Accountant balances the ledger

After a rewarding career in business, most recently as partner at Duncan Dovico Taxation Consultants for 17 years, Chartered Accountant Grant Hassall is bringing a wealth of experience to WITT to share with the accounting ākonga he is teaching.

“Having someone with Grant’s breadth of industry knowledge and client experience provides valuable context and relatable examples for ākonga and really brings the teaching curriculum alive,” says WITT Deputy Director School of Māori Enterprise, Business and Technology Dr Jan Lockett-Kay.

Returning to WITT, albeit as a teacher, Grant has come full circle as he started his business qualification at WITT before going on to finish his degree at Massey University.

“I didn’t have the option of staying in Taranaki to complete my qualification that students have today, but I was fortunate to have a co-joint option that gave me the best of both worlds,” he says.

Keen to debunk the myth that accountants will be replaced by technology Grant says there’s no machine that can understand, interpret and advise clients like a person can.

“You also often live and do business in the same community as your clients, which gives you insights and relatability that no technology can ever replicate,” he says.

Giving back to the community is a strong driver for Grant who in in addition to providing accountancy services to select clients and tutoring at WITT also serves on a number of boards.

“The community needs a strong local tertiary education provider and I am in a position to share some of the knowledge I’ve gained with the next generation of accountants and contribute to WITT in that way,” he says.

Grant also gets to fulfil a once-thought-about idea to become a teacher, before the breadth of a business degree and a love of numbers won him over.