Tribute to the late
Ben Blackler
It is with heavy hearts we acknowledge the sudden and tragic passing of Ben Blackler on the 24 April 2024. Ben was a founding Partner of Blackler Smith & Co, a knowledgeable and dedicated Chartered Accountant who will be deeply missed by his clients, colleagues, family and friends.
Ben was the kind of person who, once you meet him, you never forget him, with anecdotal stories told with specific detail consisting of anything and everything, his unconditional love for his family and his hometown of Queenstown. We will miss Ben and the genuine interest he showed in his client’s lives.
To those of you who have reached out with your messages of condolences, phone calls and flowers we appreciate you and would like to thank you for your kind thoughts and words at this difficult time.
Blair Smith
CA(PP) BCA
PARTNER
Blair has over 20 years’ chartered accounting experience in helping business owners become more successful and more efficient. His affable nature and ability to speak ‘Plain English’ accounting makes him approachable and well respected by all ranges of clients.
Kelly Sinclair
CA BCA DipProfAcc
SENIOR CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT
Kelly Sinclair came to Blackler Smith & Co as an experienced, fully qualified chartered accountant in 2015.
Kelly has excellent problem solving and advisory skills and can work through a lot of detail when needed.
Kelly has significant experience with business purchases, assisting people with ‘due diligence’ (business assessments), training clients on Xero, forecasting and loan applications for businesses including franchises.
Clients tell us that Kelly has an easy manner, explains things well and can help you if you are new in business, or need help with something more complicated.
Hanlé Sloane
BCompt
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT
Hanlé Sloane came to us with her family from South Africa and she has 17 years’ accounting experience.
Hanlé loves the variety of her work and interpreting numbers. Her experience includes accounting for mining, construction, commercial property and agriculture.
You’ll find that Hanlé has a positive outlook on life and is a delight to meet in person.
Hanlé enjoys the outdoors and anything creative, especially working with her hands such manufacturing jewellery, painting and cake decorating.
Elize Potgieter
BCompt
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT
Elize and her family emigrated from South Africa in 2022 and joined the Blackler Smith & Co team in 2024.
She has 16 years accounting experience and absolutely loves working with people.
Elize takes the needs of her clients very seriously. She is always willing to lend a hand where possible and tries to see the positive side of things.
Her accounting experience includes sole traders, commercial and residential properties, and investment companies.
After hours, Elize and her family explore all the beauty New Zealand has to offer.
Sean Fitzgerald
CA NCB NDA
SENIOR CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT
Sean joined Blackler Smith & Co. in May 2024. He is a chartered accountant, admitted as a member in 1993, and received his public practicing certificate in 1997. Until recently, he was the principal of his own Upper Hutt-based accounting practice.
His firm specialised in offering accounting, tax and business advisory services to small business owners; he sold the practice in March 2024.
The firm provided taxation and accounting services, including preparing and filing GST and FBT returns, payroll services, monthly and annual financial reporting services, together with taxation planning and opinions.
Victoria Wilson
Certificate Secretarial & Office Technology
RECEPTIONIST/ADMINISTRATOR
Victoria is our front face at reception and will likely be the person to greet you when you phone or visit us in person. Victoria oversees the administrative side of the office, including integrating new systems and ensuring the smooth and efficient running of the office. Victoria is a mother of two boys and outside of work she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, holidaying and a nice Pinot Gris.
Our chartered
accounting team
Why do we always let our community know we are chartered accountants? Because we like to educate people who may have no idea that a person straight out of school can call themselves an ‘accountant’. Being a chartered accountant means that we are University qualified, belong to a professional body, have many hours’ worth of compulsory professional training each year and get audited on a regular basis. Our ‘kaitzen’ (continuous improvement) approach means in reality we are constantly upskilling and training ourselves in all areas of business.
