HLB Mann Judd Adelaide has appointed Mike Rowe as its first chief executive
MID-TIER accounting firm HLB Mann Judd has appointed its first chief executive as part of a shake up of its leadership structure.
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MID-TIER accounting firm HLB Mann Judd has appointed its first chief executive as part of a shake up of its leadership structure.
Mike Rowe has taken up the role after joining the firm as chief financial officer in January.
Before that he worked in commercial advisory with Deloitte Private and spent 20 years in London’s technology, e-commerce and professional services sectors.
The appointment follows the earlier addition of a chairman to HLB Mann Judd’s executive committee in Adelaide, with Alan Green taking up that role last October.
Mr Rowe said that under his leadership, the firm would look to form strategic alliances with complementary service providers, including marketing and other consulting groups.
He said the newly formed leadership group was also focused on integrating the firm’s broad range of service offerings.
“When Alan Green came on board as our chairman, the idea was to take a traditional accounting practice and turn it into a fully integrated model,” he said.
“We have property management, we have wealth management, a superannuation arm – the idea is to create that integrated approach.”
HLB Mann Judd Adelaide managing partner James Hooper, to whom Mr Rowe will report, said many mid-tier accounting firms were adopting a “corporate” leadership model, allowing partners to dedicate more time to clients.
“It’s about freeing up the partners to have someone actually focused on running the business and getting the best outcomes for the business, for the staff and for the client,” he said. “We’re trying to have a corporate model focused on good economic outcomes ... but without affecting our underlying culture, because that’s the danger in going to a corporate model.”
HLB Mann Judd employs more than 60 staff in Adelaide, with offices across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
Mr Hooper said part of Mr Rowe’s brief would be to identify and execute growth opportunities, including potential merger and acquisition activities.
“We’re certainly looking more at the outset at strategic alliances, what sort of other revenue lines should we be expanding – there’s probably one or two we’ve been working really hard on recently,” he said.
“Certainly if that opportunity arose (M&A) for a smaller firm having succession issues we wouldn’t be averse, if it was the right fit for us.”