At Bridge we take great pride in the majority of our team being Chartered Accountants – something that takes a lot of dedication from our team members. We are committed to continuously upskilling our team and to facilitate this we provide paid study leave, flexible working arrangements and have a supportive leadership team.
Introducing Meghan Powell – Business Services Manager & Chartered Accountant
Meghan’s journey to becoming a Chartered Accountant started when she joined the then Gilmore Brown admin team in 2006. Starting out in the admin team, she then transitioned into the accounting team a few years later and studied extramurally through Massey University to get her Bachelor of Accountancy degree and completed the CA program through CAANZ.
“Becoming an accountant requires a lot of time and dedication, so juggling work, study and a family was definitely not easy. But now that I’m qualified I feel that I’ve expanded my knowledge and opened myself up to a lot of new opportunities.”
Meghan is grateful to the Bridge team for supporting her through her studies.
“Bridge has supported me in numerous ways over the years; all the ongoing professional development – for me to attend courses, seminars etc, they have given me excellent work opportunities for career progression, paid study leave and a lot of ongoing support from all the Directors and staff throughout both my Bachelor degree and the CA program.”
Meghan specialises in Trusts and Estates.
“I enjoy working alongside clients to help them achieve their goals. It’s great to be able to share my knowledge, help them grow their business and support them.”
“Having worked my way up from the admin team to a qualified accountant I also enjoy sharing my journey and knowledge with other staff and helping them to upskill, grow and achieve their goals too. It’s a great team to be a part of.”
Meghan praises the Bridge management team, as they have been very flexible and understanding (especially around family commitments), she always feels supported and the Directors are excellent mentors. Over the coming years Meghan hopes to continue her professional development and growth personally and within the firm.
Meet Ethan O’Shea – Chartered Accountant
Ethan O’Shea is a Northland local, like many of us he comes from a farming background so it’s no surprise that he specialises in agri-business. His chosen career allows him to blend his love of the rural environment but also a passion for the variety that accountancy presents.
Ethan talks passionately about his work.
“There are so many influences on our work: the economy, law changes, technology and the effects that the weather has on our clients business’s. New challenges are always presenting themselves and the highs and lows of business keep you on your toes.”
Becoming chartered takes extra time and energy but it was Ethan’s goal from when he first started work as a graduate.
“I could see that being chartered opened a few more doors professionally and the Directors/Managers were always super supportive about giving it a crack. It was sometimes a juggle to learn my day-to-day role as well as the course learning. I had a lot on my plate, with a lot of after hours work meant it was hard to maintain a decent work to life balance.”
Throughout his training Bridge supported Ethan with generous study leave as well as financial support for course fees.
“2023 has been a pretty huge year – getting my ICAP results was hugely satisfying and I was awarded the Ted Delahunty leadership award for accounting and agribusiness, that was surreal. It made all the effort and study worthwhile.”
Day-to-day, Ethan enjoys client engagement, working towards goals or helping to solve a problem. That’s naturally gravitated him towards the advisory space where he’s working closely with the team of Directors to gain even more experience.
“I’ve still got heaps to learn. Hopefully I can put myself into a position where I can play more of a role in supporting our clients by having a significant positive impact on their businesses. I’d say that’s probably the ambition for everyone here at Bridge.”
Both Ethan and Meghan have a strong focus on people as the core of their work and excel at making sure that they support their clients on their ever-changing business journey.