VBP names technical lead amid client services expansion

Virtual Business Partners (VBP) has announced the appointment of Daniel Harrison as technical lead, accounting, following the expansion of its bookkeeping and accounting capabilities.

Reporting to head of client experience Sarah Matthews, he will be responsible for the development and enhancement of VBP’s accounting offering.

Mr Harrison brings more than two decades of experience in accounting to the role, having previously run his own practice, in addition to having held management roles in mid-tier accounting firms in NSW.

He has also worked for the Australian Taxation Office, is a member of the Institute of Public Accountants, and sits on the tax working group for Blockchain Australia.

VBP chief executive officer David Carney said the firm has already begun offering bookkeeping services to clients and is currently working on a broader accounting offering that will be ready in the coming months.

“Increasingly, our clients are multi-disciplined firms. To date, VBP has been able to provide services to the wealth management and mortgage broking divisions of our clients, but not to their accounting and bookkeeping divisions at the same level of operational excellence,” Mr Carney explained.

“With the support of Daniel, we are now realising the opportunity to support their accounting and bookkeeping divisions. It will also support pure financial planning firms to benefit from in-house bookkeeping support around internal payroll functions.”

In August last year, professional services company AZ Next Generation Advisory (AZ NGA) and financial advisory business Invest Blue joined forces to co-invest in VBP.

The deal saw AZ NGA and Invest Blue acquire a 40 per cent interest in VBP, while the groups management team increased their share to 20 per cent and VBP founding shareholders, Mr Carney and David Deegan, retained a 40 per cent stake.

At the time of the transaction, Invest Blue CEO David Stephen commented: “As one of VBP’s largest, longest-standing clients, we know the people who lead this organisation and the talented people they attract. We have every confidence in their ability to grow and continue providing excellent service.”