New appointments position NZ CA as a top tier accountancy gr

New appointments position NZ CA as a top tier accountancy group

Greymouth chartered accountant Sue Merriman has been appointed as chair of NZ CA, an association of independent chartered accountants throughout New Zealand.

Mrs Merriman today said there is an opportunity for the 28 strong member association to be regarded collectively as a top tier accountancy group in New Zealand, rather than as individual firms.

NZ CA was set up in 2001 for smaller firms to gain the benefits of larger firms such as buying power, professional training, networking and the sharing of information.

“NZ CA has been quite inward focused by providing training, networking, information sharing and collective marketing resources to our member firms.

By providing these services, the outcomes have actually been a significant benefit to the clients of each member firm, so it’s now about raising more public awareness of the group,” Mrs Merriman said.

Mrs Merriman is a director of Greymouth accountancy firm Marshall and Heaphy Limited.

Joining Mrs Merriman as new board members are Linda Gray of Naylor Lawrence in Palmerston North, Tony Mossman of BM Accounting in Hastings and independent Dr Jens Mueller.

Dr Mueller is a board member of PHARMAC and is an associate professor at Waikato University’s Management School. He has recently been awarded a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, MNZM for meritious and outstanding service to the crown and people of New Zealand in Business and Education.

Toni Owen of Focus Chartered Accounting, Whakatane and Tony Maginness of McDonald Vague, Auckland continue on the board, as they are part way through their three-year term.

“This is the first time we have had an independent director and Dr Mueller will give us a much broader view of the opportunities there are for NZ CA. He has a wealth of national and international experience that we can draw on.

“Already we have achieved a NZ CA first by holding a member firm strategic planning day that focused on the major issues facing us such as branding, best practice and product development,” she said.

Currently there is geographical exclusivity for NZ CA firms and Mrs Merriman indicated that although this was particularly relevant in smaller towns, larger cities could have more member firms, as each focused on different specialist areas of accountancy.

“We are keen to grow our membership and we need to have both robust policy but also maintain sufficient flexibility to allow existing members to decide whether another firm from the same area can join”.

“Our Greymouth practice, Marshall & Heaphy became a member in 2002 and we can attribute some of our growth and professionalism to the support role of NZ CA,” she said.

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