Lawson Avery

Wednesday, August 11, 2021 Wairarapa Midweek

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

g n i t a r b e l e C

THEIR EXTENSIVELY RENOVATED PREMISES IN COLE STREET

Call us on 06 377 5085 11 Cole Street, Masterton Email: info@lala.co.nz www.lala.co.nz

25

26 Wairarapa Midweek Wednesday, August 11, 2021

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

g n i t a r b Cele their extensively renovated premises

Wednesday, August 11, 2021 Wairarapa Midweek

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

at 11 Cole Street, Masterton

Same date move with eyes fixed firmly on the future In 1909, Norman Howard James opened his accountancy office in true exacting style, Lawson Avery accounting partners, Brett Wooffindin and Jennifer Martin, moved into their state-of-the-art modernised premises on Cole Street on 30 June 2021.

It was the exact day, Hollis, Stratton, Lawson, and Avery had moved into the newly built building 44 years before in 1977.

It was sheer coincidence laughs Jennifer, but the sheer symmetry is impressive.

The refurbishment itself is easy on the eye and there’s an ambience portraying competent elegance when you walk through the new doors at Lawson Avery.

That’s not to say the staff of 10 don’t have fun within the walls of their new abode. There is a sense of playful whimsey in much of the furnishings. At the entrance imbedded into the paving stones is a giant one cent coin.

‘Every cent counts’, is the message. The money theme

follows to the coin buttons on the cushions in the cosy waiting room. In the main meeting room, there’s a series of three quirky clocks in the meeting room which will make anyone smile.

The living moss wall is a feature at the end of hallway and this green theme follows into the light and airy open plan work area where desks are separated

by bespoke planter boxes.

The staff area opens on to a rear courtyard as do the partners’ offices.

Brett says the space is a joy to work in and they enjoy seeing client’s delight when visiting for the first time.

As well as the meeting room, there is a dedicated training

room designed to teach online accounting for clients.

Jennifer considers software set-up and training is vital to ensure clients’ data is correct and meaningful. Because of this, they offer free set-ups and training.

Lawson Avery has transitioned to be a 100% cloud-based practice. It was timely as

Covid-19 struck.

The team are all cloud-based specialists and are responsible for products such as Xero, Figured, Hubdoc, Paysauce, Cash Manager Focus, Spotlight Reporting, Workflow Max, and MYOB Essentials.

The team all do the Software Training and Conversions for

clients. The practice has around a 60 per cent rural client base.

the business’ rather than ‘in the business’.

The Cloud-base decision also helps with staff who can be flexible with their hours and can work from home, if required.

Using good technology not only saves time and cost, but also enables us to provide financial data in a timely manner.

“We are finding more and more clients are also very keen to use the best software available so they can focus on working ‘on

Take advantage of the FREE drop in days Lawson Avery will be offering each Wednesday 9am – noon.

Proud to have been the main contractor for the Lawson Avery Ltd major renovations JOINERY We can create your dream • Kitchen joinery • Bathroom joinery • Custom built furniture • Timber windows, doors • Built in wardrobes

CONSTRUCTION We provide a full range of design & build contracts, from office fit outs, residential to large commercial & industrial projects.

PAINTING We offer a comprehensive range of painting & decorating services.

Akura Road, Masterton | Phone 06 377 4025 Email admin@rigg-zschokke.co.nz www.rigg-zschokke.co.nz

PROUD TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH Lawson Avery Ltd 395 Queens Street, Masterton

Residential & Commercial Plumbing solutions PHONE 06 378 2716 HOURS: Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat 9am-1pm

ALL TILING SERVICES • Indoor • Outdoor • Fully qualified

Phone Bailey 0274 540034

06 378 8701 Celebrating 20 years in business

ALL ELECTRICAL & SECURITY INSTALLATIONS SALES • SERVICE • ADVICE Phone 06 379 6433 • Email admin@mckenz2000.co.nz • Website www.mckenz2000.co.nz

• PLUMBING • GAS FITTING • DRAINLAYING • DRAIN CLEARING • IQP CERTIFICATION IN BACKFLOW • ONSITE WASTEWATER TREATMENT DESIGN & MAINTENANCE

email: admin@waterwisewairarapa.com website: www.waterwisewairarapa.com

Waterwise Wairarapa

27

28 Wairarapa Midweek Wednesday, August 11, 2021

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

g n i t a r b Cele their extensively renovated premises Meet the people of Lawson Brett Wooffindin Co-Director / Chartered Accountant

Jennifer Martin Co-Director / Chartered Accountant

Brett was raised on a South Canterbury sheep farm and moved to the Wairarapa in 2015. He has a BCM (Hons) degree from at Lincoln University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2007.

Jennifer gained a BCA in Accounting, Economics and Commercial Law from Victoria University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2011.

Masterton born, she schooled in the town before heading to Wellington to attend University.

Brett’s previous experience includes large accounting practices, investment banks and listed companies in Wellington and London.

Brett focus at Lawson Avery is to improve clients financial performances through strategic planning and process improvement. He has a number of Agri clients and enjoys dealing with people and complex issues.

Good with numbers, accounting was always in her sights. After graduating, she worked in Lower Hutt for two years and then moved back to Masterton to be closer to family. Jennifer specialises in cloud computing where she is the firm’s Xero specialist, as well as having experience with other addons such as Figured, Paysauce, WorkflowMax, Spotlight Reporting. Jennifer has three children, an eight-year-old and seven-year-old twins, so the focus on being family-friendly and having a flexible workplace is important. She loves time with her family and a game of squash, when time allows.

Wednesday, August 11, 2021 Wairarapa Midweek

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

at 11 Cole Street, Masterton

Avery

Heather MacDonald Chartered Accountant

Judy Taylor Accountant

Rob Royle Chartered Accountant

Casey Gousmett Chartered Accountant

Jaimi Stewart Chartered Accountant

Boon Huxtable Chartered Accountant

Rory Kelliher Accountant

Nicole Sim Office Manager

Heather was born into a farming family and grew up in a rural community near Taihape. She graduated with a Bachelor of Business Studies in 1983 from Massey University, then completed a Diploma in Business and Administration and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1986. After working for a large accounting firm in Hamilton, she moved to Wairarapa and joined Lawson Avery in July 1984. Heather specialises in farm accounting and is actively involved with a sheep and beef cattle farming operation at Ihuraua.

Judy joined the team at Lawson Avery in March 1998 when she and her husband moved to Wairarapa.

She had been employed by Chartered Accountancy firms in Taupo and New Plymouth and in another life, she trained and worked as a school dental nurse.

Judy is highly experienced is a wide variety of accounting processes and tax management.

She is an active member of the Holdsworth Lions Club and family keeps Judy fully occupied outside work hours.

A graduate of Victoria University, he qualified as a chartered accountant in 2018. He moved to Wairarapa in 2015 with his wife and two sons. Before joining Lawson Avery in 2018, Rob had worked at another local accounting firm and worked in the finance team at The Salvation Army. When Rob isn’t in the office or chasing his kids around, its likely he’ll be out pig hunting with his dogs.

Casey, finally after Covid-19 lockdown delaying plans, moved to Wairarapa in 2020. She came from Christchurch where she has spent most of her life except for a small stint in sunny Nelson. She gained her Bachelor of Commerce at Lincoln University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2019.

Outside the office Casey enjoys keeping active by playing squash and exploring new parts of the country, being anything from a mountain peak to a waterfall.

Wairarapa born and raised Jaimi achieved her Bachelor of Accountancy from Massey University and in 2020 qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Before joining Lawson Avery in 2021, Jaimi worked at another local accounting firm for five years. Out of the office Jaimi loves playing and watching sport, particularly hockey, and spending time with friends and family.

Raised in Auckland, Boon moved from Wellington to Wairarapa in 2018 joining Lawson Avery in March 2021. He gained a Bachelor of Business in Accounting from Auckland University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2018.

Boon loves to spend quality time with his two children, playing/ coaching on the tennis court and enjoying the family adventures that come with living on a lifestyle block.

Rory was born and raised in Palmerston North before moving to Wellington for university in 2017. He gained a Bachelor of Commerce in 2020 and is currently undergoing his Chartered Accountancy qualifications.

Outside of the office, Rory enjoys all things football, particularly playing and supporting the Wellington Phoenix, where he is a season ticket holder.

Nicole was born and raised in Wairarapa living on numerous dairy farms and developing a love for the outdoors and animals.

Working in a GP Practice while commuting to Upper Hutt for the past five years, Nicole has developed a fine eye for detail and is looking forward to being closer to home and all that this has to offer. You can often find Nicole out walking and exploring the great outdoors of Wairarapa with her fur baby, whipping up some baking in the kitchen, and spending time with family and friends.

Be warm this Winter with a Daikin heatpump

FOR ALL YOUR FLOORING NEEDS

The team at PBS Windows are committed to providing our clients with innovative and high-quality solutions and products.

CONGRATULATIONS TO LAWSON AVERY LTD ON THE NEW BUILD

Proud to have supplied Lawson Avery Ltd with timber planking and carpet

Come talk to us - We are here to help.

Proud to be associated with Rigg Zschokke

61 Dixon Street, Masterton 06 377 5600 masterton@carpetcourt.nz

Proud to be creating the ultimate climate for Lawson Avery Ltd CALL US FOR A QUOTE

PHONE 06 378 2288 MOBILE 0274 425 022 www.heatpumpswairarapa.co.nz

29

NEWBOLDS

Appliances & Beds PROUD TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH LAWSON AVERY APPLIANCES & BEDS

146 Queen St Masterton

SECONDS & SERVICE

46 Worksop Rd Masterton

06 378 8699

14 Bidwills Cutting Road, Greytown 0800 00 00 88 or 06 304 9441 E: enquiries@pbswindows.co.nz | www.pbswindows.co.nz

Congratulations to LAWSON AVERY LTD We are delighted to have been chosen as the Architects for this major renovation project For: Architectural Design, Consent Drawings, Draughting Services & Project Management

Call Darryl, James, Stephen & the Team 24 Church Street, Masterton Phone: (06) 378-6332 Mobile: 027-200-9832 E-mail: info@silverwoodarchitects.co.nz

Proud to have completed the new carpark and footpaths for Lawson Avery Ltd Driveways | Site works Excavations | Kerbing Footpaths/patios | Concrete works Commercial and residential

Call Adam today 027 2699 280 listerworksltd@hotmail.com

30 Wairarapa Midweek Wednesday, August 11, 2021

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

g n i t a r b Cele their extensively renovated premises

Wednesday, August 11, 2021 Wairarapa Midweek

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

at 11 Cole Street, Masterton

112-year history of the accounting firm

In the beginning, there was ‘Ovingdean’

In 1909, Norman Howard James opened his accountancy office in Perry Street with his clients mainly rural based.

The site in Masterton’s Cole Street where Lawson Avery’s refurbished offices sit, once was the home and gardens of ‘Ovingdean’ – a grand two-storey homestead built in 1884 for solicitor, William Gascoyen Beard, his wife Fanny and their five children (three daughters and two sons).

In 1951, Hollis and Stratton was the first accounting firm in Wairarapa to install a Burroughs Sensimatic Accounting Machine – a large keyboard electric adding machine.

Around 1933, the office moved to a Council-owned building on the corner of Chapel Street and Lincoln Road.

This quaint premises featured a curved veranda on two sides with places for tethering horses.

Inside the offices were warmed by an open fire. During the dark Depression years, it was said that Norman James weathered the slump financially better than his legal friends.

of accounting. It replaced the old copperplate handwritten cash books and ledgers, but handwritten journals continued for a while as the machines were treated with great suspicion by conservative and careful accountants.

Clients still needed their annual accounts done, but solicitors depended largely on conveyancing fees and there were very few property transactions.

As times improved, a Wellington accountant, Raymond Hollis, moved to Masterton in 1939 and joined Norman James.

In 1958, the business moved premises to Chapel Street and in 1965, Hollis and Stratton merged with a fellow accountant Peter Lawson. Noting clients’ enthusiasm for dealing with a younger man, a fourth partner, Bill Avery joined them. The team of four outgrew its offices and they decided to buy their own property.

It was a brief partnership, as Ray Hollis was drafted and sent overseas to serve with the Royal NZ Artillery during World War II. He rose to the rank of Major with the Military Cross and returned to Masterton in 1945.

The official partnership, James and Hollis was then born.

Norman James enjoyed the extra pair of hands after coping single-handed for five years.

He began playing golf and horse racing and became secretary of the Masterton Racing Club.

However, this semi-retirement was short-lived for in October 1945, Norman James died of a heart attack.

Ray Hollis continued the practice until August 1948 when Davidson Stratton arrived, and a partnership was created – Hollis

1909 Masterton accountant Norman Howard James stands proudly outside his new premises in Perry Street, Masterton.

and Stratton.

Davidson had spent five years overseas in the Air Force during the war and returned home to complete his accountancy training. He had worked for Borthwick’s Freezing Co and was keen to enter private practice.

Because both accountants had served in the war, the firm of Hollis and Stratton did much

work in Wairarapa with the Rehabilitation Department, helping to settle returned servicemen on to rehab farms.

In 1951, Hollis and Stratton was the first accounting firm in Wairarapa to install a Burroughs Sensimatic Accounting Machine – a large keyboard electric adding machine.

This revolutionised the world

They spied the Ovingdean homestead, owned by the estate of W.G. Beard, which was up for auction in Cole Street.

They purchased it on 25 July 1974 for $28,500, under an arrangement with Wilmshurst Motors Ltd, which took the rear half of the section and added to its existing land on Chapel Street. The old house was demolished.

In its place was built a purposebuilt single-storey building.

Avery opened 30 June 1977.

In April 1979, Keith Levy, who had been working at the firm, became a partner.

Since then there have been three further partners join the firm.

Coincidently, it was on 30 June 2021, exactly 44 years later, that Lawson Avery partners, Brett Woofindin and Jennifer Martin moved back into their refurbished premises.

Now settled in the new building, Lawson Avery is heading into a bright future, based on a solid past.

FOOTNOTE: Details on Lawson Avery’s founder, Norman Howard James drew a blank. In 1976, Hollis Stratton, when writing notes for the firm’s history hears from the NZ Society of Accountants that the personal file on James had been destroyed. The last record of him in the Accountant’s Yearbook is in 1943 where he is listed as ‘Public Accountant.’

Hollis, Stratton, Lawson, and

TRIMFORM JOINERY A big congratulations to the team at Lawson and Avery.

We are proud to have assisted them on their interior design from concept to completion.

www.idesigninteriors.co.nz 67 Ngaumutawa Road, M.B Brown Building, Masterton

Carterton man, Rhys Paisley, who felt it could be used for a museum, library, or archive, and the Masterton Assembly of God suggested it would be an ideal drug and rehabilitation centre.

However, in July 1974, it was purchased jointly by accounting firm Hollis, Stratton, Lawson and Avery and Wilmshurst Motors for $28,500. Dividing the land resulted in the old house being demolished. Matai and Rimu flooring and staircase timber were salvaged, along with decorative roof finials and a large wooden acorn which had been a feature above the front entrance.

It was named after Beard’s village in Sussex, England. The property took up the entire corner site from Essex, Cole, and Chapel Streets.

The Wairarapa Times-Age building today, sits on part of this land.

Beard was a keen horticulturist, and his property featured a tennis court, a fernery, and expansive gardens.

Initially establishing offices in Greytown in 1874, (The WCM Legal building still stands), William Beard moved to Masterton and purchased the Cole Street property from the Caselbergs (Myer Caselberg was the founder of WFCA - the Wairarapa Farmers’ Co-operative Association).

‘Ovingdean’ was a 5000 square foot home with 26 rooms. The

William Gascoyen Beard 1850-1938.

Ovingdean, Cole St, Mstn 1910-18.

tennis court and lawns were mowed by a Shetland pony pulling a gang mower. There was also a cook, housekeeper, housemaid and a washerwoman.

into a trust to construct the Wairarapa Soldier’s Club (now the Services Club) in Essex Street. Fanny Beard died in 1937 and William, a few months later in 1938.

Beard was a leading light in the formation of early Masterton. In 1917, part of his land was formed

Their widowed daughter, Lillian Moore, then lived in the house.

Part of the Ovingdean estate was

Specialising in Stainless Steel

sold off for the construction of the Wairarapa Times-Age building.

By the 1970s, Ovingdean was run down and too large for Lillian, and was put up for sale.

Calls to save the heritage house from demolition came from a

In September 1976, architect, Neill Inkster finalised plans for brand new offices for the accounting firm. Fincon Construction won the tender and a company, Makora Buildings Ltd, was formed to own the building. There was an attempt to name it Ovingdean Buildings, but the name was already registered. Makora Stream was nearby and adopted. Hence, the name Ovingdean, faded into the annals of Masterton history.

LOCALLY FOCUSED, GLOBALLY CONNECTED

Commercial and Domestic

• Benching • Extraction hoods • Shelving • Food cabinets

• Balustrades & Handrails • Design • Trolleys plus much more Brett Wooffindin & Jennifer Martin from Lawson Avery with Mike Weeks (centre) from Provincial Insurance Brokers

Proud to have supplied Lawson Avery Ltd with

Proud to support Lawson Avery Ltd

Locals looking after Locals You can count on us!

Protecting whats yours

Bronnie Hutchison M 021 353 182 E bronnie@idesigninteriors.co.nz

Stainless steel sign

Phone 06 377 0435 Showroom & Office 18 Akura Road Masterton

31

Planter boxes

2K DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS LTD

Giant coin

Exterior Signage

133 Ngaumutawa Road, Masterton 06 3775988

CALL TODAY 06 370 0450 107 Chapel Street, Masterton | www.provincial.co.nz

32 Wairarapa Midweek Wednesday, August 11, 2021

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

There is a sense of playful whimsey in much of the furnishings.

‘Every cent counts’, is the message. The money theme follows to the coin buttons on the cushions in the cosy waiting room.

FREE WORKSHOPS at LAWSON AVERY LTD

WALK IN WEDNESDAY

KNOW YOUR NUMBERS

Lawson Avery are offering FREE one-on-one Xero Drop in Sessions every Wednesday between 9am and noon.

Lawson Avery are offering FREE Workshops.

There will be both Farming and Commercial Workshops to choose from.

Whether you’re looking for user friendly and innovative accounting software or you’re a small business owner looking for some tips and tricks to make the most of your Xero subscription, our local team of experts are here and ready to help.

If you can’t make Wednesdays, please call us on 06 377 5085 to make an appointment for another day or time

Learn how to read the important numbers in your business to unlock growth and improve financial performance.

Please call us on 06 377 5085 or email info@lala.co.nz to register your interest.

Call us on 06 377 5085 11 Cole Street, Masterton Email: info@lala.co.nz www.lala.co.nz