Deloitte appoints Wijohn as Maori business sector leader

Wednesday, 18 August 2010 1 Comment

Deloitte announced today the appointment of New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) Outstanding New Member winner Leon Wijohn as an accounting and advisory partner, based in its Auckland office, and lead partner for its Maori business team.

Wijohn will have two main focus areas: working with SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) and working with Maori-owned businesses or trusts.

Deloitte New Zealand chief executive Murray Jack says Wijohn's appointment represents a significant addition to Deloitte's professional services offering.

"Leon has demonstrated a real passion and talent for supporting and mentoring his small business clients, and that complements the approach we take at Deloitte when trying to help New Zealanders realise their business goals," Jack says.

Wijohn has a number of Iwi affiliations and particularly strong ties to his Te Rarawa and Tuhoe whanau.

"We recognise that Leon also brings strong connections with Maori businesses and organisations, and we look forward to him further developing those relationships at Deloitte."

Wijohn was previously a director of his own chartered accountancy business, Wijohn Chartered Accountants, which he established in Auckland in 2005.

"At first I was not interested in leaving 'my baby' but I eventually realised that I could achieve more for SMEs and Maori communities with the support of Deloitte," Wijohn says.

"I am excited about growing the Maori business team at Deloitte and I am keen to embrace and support the non-Maori accountants currently working in our Maori sector."

Wijohn brings considerable experience from being on many Maori boards and committees to his role at Deloitte.

He says we often hear that Maori business is no different to any others and conceptually that is correct, especially for large Maori corporate entities.

However, Wijohn says if trusted business advisors understand the culture of an organisation and the people running it, they should be more effective at helping those enterprises do better.

Wijohn is on the national executive for Nga Kaitatau Maori o Aotearoa (the National Maori Accountants Network) and he is chair of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants Maori Accountants Special Interest Group for the Auckland region.  Both groups actively engage school and university students to consider accounting as a profession.

"There is a real need for more Maori accountants to work with Maori businesses, as less than 2% of accountants in New Zealand are Maori.  Hopefully my appointment will be added encouragement for more students to think of accounting as a career."

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