01/07/2026
Today marks 20 years since I started Maitland and Associates.
And if I am honest, the idea began long before there was a business plan, logo or website.
I was sitting in an IRBA information session listening to the profession being challenged on lifelong learning and formalised CPD. I remember thinking: this matters. Not as a compliance exercise. Not as a box to tick. But because professional competence is one of the ways we protect the public, protect our clients, and protect ourselves.
At the time, I was lecturing senior accounting students at university. Financial reporting was my home ground. But the profession was changing. The Companies Act was being dramatically reshaped. The regulatory environment was becoming more complex. Ethics was no longer something we could treat as a chapter at the back of the file. Assurance, governance, practice management and professional judgement were becoming daily realities for practitioners.
So I built what I hoped would become a practical technical support platform for accountants and auditors — particularly small and medium practices that do not have the internal technical departments that large firms rely on.
My unofficial job description became: technical “phone-a-friend”.
Sometimes that means CPD training.
Sometimes it means consulting on a difficult accounting treatment.
Sometimes it means helping a practitioner think through an ethical dilemma.
Sometimes it means supporting a CFO, FM or accountant in business before audit season becomes a crisis.
And sometimes, especially on a Friday afternoon, it feels like being the trauma centre for accountants dealing with our profession’s version of a five car pile-up.
But I love what I do.
No two days are the same. No two queries are identical. And every difficult call reminds me how much professional judgement, courage and care sit behind the work that accountants and auditors do.
As we move into AI, sustainability, regulatory complexity and new expectations of the profession, I remain convinced of one thing:
The profession does not need more noise. It needs clarity, competence, courage and common sense.
Thank you to every accountant, auditor, CFO, FM, practitioner, client and colleague who has trusted me over the last 20 years.
I still feel called to this work.
I still believe in this profession.
And I still believe that good technical support can strengthen not just a file, but the person carrying the responsibility behind it.
Here’s to the next chapter.
