Sheehan & Shaw becomes RightWay

Almost twelve months ago local accountants David Shaw and Greg Sheehan teamed up with Hamish Edwards (co-founder of Xero) and Edwin Read (local Chartered Accountant and good Martinborough lad) to create a next generation accounting business from scratch. During this time they carried on with their existing practice of Sheehan & Shaw.
They could see the obvious mismatch in New Zealand between what the customer really wanted and how the service was commonly provided by old school accounting firms. The four shared a common passion for wanting to rock the accounting world by establishing a business from the ground up that was all about helping people make their businesses more successful.

So after a fishing trip to Lake Taupo…. (with not much in the way of fish caught and possibly too much red wine drunk) they laid out plans for a completely different type of business. A business focused on two key things.

Firstly they knew customers wanted a sharp fixed price to have their tax compliance completed efficiently each year. No surprise bills! Especially not for dealing with tax – a grudge purchase at the best of times.

Secondly, business owners wanted broader business advice than the narrow focus offered by many accountants. Most owners worth their salt want their business to grow and make more money. But that takes a bunch of different skills – like in setting strategy, building brands, selling more of their “stuff”, running slick operations and building great teams. But to do that meant these guys needed to do things differently. It meant they needed to hire people with those skills. They knew they would need to ensure that an entrepreneurial DNA ran through the very core of their team.

And so after a few late nights and a full whiteboard they cracked it….. last August they opened the doors on an experimental business in RightWay.

Twelve months on that little “experiment” has been a glowing success and as a result both businesses have been merged into one and operate under the RightWay brand.

RightWay operates with 20+ staff and has offices in Wellington, Palmerston North and Christchurch with a new office set to open in Auckland shortly.

CEO Greg Sheehan likes to joke that that their “Global HQ” is right here in Martinborough. “We’re fortunate to live in an age where technology allows us to run a nationwide business from this great little village. The only downside being the extra weight I put on from spending too much time eating in airport lounges”.  ? ? ?