The Excellence Awards are delivered annually by the Association in partnership with our generous category sponsors.

The Annual Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate the success of bookkeepers and their businesses, and play an important role in raising awareness of our profession in New Zealand. 

The awards have been a highlight of the Association's event calendar since 2013 and have been instrumental in personal and business development for our members. 

Entries open late April each year and winners are announced at the conclusion of our annual #Bookkeepcon conference, with awards presented to the winners at the Awards Dinner. 

There is no charge to enter the awards and all entries are confidential.

2019 Excellence Awards

Nominations are now closed

Now in its 6th year, it remains vitally important that we celebrate the success of our fellow bookkeepers and provide them with the recognition they deserve. By recognising the achievements of our peers, we are all contributing to not only building the brand of our successful nominees, but also promoting the professionalism of bookkeeping to the public.

There are 8 category awards in 2019:

• Bookkeeper of the Year Award
  Recognising the bookkeeper who offers the best service to their clients over the last 12 months and is a great member of the business community.
  Sponsored by Smart Payroll
• Bookkeeping Trainer of the Year Award – Gayle Buchanan Memorial Trophy
  Recognising the bookkeeper who offers the best bookkeeping training to their clients over the last 12 months. This is not the best software application trainer, this is about the principles of bookkeeping and training emerging business owners, students and new bookkeepers the value of our profession.
  Sponsored by Tax Agent 99
• Bookkeeping Business of the Year Award
  Recognising a bookkeeping business that employs bookkeeping staff, that has added significant value to its clients, across multiple of its bookkeeping staff over the last 12 months.
  Sponsored by iPayroll
• Bookkeeping Community Contributor of the Year Award
  Recognises an individual bookkeeper who has offered the best bookkeeping contribution to their community over the last 12 months.
  Sponsored by Fee Funders
• Emerging Bookkeeper of the Year Award
  Recognising a sole trader bookkeeper who has started bookkeeping within the last two years and has offered the best service to their clients over the last over the last 12 months.
  Sponsored by FlexiTime
• The Sustainable Business Award
  Recognises a sole trader or business that uses leading cloud products and services to provide innovative and sustainable solutions for their clients over the last 12 months.
  Sponsored by ThankYou Payroll
• *NEW* Bookkeeper in a Small Practice Award
  Recognises a sole trade bookkeeper, with or without staff, whose practice demonstrates how it has added significant value to its clients over the last 12 months.
  Sponsored by NZBN
• *NEW* Service to Bookkeeping Award
  A peer nominated award designed to recognise an individual bookkeeper who has demonstrated significant service to the bookkeeping profession. This may be an act, service or contribution, paid or unpaid, that this person performs that can be seen to be beneficial.
  Sponsored by Go Figure 2005 Limited

Winners will be announced at the Awards Dinner on Saturday, 27 July 2019 in Christchurch immediately following #Bookkeepcon19.

Guidance on what can be included in your nomination can be found below.

Who can enter?

Any person practicing bookkeeping, or operating a bookkeeping business in New Zealand is eligible to enter, whether they are a member of the Association or not. 

Why you should enter?

Entering these awards presents you a unique opportunity to focus on yourself, your business strengths and the competitive advantage that makes your business exceptional.

Benefits of entering the ICNZB Annual Excellence Awards can include:

• Celebrate the journey of your business to date.
• Highlight your success to current and potential clients, suppliers and staff.
• Motivate and energise your team to build your future.
• Position your business strategy for long-term sustainable growth.
• Obtain an independent perspective of your business and obtain feedback at no cost.
• Benchmark your business against competitors.
• Allow you and your team to view your business from a fresh perspective.

In essence, this provides you with the ideal opportunity to step back, review your own operation and to take the next step forward.

What should I include in my entry?

You entry needs to be a premium representation of yourself and your business. 

Make your entry stand out by starting with an explanation about what you and your business do, its operating environment and structure. Assume the judges know nothing about your business.  You may also consider supplying graphics and pictures to illustrate your point at a glance.

Dependent on the category you are entering into, you may consider including the following information:

• Achievement and success
  What are your key achievements and successes in the 2018-2019 year?  How have they impacted you and your business?
• Management and strategy
  Describe how your business is managed and your business plans / ideas.  Depending on the category you are entering, it may be useful for the judges to know your mission statement, values and your strategic objectives and goals for the coming years. 
• Marketing
  What is your marketing strategy?  And how do your products / services fit into that strategy?
• Community
  Describe how your business impacts on the community and how you manage the impact. Provide examples of the information you use to do this and how you source it.
• Innovation
  Describe how your business is innovative and responds to change. Innovation may include areas such as services, products, design, policies and practices, customer service, management style or performance. Show how you differentiate your business and/or have added value to a product, service or approach that has a point of difference from other businesses. Outline and provide examples of how your business faces change - whether internal change, changes in the market place or changes in the economy.
• Investing in people and skills
  Describe how you invest in skills development and/or training for your staff and/or management. Describe how skills development and/or training has improved business productivity or advanced your business. For example, staff are now more capable through better use of technology, work quicker with fewer mistakes, require less supervision and accept more responsibility or are better communicators.
• Client testimonials
  Your clients are your best marketing tool - if you do well by them, the word of mouth referrals can keep your business going for years to come.  If appropriate, include a client testimonial or two. 

Last but not least, don't forget to include why you feel you should win the category award. 

Judging process and confidentiality

What are judges looking for

The judges are seeking to recognise an individual or business that demonstrates great execution of good business ideas and practices, while having developed and remained focused on their future direction.

Who are the judges

Each award is judged by the corporate sponsor of that award category.  This is done by employees of the sponsor at their discretion. 

Entry confidentiality

For the award process to be effective, there must be unquestionable fairness and objectivity for all concerned.

• All awards entry documentation and entry forms are treated as confidential by the organising team and judges and will be returned to entrants on conclusion of the event/judging.
• The Awards team is comprised of employees of the Association, who are impartial. 
• Applicants are not expected to provide or reveal, proprietary information regarding products, processes or services.
• Judges will be asked to declare any conflicts of interest and if necessary alternative judging arrangements will be made.
• Each judge has volunteered their time without compensation and is committed to assist with the success of the awards.
• Judging decisions remain confidential to judges and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the outcome of the awards.

Acknowledging our previous winners

Congratulations to our previous years award winners on their success.