MEDIA RELEASE 26 August 2013 Boyce Celebrates 40 Years in Business Simply bursting with pride is how Michael Boyce feels on the 40th anniversary of the accounting firm he established and which still bears his name. Boyce Chartered Accountants is today the largest independent accounting firm in regional Australia with offices in five locations across New South Wales and employing a team of more than 140 people. The early days Michael Boyce was a founding partner of the small accounting practice that opened its doors on 2 October 1973 in the central business district of Sydney, where the first clients were mostly young farmers looking for a fresh approach to financial management. Within a period of nine months, the first rural branch of the firm was established in Cooma in the Monaro region of New South Wales, and there began the proud history of rural practice that defines Boyce to this day. Mr Boyce, or Mick as he prefers to be known, is quick to share credit for the early success of the firm with his fellow pioneering partners Doug Treloar, Chris Blencowe, Richard Cummins and Tony Long who helped establish the first branches in Cooma and then Moree, and developed the business and accounting systems that are still referenced today in the firm s unique approach to management accounting. Accounting as a discipline has come a long way since the early Boyce days when doing a farm budget for a client involved a sharp pencil and a trusty eraser. Huge technology and communication advancements have meant the processes and systems employed by the industry are now very different. But even back in the 1970s Boyce was at the forefront in embracing technology. Firm folklore includes tales of directors lugging portable computers the size of large suitcases from client meeting to client meeting. The computers were equipped with the Boyce Chartered Accountants Media Release 1/5
revolutionary Boyce Business System computer software that made the pencil and the eraser obsolete who would have thought. Despite sharing the past forty years with such technological advancements, the focus of the firm has remained unchanged - to offer clients the highest quality management accounting and business advisory services. A caring ethos Mick Boyce credits the firm s first independent Chairman, Jack Morrow, with instilling the care for clients ethos that informs the culture and philosophy of Boyce to this day. One of the firm s earliest clients, Heather Wheaton, is still with Boyce - a partnership that has endured since the early 1970s. Michael Boyce and Co (the original name of the firm) and the Wheaton Partnership grew up together, recalls Mrs Wheaton. In the 70s we were both young and adventurous entities together. Heather and her late husband John initially ventured into growing poplar trees which Heather recalls was a not-for-profit time of their lives. The couple returned to more conventional farming and it was Mick Boyce who mediated a successful purchase of the family farm at Gulargambone in central west New South Wales. Right from the very beginning Boyce has been involved, encouraging, mediating, advising, consoling and helping us to make decisions to maximise profits, says Heather. Boyce has been an integral part of our business the input and advice of various directors over the years and John s management expertise, combined to ensure we had an enjoyable, profitable partnership in agribusiness. Mrs Wheaton says it is the genuine friendship that she has had with the firm as the reason the association has endured for 40 years. It was a true partnership between John and I and Boyce - built on trust and respect. Boyce has grown steadily over the years and the client base has expanded to include businesses and clients from across a diverse range of industry and professional groups. The Boyce Chartered Accountants Media Release 2/5
firm has though retained many of its early clients - a testament to the professionalism, ability and integrity of the firm and of all who work there. Boyce today Today Boyce operates branches in Dubbo, Goulburn and Wagga Wagga in addition to the original Cooma and Moree branches and appears annually on the BRW top 50 list of Australian accounting firms. The fact that Boyce today is as strong as it has ever been at any time in its history is a vindication of a life s work according to Mick, who although retired since 2005, remains a staunch advocate of the firm and a huge influence on the leadership group that has succeeded him. I am naturally pleased by the deserved professional standing of Boyce, but I am just as pleased by the fact that the firm has retained the principles of a business family during its growth. Today the Boyce leadership group is comprised of twelve directors and four associate directors all of whom embrace a commitment to investing in people and systems to ensure that there is a constant evolution in the firm s level of service delivery and client care. Managing Director, Bernard Kennedy, points to the recent Boyce Congress, a two day training session held in Sydney for qualified team members to learn from experts in the fields of tax, superannuation and other not so technical areas such as the growing corporate agriculture sector and the influence of social media in business. As a leadership group it s vitally important to us to leave the firm in as good a shape as it was when handed to us by Mick and the other early partners, said Mr Kennedy. By encouraging, mentoring and training our successors, we can ensure that will happen. Cooma, the firm s first branch The Cooma branch remains the sentimental heart of the firm. It is the largest office in terms of the number of people employed and is led by a talented group of three directors Kathy Kelly, Jono Forrest and Julie Schofield. Boyce Chartered Accountants Media Release 3/5
As well as providing accounting and business advisory services to clients, Boyce Cooma hosts a number of the firm s centralised functions including the superannuation, finance administration and human resource divisions. Kathy Kelly who joined Boyce in 1985 was the firm s first female partner. Like others who have come since, Kathy managed to successfully combine her professional career with motherhood. Boyce has always been supportive of the fact that we all have lives outside of work, said Kathy. It s a philosophy that has endured and one of the reasons why Boyce is a great place to work. The Cooma office has had a succession of long-serving employees over the years all of whom have contributed much to the social fabric of the firm and served as mentors to new team members embarking on their accounting careers. A young, talented team Boyce today is a vibrant mix of talented young, and more experienced, people. The directors are proud of the fact that the firm offers young people the opportunity to have a rewarding professional career whilst enjoying the many benefits of living in a regional centre. A diverse client base, lots of business advisory work and the opportunity to specialise, means that Boyce has a lot to offer young professionals, said Mr Kennedy. Particularly, as he points out, those people who may have done their early training in the city and now seek a more balanced life-style or would like to be closer to family, but who don t want to forgo the opportunity to have an interesting and challenging professional career. What is so pleasing is that the firm is continually renewing itself with these smart, passionate and very talented young accountants joining Boyce, said Mr Kennedy. It s clear that the history of the firm will be forever linked to the pioneering way in which Mick Boyce and his fellow founding partners struck out into regional areas to forge a Boyce Chartered Accountants Media Release 4/5
business that has remained true to its rural background but grown to offer a big city level of accounting and business advisory expertise and range of specialist services. Financial advisory division A relatively recent evolution of Boyce has been the establishment of the firm s financial advisory business Boyce Financial Services. We were concentrating on helping our clients to grow their businesses and maximise profits, but we wanted to ensure they were also well advised about how to look after the wealth they were creating, explained managing director, Bernard Kennedy. Boyce now offers a holistic approach the financial advisory team work in conjunction with the accounting team to ensure that all facets of a client s financial affairs are considered. It s a formula that appears to be working as the financial advisory business has grown quickly. Mick Boyce of course is rightly proud of the firm that he has built and of the people that have succeeded him. Forty years in business and still growing strongly you can t argue with that. Ends. Contacts: Bernard Kennedy Kathy Kelly Managing Director Director Boyce Chartered Accountants Boyce Chartered Accountants Dubbo Cooma P: 02 6884 6499 P: 02 6452 3344 E: bkennedy@boyceca.com E: kkelly@boyceca.com Boyce Chartered Accountants Media Release 5/5