David Shackleton, Hamish Morrow and Aaron Cassidy are pleased to announce the merger of their respective companies, Shackleton Consulting Ltd and WK Christchurch.
The merger comes as David moves towards retiring from his long-standing career as an accountant, a role he has held in the Canterbury region for more than 45 years.
His decision to semi-retire has not been made lightly, nor without consideration for the future of his clients and their business needs.
“I have a moral obligation to all of my clients to ensure they are handed over to a reputable company and to ensure their needs are met going forward,” David says.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the journey with my clients at Shackleton Consulting over the past 15 years and the big 4 for 31 years prior to that and I have great faith in the abilities of Aaron and his team to continue my work with them.”
WK has been operating in Marlborough since 1987, originally established as Winstanley Kerridge before rebranding to become WK in 2015.
Aaron led the company’s expansion into Christchurch in 2018, after more than a decade working in the industry in Canterbury.
WK Christchurch has grown quickly under the guidance of Aaron and Senior Advisor Andrea Leach, and the merger came as a natural progression for the Christchurch team.
“The WK Christchurch journey so far has been one of growth and our relationship with David and this move is seen as the next step in that journey,” Aaron says.
David himself put a lot of thought into selecting a company that aligned with his values and would be the best fit for the needs of his clients.
David will continue to work closely with the WK team during the coming months as he assists in transitioning and bringing WK up to speed with the needs of each individual client, and will remain available in the immediate future to assist with any matters as and when they may arise.
The WK team have moved into the existing Shackleton Consulting offices in Riccarton, and aside from ensuring our paperwork and client identification is up to date, business will continue as usual for all clients with Sue Lynch, David’s right-hand person, continuing to work on clients that are transitioning across to Aaron.
“Minimising disruption to all clients is paramount; from a client point of view everything is status quo, it will just be a matter of us completing some behind the scenes administration,” David and Aaron agree.
If you would like any further information about the merger, or would like to discuss your business needs further, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Aaron or David.