New name and a fresh approach

PKF Bredin McCormack Rewcastle director Peter McCormack (left), consultant Lindsay Dey and...
PKF Bredin McCormack Rewcastle director Peter McCormack (left), consultant Lindsay Dey and director Jono Bredin. Fellow director Ken Rewcastle is absent. Photo: Gregor Richardson.
Change is in the air at Keogh McCormack.

The Dunedin accounting firm has a new name and some new staff members, having acquired the practice of another local firm, Impact Consulting and Accounting.

Impact’s managing director, Lindsay Dey, and his team of four have moved to Keogh McCormack’s offices in ASB House in Cumberland St, bringing total staff numbers to 25.

The firm has also joined PKF, an international network of independent accountant and business advisory firms, and has been rebranded as PKF Bredin McCormack Rewcastle.It had been in the city "in one form or another" since 1925 and, in a sense, was very much a traditional Dunedin firm.  It was now looking at ways to ensure the future success of the business, director and head of tax Jono Bredin said.

Over the past few years, the accounting industry had seen significant change; clients were wanting more from their accountant than just preparing their accounts and tax returns.

They wanted their accountant to work with them in their business as a trusted business adviser, providing business development solutions.

"We have embraced this challenge and now are proactively growing an arm of our business, where the focus is actually working with our clients in their business to provide real-time and meaningful business development solutions."

Not everyone in business was there to "make a fortune" and it was about understanding "what makes them tick" and what their goals were in life.

"It’s positioning ourselves as being their business expert, the person they come to, and trying to do things in a funky, next generation, non-stereotypical accounting way," Mr Bredin said.

The firm was started by Bill Mitson in 1925 and subsequently went through various name changes. It had been Keogh McCormack since 1996.

Impact was a well-established local firm and the merging was a "real good news" story for local business, Mr Bredin said.

"We’re really excited about that because Lindsay operates with his clients already in the way we’re just starting to," he said.

If there had been one criticism of how the firm had worked in the past, it had been told it was "our own best kept secret" and he believed, in many respects, Dunedin was the same.

Asked about business sentiment in the South, Mr Bredin said Otago was "continuing to truck on". The likes of the Cadbury factory closure was not good news — "when you’re talking about loss of jobs, you’re talking about impact on the economy" — and he was particularly passionate about working with the next generation of businesses coming in the city.

There had been a high level of people who had done very well and he asked "where’s your next Animation Research, where’s your next Timely?"

Some of the brightest minds in the country came through the city but a lot then left. Dunedin had a "huge" competitive advantage with cheap housing and was an awesome place to live — "as long as you can buy a coat", he quipped.

He questioned why Dunedin could not be an IT hub for the world.

"As a firm, we’ve said ‘let’s find these businesses and provide some assistance," he said.

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