Our History
In 1953 Alan Brierley left R B Swan & Co, Accountants, where he was the Whangarei Assistant Branch Manager, to establish the public accountancy practice of A M Brierley. In August 1952 Alan had become an Associate Registered Accountant.
Initially his offices were in upper Bank Street, near the Air Training Corp building. He later moved above Bethells Menswear in Bank Street next to the old telephone exchange. This is where Killer Prawn is now located. He shared the first floor offices with Mr Pickmere, Solicitor, and Mr Hoskin, Surveyor. Their offices had the steepest stairs in the north.
In 1963 Arthur Jones joined Alan in partnership to form Brierley and Jones. At that time there were three other staff. Not long after Arthur arrived Alan and his wife Noreen took a seven month holiday to the UK.
Arthur had been an Inland Revenue inspector in Hamilton. He soon became involved in establishing the Whangarei Squash Club where he was No 1 on the ladder for several years.
The early sixties was a time of considerable growth in Whangarei with the building of the refinery at Marsden Point. The practice shared in Whangarei's boom, expanding rapidly, bringing in Peter Crawford as a partner in 1968.
Peter came from Auckland, where he had been working in the commercial area, in a national grocery chain - prior to that he had worked for accountancy practices in Hamilton. Peter became very involved in both cricket and rugby referees.
The firm became Brierley, Jones & Crawford.
In 1974 Alan retired and Warwick Syers joined the practice. Warwick had come from Wellington where his background had been in auditing with a national accounting firm. Warwick was also very involved with rugby, including a few years of refereeing.
The practice's name changed to Jones Crawford & Syers. About this time the practice had outgrown the Bank Street premises and moved downstairs in Mansfield House, a new building adjacent to the fire station in Mansfield Terrace.
Some years later the firm relocated upstairs in Mansfield House, eventually taking over the whole floor.
In 1986 Greg Hamilton became a partner, increasing the number of partners to four with a further change of name for the practice to Jones Crawford Syers & Hamilton.
Greg was born in, and grew up in, Whangarei and brought both commercial and public accounting experience to the practice. Greg's passion is fitness, which sees him running, swimming and bike riding - he has completed a few triathlons.
Arthur Jones retired from practice in 1990, although he worked on as a consultant for a number of years.
Once again the name changed, this time to Crawford Syers and Hamilton.
In 1993 the firm relocated to its present premises in the Connell Rishworth Building next to the Court House in Bank Street.
Peter Crawford retired from practice in 2001 and continued to work for the firm as a consultant until 2004.
Chris Pool joined the practice upon Peter's retirement. Chris was educated in Whangarei, later moving to Dargaville where he worked in a Chartered Accountancy practice. Chris's passion is riding and restoring motorcycles.
The firm now has a team of 16, including 3 principals, utilising an MYOB accountants computer system and has modern premises. It prides itself on the service provided to clients, with good accessibility of the principals and a well-trained experienced team.
In keeping with the practice of the past, the firm's name changed to Syers Hamilton Pool Ltd, Chartered Accountants in 2003.