Vipin Thomas - associate, Hawke's Bay

Vipin Thomas is no stranger to the power of an audit to open a conversation with a client. He’s been working in the field now for 17 years, and knows that a simple chat about the annual audit can often lead to a much wider conversation about business, life and the challenges of both. And the same is often true with your office colleagues.

Vipin is a part of our Baker Tilly Staples Rodway Hawkes Bay team, and has been with the Firm since he first started work in New Zealand, arriving via study and work in London and India. Choosing Hawkes Bay for the quality of life it could provide him and his family, he found our team the same way many others do: by the large sign on the outside of the building!

"I thought well, I would like to work at a large and reputable firm, and there was the Baker Tilly (at the time: Staples Rodway) sign. Having worked and studied in London, I understood the power of being associated with an international network, the type of client work you’re able to be involved with, and the type of people at the Firm. What I didn’t appreciate was the reality of working with this inclusive, family friendly and professionally successful group of people".

As Vipin’s role in our team and with our clients has grown, so has his family. He and his wife Ann have 5 children under 11 and with both of them working, their schedule is packed. The Baker Tilly team has supported the Thomas family in their "family scheduling and high level taxi-ing" duties with Vipin working flexible hours around his commitments to school and other activities. This support has lead Vipin to a strong desire to learn more about workplace inclusivity and diversity. He’s recently completed an online course on the topic and has been actively contributing to the Firm’s cultural events this year.

"We’ve celebrated Ramadan, Diwali, Matariki and Chinese New Year, as well as a range of other events and important moments for our work family. From a recent 50th of one of our Directors, through to COVID jab day and our Pink Shirt day, we try to find things that connect our teams together and make the work day fun."

And on the client side of things, Vipin enjoys working with financial institutions, and on technical accounting. After more than ten years looking after the same clients, he provides continuity of perspective and the real scrutiny needed in a good quality audit. "The biggest issue at the moment in audit is not the audit itself but the auditors! We can’t get the people we usually get in from overseas, and fewer young people are chosing audit as a career. It’s really tricky as audits need boots on the ground."

We're so pleased to have Vipin as part of our team here at Baker Tilly Staples Rodway, and we look forward to continuing to celebrate all the phases and stages of life and work with him.