Accountants get into planning
Staples Rodway is the latest accountancy firm in New Zealand to establish a financial planning arm to service its clients.
Thursday, February 17th 2000, 12:00AM
James Scarr, who was formerly a private banker with Bank of New Zealand, joined the firm last year to establish an "asset management" service which offers investment advice.
Scarr says one of the reasons for establishing the service, as opposed to referring the work out to specialist planning firms, was to ensure clients received a good quality service which was consistent across the network.
He says some of the work that had been done by other planners was of poor quality.
In New Zealand the chartered accountancy firms have been slow to embrace financial planning, however a number of accountants are now getting involved in giving advice.
The New Zealand experience is quite different to other countries, such as Australia and the United States, where accountancy firms are major players in the advisory market.
Another accountancy firm to get involved in the advice area is Hamilton-based Beattie Rickman.
Adrian Koppens merged his advice business with the firm last year and now does all Beattie Rickman's financial planning.
Koppens says there is no doubt that there is a trend for accountancy firms to move into planning. He says it is part of the trend for accountants to develop multi-disciplinary businesses.
"A professional practice has to be able to give a large variety of services to its clients and to do it in-house," he says.
Koppens says financial planning is a logical follow-on from the traditional work accountants do.
A number of fund managers and portfolio administration services have recognised this trend and are starting to target accountants.
Also, the Institute of Chartered Accountants is looking, in its five-year plan, to develop separate colleges for different disciplines, including financial planning.
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