Company History

Ean Brown and Chantal Gilmore were two of the local partners operating the business advisory practice of the Whangarei office of the worldwide Chartered Accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In July 2000, they negotiated the purchase of the practice and formed Gilmore Brown Ltd. While they recognised the importance and benefits of being part of the largest Chartered Accountancy practice in the world, they felt that local businesses could be best served by a Chartered Accountancy practice where the decisions and directions were driven locally.

In April 2004 the Dargaville accounting practice of Allen and Allen Limited was purchased. In the same month the Kaitaia office was opened resulting in three Gilmore Brown Limited offices operating out of Northland.

The history of the local firm follows an interesting circle.

The original firm was Speer and Horrell, which then became Horrell Foster and Findlay, and then in 1961, Foster Findlay and Hewitt. Subsequently two other firms, Surman and Brenton-Rule and then Hargreave Corsbie Colson and Cooke were merged into the firm.

The firm in turn became the Whangarei office of Barr Burgess and Stewart (in 1967), New Zealand's first national accountancy practice.

In 1984 Barr Burgess and Stewart adopted the name of the international practice it was associated with, Coopers and Lybrand. PricewaterhouseCoopers was the result of the 1998 merger of accountancy giants, Coopers & Lybrand and Pricewaterhouse. This merger resulted in the formation of the largest Chartered Accountancy practice in the world.

Gilmore Brown Ltd is a return to local ownership.