Had you asked her during her school years if she had considered commerce as a career, she most likely would have laughed. She did not like numbers and dropped maths as soon as she could.
Ms Dalzell, who works in tax advisory at Moore Markhams in Dunedin, was recently presented with her Chartered Accountants new membership at a Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) function in Dunedin.
Recent CA graduates were welcomed, along with milestone recipients achieving 25, 40 and 50 years of membership while two chartered fellowships were presented.
It was a computer class in year 13 at Otago Girls’ High School which led Ms Dalzell into administration work when she left school and she was given an administration apprenticeship at Fulton Hogan.
While working there, she realised she "quite liked numbers" — something which she quipped was crazy — and with the company’s encouragement, she discovered she could study by correspondence.
She signed up to the Open Polytechnic and started a diploma in business, later deciding to keep going and complete a business degree, by which time she was working at plumbing firm Foleys.
It took much longer than the traditional path as she was studying part-time but she had no regrets about it as she was earning throughout her studies and it allowed her and her partner to buy a house and also to travel, she said.
Having recently turned 30, she said her journey was "pretty crazy to look back on" and she was grateful to all the "amazing people" who had supported her along the way.
Back in her school days, when she did not know what she wanted to do for a career, she thought the only options were either to go to university or work — "I didn’t realise you could do both".
The exposure she had to business during her administration roles had also been beneficial. She had got to know how businesses operated beyond the balance sheet and profit and loss statement. That time working in administration complemented what she was doing now.
She loved Dunedin and could not imagine being anywhere else, she said. It was nice to be recognised at the function and to see the significant contributions made to the profession by others. Down the track, it was likely she would be up for a milestone award as she could not imagine "doing anything else now".
Also specialising in tax is Deloitte Dunedin’s Rico Hawker, who also received his CA membership. When he chose to study accounting and economics, he was looking for a stable career, he said.
He was also blessed with a brain that "wanted everything to balance and make it work", so he saw commerce as an ideal degree to enrol in at the University of Otago, Mr Hawker said.
He graduated in 2020, his final year having been disrupted by Covid-19 which resulted in him working from home with the added challenge of his then toddler son.
He joined Deloitte’s Dunedin office, where he had an internship during his studies. He started in business advisory but later moved across to tax, having identified that was the area in which he wanted to work.
Despite being in a smaller centre, there was still nationally significant work and he liked the impact he was making, he said. He was also keen to do some tutoring or teaching, as a way to give back to the profession.
The accounting community in the city was close-knit and included cross-office events. When speakers shared their tales from long careers at the CAANZ function, he felt proud to be part of the group.
The nomination for Peter Truman, who was presented with his chartered fellowship, said Mr Truman had made a significant contribution to the accounting/tax profession in New Zealand.
He had played an active role in the leadership and management of the Dunedin Deloitte office and contributed significantly to the firm and wider community. He also had specialist knowledge in local government and advised various council and council-owned organisations.
His particular areas of interest were tax issues for agribusiness, business structures, succession planning, structuring business transactions and GST.
He has been a regular presenter for the TEO Training and CCH for the past 12 years covering topics across the tax spectrum with a focus recently on tax issues affecting New Zealand’s primary sector.
Mr Marshall is a member of the CAANZ rural sector committee, which provides support to CAANZ members practising in the primary sector and consults with the government, Inland Revenue and industry bodies on legislative change impacting the primary sector. He is the co-author of the third edition of the CCH Guide to Farming, Forestry and Fishing.
