Sir Walter Scott, AC, CMG (10 November 1903 - 12 February 1981) founded Australia's first management consultancy firm, WD Scott and was active in its leadership until his death in 1981. Sir Walter was knighted in 1966 and appointed a Companion of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in 1979. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, WD Scott was Australia's leading management consultancy firm. Born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

and trained as an accountant, he is best known for leading the review into decimal currency and heading the Australian Decimal Currency Board. Australia converted to decimal currency on 14 February 1966 and most Australians alive at the time can remember the theme song to the advertising teaching about the conversion, which was sung to the tune of "

Click Go the Shears "Click Go the Shears" is a traditional Australian bush ballad. The song details a day's work for a sheep shearer in the days before machine shears. Song The enduring popularity of this song reflects the traditional role that the wool industry ha ...

". WD Scott's Australian business was sold to Coopers and Lybrand in 1985, but has been recently relaunched as a separate company. WD Scott was named after Walter Scott and his wife, Dorothy (later Lady Scott). The Australian Graduate School of Management at the

University of NSW The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public university, public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight (Australian universities), ...

has a leadership scholarship named after Sir Walter Scott. WD Scott was recipient of the first Juran Medal, awarded by the Australian Organization for Quality. It was presented on 4 September 1975 by

Joseph M. Juran Joseph Moses Juran (December 24, 1904 – February 28, 2008) was a Romanian-born American engineer and management consultant. He was an evangelist for quality and quality management, having written several books on those subjects. He was the brot ...

himself, stating: "Probably few Australians of contemporary times have given so much diversified service to their country as Sir Walter Scott. He is very much a product and a champion of private enterprise; yet governments of differing political shades have charged him with missions of national responsibility. Internationally Sir Walter has been active and has been awarded many overseas honours. He has held a number of important overseas posts including President of the Federated Chambers of Commerce (1968-70), President of the International Committee of Scientific Management (1958-60) and since 1969 has been Chancellor of the International Academy of Management. In Australia Sir Walter’s public service began in World War II notably as Chairman of the NSW Munitions Board. Since then he has been a member of the Secondary Industries Commission; Chairman of the Motor Car Advisory Committee, member of the Aluminium Production Commission, Chairman of the NSW Coal Prices Committee, Chairman of the

Industrial Design Council of Australia The Industrial Design Council of Australia (IDCA) was established in 1958 and later became known as the Australian Design Council and then the Australian Design Awards. For over five decades this organisation has been the most active body promotin ...

, Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board and in very recent times Chairman of the Committee examining national Purchasing. It is in the field of quality control that Sir Walter made his mark not only with AOQC but throughout many areas in which he exercised influence. Long ago he recognised the vital role of quality control throughout our industry and the continuing challenge to improve quality of life – in services, in products, methods, use of time and use of leisure."

External links

Australian Dictionary of Biography

References

Australian accountants Australian Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of Australia Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George People educated at Perth Modern School 1981 deaths 1903 births {{Australia-business-bio-stub