succession and generational change are rarely just structural questions. They are emotional, financial and deeply personal. Stephanie’s observations show how closely Thorntons sits alongside clients as they navigate those moments, particularly in regional and family-owned settings where the business is inseparable from identity and legacy.  

 Her own background helps here. Raised in a family with a long history of business ownership, she grew up seeing what hard work, continuity and responsibility looked like in practice. “It’s how I’ve been brought up that you work hard, and if you work hard, you’ll be okay,” she says. That mindset now informs the empathy and practicality she brings to clients facing big decisions about the future. 

 Business Structuring and Asset Protection Advice Shaped by Real-Life Experience 

Stephanie is also well placed to understand the pressures clients bring because she has experienced many of them herself. Together with her husband, she helps run a business outside her role at Thorntons, managing administration, bookkeeping, contracts, financial processes, legal administration, and HR. That lived experience does not replace formal advice, but it strengthens her commercial instincts and the quality of the conversations she has with clients. She describes how working at Thorntons has broadened her knowledge of structures, equipment decisions and the right questions to ask when businesses are evolving. Great client service often begins with knowing how to frame the issue properly and where to seek the right guidance. 

 Client Bookkeeping and Business Recovery Support That Reduces Pressure 

Some of Stephanie’s most meaningful work happens when clients are under strain. These are the situations where bookkeeping has fallen behind, obligations have piled up and the business owner is carrying the weight of problems that have become difficult to face. What comes through in her approach is not judgement, but determination.  “Once I’m working with you, I am there for your best interests. I will keep following up even if it’s annoying because it’s what you need,” she says. That persistence, paired with empathy, can be the difference between a client continuing to spiral and a client beginning to regain control. “If I’m doing my job properly, they should be happier in their business,” she says. It is a simple line, but it captures a profoundly relational view of professional service. 

 Client Relationship Management That Goes Beyond the Numbers 

The human dimension is part of what differentiates Thorntons. Stephanie believes many clients arrive through referral because existing clients recognise the difference between transactional compliance and genuinely invested advice. Thornton’s is known, she says, for “that level of detail and going above and beyond for our clients”. In practice, that means building long-term relationships, understanding the commercial context behind the numbers and taking the time to support clients through complexity rather than merely documenting it. For family businesses, regional operators and established enterprises managing change, that kind of relationship-led approach is what allows better decisions to be made in the first place. 

 Broad Perspective and Commercial Insight That Strengthen Client Service 

Outside work, Stephanie’s love of travel has also shaped the way she sees business and people. Having spent time across Europe, Asia and beyond, she speaks thoughtfully about how exposure to different countries and cultures broadens perspective, strengthens critical thinking and deepens appreciation. That worldview sits comfortably with the work she does today. Businesses do not operate in isolation, and neither do the people who run them. Curiosity, perspective and emotional intelligence all have a place in sound commercial judgement. Stephanie brings each of those qualities to her role, along with the energy required to balance a demanding professional life, three young sons and a growing set of business interests beyond the office. 

 Thorntons Accountants and Business Advisors for WA Family Businesses and Regional Clients 

Stephanie Penn’s story offers a valuable reflection of Thorntons as a firm: based in Western Australia, trusted by businesses across Perth and regional communities, and valued for the depth of its relationships as much as the strength of its technical advice. Thorntons supports clients with accounting, tax planning and compliance, business structuring, asset protection, advisory services and the complex realities of succession and generational change. For primary producers, manufacturers, family-owned enterprises and business owners looking for practical, commercially minded guidance, Thornton’s offers the kind of expertise that is built on knowledge, and genuine understanding.   

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Thorntons is an accounting and advisory practice to mid-size, family-owned businesses in Western Australia. We offer a fully integrated portfolio of financial, tax, succession, and estate planning services and have the experience to guide you through the complexity so that you can enjoy stability, peace of mind and certainty. 

 To discuss your individual business needs and find out if we might be a fit for you, please contact Thorntons at tp@thorntons.biz or call (08) 9421 1722.