I had some very sad news this week – New Zealand lost Kevin Simpkins. I have known and worked with Kevin over the length of my career. He was also a patron of the McGuinness Institute. I valued his intellect, patience, wisdom and ethics. He worked hard to ensure that the conceptual thinking underlying financial and non-financial reporting and assurance was robust and understandable. He was a man of principles rather than rules, always working hard to achieve better outcomes for New Zealanders and, more broadly, citizens of the world. He was someone who worked hard to make sure decision makers received good quality information, on time and in a useful manner. He spent a lifetime improving the accounting system, quietly and gently showcasing the way forward. I will miss his presence a great deal. Rest in peace Kevin.
A little more about Kevin:
Kevin Simpkins was a specialist adviser in complex accounting, auditing and reporting matters, and taught at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Accounting and Commercial Law since 2007.
Kevin was previously New Zealand’s Deputy Controller and Auditor-General. He was also a former Technical Director of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants and National Director of Accounting of Ernst & Young NZ. He was a member and latterly Deputy Chair of the Financial Reporting Standards Board (1995–2002) and a Technical Adviser and Member of the now International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (1991–3 and 1997–2003). He chaired the Accounting Standards Review Board from 2009 and became inaugural Chairman of the External Reporting Board on 1 July 2012. He completed his term on 28 February 2014. Kevin was also a former member and past Chairman of the Trans Tasman Accounting and Auditing Standards Advisory Group to Ministers (TTAASAG) and was a member of the Australian Financial Reporting Council from 2009 to 2014. Kevin was a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (1984), the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (1989) and the UK Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (2003). He was made a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute in 1996. In 2011 Kevin was awarded the American Express Outstanding Service to the Profession Award at the NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants Leadership Awards. If you want to learn more about Kevin’s work, please see his website here.