Unleash the power of collaborative excellence.
When you partner with us, you're joining a journey filled with inventive solutions, the ability to overcome challenges, and a focus on making the most of opportunities. Together, we're all about tapping into the power of collaborative excellence.
"Bellingham Wallace is a team of high performing people with complimentary skills totally committed to a common goal for which they hold themselves mutually accountable."
David recently left the banking industry after an extensive and fulfilling 30-year career at Bank of New Zealand and National Australia Bank in the United Kingdom. Starting as a fresh-faced graduate in Auckland, David progressed quickly and was ultimately appointed to a range of senior leadership roles across business banking, corporate and institutional banking, risk management, and more recently retail banking.
Career highlights include supporting businesses recover from the 1987 sharemarket crash and subsequent recession, growing new business in the UK, leading empowerment for all credit decisions across the Bank before and during the Global Financial Crisis to support customers and their ultimate recovery, building capability to support the growth aspirations of large privately owned businesses, and leading large teams of bankers working differently to support the fast changing needs of retail and business customers during and after the Covid crisis.
David recently joined Bellingham Wallace as Chief Executive to grow and develop the business, while also applying his experience in an advisory and governance capacity across its growing and successful client base.
David understands the critical role privately owned businesses play in the success of the New Zealand economy. In addition to supporting some of New Zealand’s most successful businesses and entrepreneurs, he has also worked closely with others in financial distress and requiring turnaround. He has a unique insight into changing expectations of funders, and the importance of improving the leadership and governance of privately owned business so they can access the capital they need to fulfil their ambitions.
David lives in Auckland with his wife Keren, and their two adult children are quickly developing their own careers. David enjoys being at the beach and actively participating in a wide range of water-based activities including sailing, windfoiling, paddleboarding, surf ski paddling, ocean swimming and unfortunately still plays a pretty ordinary round of golf. David is currently Chairman of the House at Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
David has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Auckland, a Postgraduate Diploma in Banking from Massey University, a Masters of Business Administration from London Business School, attended the Institute of Strategic Leadership, is a Chartered Banker, a member of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA), and is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors.
Matt has over 30 years of experience in Chartered Accounting, starting out straight from Auckland University after graduating in 1992 and joining a small accounting firm in Takapuna. Fast forward 5 years, and through hard work, grit, and determination Matt was awarded a partnership in that organisation just prior to his 26th birthday making him one of the youngest partners in a mid-sized accountancy firm ever.
Matt finally left that firm in 2012 after 20 years – 15 as a partner and 3 as CEO – to form Bellingham Wallace with Aaron Wallace. The vision was to build an accountancy business that was truly different from the rest, which puts their clients first and delivers practical, top quality, and understandable advice.
Matt has extensive advisory and governance experience across a wide variety of industries. He now spends his days working closely with his clients on a wide range of strategic issues and sits on multiple boards or advisory boards across manufacturing, FMCG, Import / Distribution, and a variety of Service businesses.
Matt heads up the Bellingham Wallace Transaction Advisory Team and applies his years of knowledge assisting businesses with Mergers & Acquisitions, Sales and Divestments, Succession Planning, Management Buy-outs, and Equity Raising. Matt thrives on getting the job done and achieving brilliant outcomes for clients.
Matt is recognised as a top-class speaker and presenter on financial, advisory, and governance topics and has been working with The Icehouse since 2011 on both the Owner Manager Program and Financial Skills Workshops consistently scoring 100% NPS.
Matt spends his downtime on his lifestyle property with his wife Tarryn, or running around after his 4 daughters. Occasionally he gets to partake in his passion of fishing and scuba diving, so you may also catch him on his boat out in the Hauraki Gulf.
Matt has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Auckland. He has been a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) since 2013 and is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors.
Aaron has enjoyed a range of disciplines over his 30 years of experience (and counting) in Public Practice beginning with 5 years as an auditor in a medium-sized Parnell practice. With a keen sense of adventure and desire to further his knowledge, he then did what most Kiwis do and strapped a knapsack to his back and headed to London, where he fulfilled the role of Financial Controller for 2 years in an Asset Management and Fund Management Company, later helping the Group to list on the FTSE100.
Arriving back to our friendly shores, Aaron returned to the profession joining a medium-sized practice with a burning passion to utilize his wider skill set after identifying that the role of traditional accounting in a public practice was on the move. Having joined that firm in a business advisory role (later as a Partner), it’s where he first met Matt Bellingham who shared the same vision and attraction to engage with clients, add true value, and make a difference. In 2012 and after 10 years of pioneering a change in mindset, Aaron joined Matt Bellingham as co-founder of Bellingham Wallace to build a firm offering a range of advisory disciplines, specifically focusing on medium to large size businesses.
In addition to sitting on numerous boards and advisory boards across a range of the services, construction, and warehousing sectors, Aaron leads the Accounting & NZ IFRS division of the practice. Separately, his practical and commercial approach to advisory lends Aaron to head the firm’s Business Valuation practice, where he has a working appreciation for both the Family and High Courts. A commercial solution is the pathway Aaron always likes to head down.
Being raised in the regions, Aaron simply lives for the outdoors and takes every opportunity he can to spend time away with his wife Annabelle, their 2 sons, and their hyperactive dog (Elvis) on their boat, venturing to the outer Hauraki Gulf, Coromandel, and Bay of Islands. It’s through this passion that Aaron spent 10 years on the board of the Royal New Zealand Coastguard, spending his final 5 years as Vice President. Aaron has a clear appreciation for the Not-for- sector having also spent board time with the New Zealand Foundation for the Blind.
Aaron has a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) and a Graduate Diploma (Accounting) from the University of Otago. He is a member of CPA (Australia) and was awarded Fellowship status to the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) in 2017. Aaron was appointed as a panel member of XRAP (External Reporting Advisory Board), being the panel that provides insight to the External Reporting Board (XRB) from December 2014 to July 2021 – the entity that sets accounting standards for New Zealand.
Mike has developed a wide range of experiences with over 20 years as a Chartered Accountant in public practice and business. Coming out of the gate and graduating from the Auckland University of Technology in 2000, Mike was quickly immersed in the world of accounting, business, and consulting at a medium-sized Auckland firm. During his 10 years at this firm, Mike rose through the ranks becoming an Associate Principal.
After 10 years of toil, Mike felt it was time for a change in direction and a new challenge, so took the plunge to partner up with Aaron Wallace and Matt Bellingham at another medium-sized practice before the birth of Bellingham Wallace in 2012. Mike was inspired and energized to be working with both Aaron and Matt who both had a clear desire to engage with clients, add true value, and make a difference, by providing quality understandable business advice.
Both Aaron and Matt shared the same vision, values, and drive as Mike, and so began the journey to build the best consultancy practice in the world.
Mike has extensive strategic and business advisory experience across a wide range of industries and specialisations including restructuring, feasibility studies, bank presentations, governance, succession planning, and strategic reviews of business performance.
To make a positive difference in your organisation, sometimes all you need is someone with a fresh pair of eyes and a sharp business mind to make it happen. This is Mike’s happy place, offering a wealth of practical experience and commercial know-how, plus an ability to cut complex issues down to size.
In addition to sitting on numerous advisory boards across a range of the services, construction, and retail sectors, Mike leads the Governance division of the practice. Mike’s passion is helping businesses successfully overcome the strategic and governance issues holding them back. The net result is not only a better business but also an empowered management team.
Mike also loves a yarn or two and enjoys presenting sessions for organisations including The Icehouse primarily through its Leadership Development Programme and is one of two facilitators for the CAANZ Public Practice workshops in New Zealand.
Raised in Mount Roskill, Mike was converted to a shore boy by his wife Andree. Andree and Mike met as graduate accountants, and since then have formed a fantastic and formable partnership raising two girls, aged 14 and 11, and surviving working together in different shapes and forms for over 20 years. Outside of work, Mike enjoys traveling with his family, sports, specifically basketball, and rugby, and even allows a long walk to get in the way of his wayward golf game.
Mike has a Bachelor of Business Studies from the Auckland University of Technology. He has been a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) since 2017 and is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors. In addition, Mike also represented Auckland on the CAANZ Regional Council from 2012 to 2021, as the Deputy Chairman of Pinehurst School, and the President of the North Harbour Club & Charitable Trust.
There’s a good story to how a street-smart business owner with no formal finance background ended up as the Head of Business Development at Bank of New Zealand before joining the Bellingham Wallace team in June 2022.
For 15 years, Cam was part owner of a 120FTE / $35m turnover 3rd generation family electrical engineering business importing, exporting, and manufacturing from its headquarters in East Tamaki. Anyone that has worked in a family business understands the challenges (you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family right!) and the way family life and business life merge together to become interdependent.
In 2010, Cam’s 60-year-old family business called Electropar Limited was sold to NASDAQ-listed US Corporate Preformed Line Products (click here for the story). For 4 years thereafter Cam worked for the new American owners learning about how an innovative, global, engineering, manufacturing product-led business operates. Following a short stint at Business Growth Hub, The Icehouse in 2015, Cam joined BNZ in early 2016 and applied his practical experience as a former family business owner and corporate employee across the NZ medium enterprise space (businesses with $10 - $100m turnover).
At Bellingham Wallace, Cam delivers advice, strategy, leadership, and governance either in his capacity as a member or chair of client advisory boards for businesses with both domestic and international operations. He also undertakes strategic projects and changes management across sectors as diverse as manufacturing, services, food and beverage, wholesale trade, import distribution, and construction products and services.
Cam's experience growing a family business in NZ / Australia followed by stints in a high complexity multinational with a sharp focus on Asia business and 6 years at the BNZ building his finance muscles gives him a unique ability to help you get your business humming.
Cam has a Master of Arts (Hons) from Auckland University and is totally mad about boating and being out on the Hauraki Gulf.
Bellingham Wallace is synonymous with excellence, and our team is the driving force behind our clients' success stories. With decades of combined experience, our seasoned accountants and business advisors bring unparalleled insight and a results-oriented mindset to every engagement.
"We believe in collaboration but we believe even more in "collabor-action" .... working together in a quick and deadly manner to get stuff done"
Niketa is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of extensive experience in both chartered accountancy and commercial accounting roles, assisting business owners and executives manage finance, accounting, and tax issues for large companies and across complex groups.
Her accounting journey started in her teenage years “working on the books” with her father in the family business. And so Niketa's passion lies in working closely with business owners and leaders, partnering up with her clients by becoming an extension of their team, taking a hands-on approach, and building positive, lasting relationships.
Niketa's vast experience includes accounting and finance, tax, forecasting, technology and systems selection, and virtual CFO services across a range of industries including property, construction, manufacturing, retail, IT, professional services, hospitality, and health.
In her spare time, you will find Niketa keeping up with her husband and 2 active boys or off on a plane somewhere!
Ellie has experience across a wide variety of industries including retail, wholesale, manufacturing, and service industries. She typically advises clients on performance reporting for decision making, financial modelling, valuations, due diligence, debt and equity funding, and succession planning.
Prior to joining Bellingham Wallace in 2019, Ellie lived in London for four and a half years working in commercial roles. These included Global Fashion Group (Parent Company for The Iconic) and Christie’s Auction House.
Ellie is a CAANZ Chartered Accountant with a Bachelor of Commerce from Auckland University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Studies from Massey University.
Outside of the office, Ellie enjoys travelling, films, restaurant recommendations and is busy being a fur mum to Bear and Ava.
Nick is a Senior Associate specialising in business and debt advisory.
Nick initially joined Bellingham Wallace in 2022 to establish the Banking Advisory Team, supporting clients as they engage with Banks to access the funding they need to support and grow their businesses.
Due to the complexity of businesses and their funding relationships, the Bank Advisory role has evolved into a much broader advisory role. Nick consequently spends a significant amount of time on advisory boards assisting businesses develop performance and accountability frameworks, succession planning, organisational restructures, business sales and acquisitions, and whatever else needs to be done to get the best results for our clients.
Prior to joining Bellingham Wallace in 2022, he spent 15 years with BNZ. His roles included Divisional CFO Institutional Banking which involved providing oversight in the financial management and performance of BNZs top blue-chip corporate customers, and more recently as a Commercial Banker managing a portfolio of high-value complex business relationships.
Nick's path to finance and financial services was set up during his time in the UK which started as a 2-year adventure after leaving university in 1997 and resulted in a 9-year journey involving some career development, travel, and a few late nights.
During his time in London, He worked in the consultancy industry at Booz Allen & Hamilton, later moving into financial services with Standard Bank and Goldman Sachs, before returning home to New Zealand in 2006.
Working in financial services and advisory has enabled him to work with some exceptional people in world-class New Zealand businesses, and finds it hugely satisfying to have played a part in their successes.
Life outside of work is spent with his wife Nicky and their two children, who don’t understand what he does and say it sounds boring.
As a family, they love the great outdoors and spend as much time as they can in or by the ocean, either fishing, swimming, surfing, and camping.
Nick has a Bachelor of Business Studies (Economics) and is a member of CPA Australia.
Kelvin is a Senior Associate at Bellingham Wallace.
Kelvin enjoys working alongside his clients and helping them succeed by providing practical advice tailored to their unique needs. Kelvin has in worked with businesses in numerous industries including wholesale, manufacturing, construction, retail, and FMCG.
Kelvin started his career as a production planner in Hamilton before moving to a chartered accountancy firm in Auckland to further develop his business acumen. Since then, Kelvin has worked in both chartered accountancy and commercial accounting roles in New Zealand and in the UK at various levels.
Outside of work, Kelvin enjoys watching movies, catching up with friends and family, and planning his next travel adventures.
Rachel is a highly skilled and experienced accountant with more than 20 years of experience in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. She enjoys working closely with clients to understand their specific needs and developing tailored solutions, whether that be management accounting, financial forecasting, restructuring, due diligence or KPI reporting. In addition to her technical abilities, she is able to relay this in non-technical terms and bring it back to the basics for all to understand. She is results-driven and consistently delivers high-quality advice making her a valuable asset to any organisation.
Before settling down she had a break in her accounting career and took that opportunity to combine her love of travel and worked as a tour guide around Italy. These days overseas travel has been swapped with domestic travel with her daughter.
Niketa is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of extensive experience in both chartered accountancy and commercial accounting roles, assisting business owners and executives manage finance, accounting, and tax issues for large companies and across complex groups.
Her accounting journey started in her teenage years “working on the books” with her father in the family business. And so Niketa's passion lies in working closely with business owners and leaders, partnering up with her clients by becoming an extension of their team, taking a hands-on approach, and building positive, lasting relationships.
Niketa's vast experience includes accounting and finance, tax, forecasting, technology and systems selection, and virtual CFO services across a range of industries including property, construction, manufacturing, retail, IT, professional services, hospitality, and health.
In her spare time, you will find Niketa keeping up with her husband and 2 active boys or off on a plane somewhere!
Jody is a Senior Associate at Bellingham Wallace with over 25 years of experience in the accounting profession. Jody has worked across a range of industries including property, manufacturing, retail, FMCG, and professional services.
Over the course of her career, Jody has worked in both chartered accountancy and commercial accounting roles assisting business owners, their staff, and executives manage finance, accounting, and tax issues for various difference-sized organisations and across complex groups.
Jody is passionate about helping clients navigate and understand the complexity of their internal accounting systems, measuring performance, budgeting, and forecasting.
Prior to joining Bellingham Wallace in 2021, Jody spent 8 years working for The Collective in a finance role, and before that 18 years in chartered accountancy.
Jody is a CAANZ Chartered Accountant and has a Bachelor of Business from the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).
Jody is an Aucklander born and bred and has a teenage daughter. She loves to be active and can still be seen playing hockey on the weekends.
