David Nairn is an audit and assurance professional with over three decades experience.
David’s career began in New Zealand with chartered accounting firm Deloitte Haskins & Sells, during which time he transferred to the firm’s Canadian office and benefited from the professional development and growth that an international posting can often only provide.
Following seven years in Canada, David transferred to Deloitte Haskins & Sells’ Australian operation and later joined Bentleys as their audit partner in 1990. In 1999, Bentleys merged with MGI Meyrick Webster, now known as HLB Mann Judd.
David’s clients include private and public companies of various size, as well as other legal entities such as incorporated bodies, with his work covering all aspects of audit and assurance. This has included assisting companies that are seeking to undertake an initial public offering, where he has been closely involved with the preparation of investigating accountant’s reports and undertaken an extensive range of due diligence work.
David has long been recognised as an audit and assurance practitioner of considerable aptitude. His abilities were formally recognised as early as 1984, when he became the first private sector auditor to be seconded to the Victorian Auditor General’s Department, an appointment that acknowledged his considerable breadth of experience, technical skills and ability to work to the highest standards of probity. He has also served a three year term on the Audit and Assurance Standards Board. The Audit and Assurance Standards Board is Australia’s national auditing and assurance standards setter, and has an important role in developing high quality standards and related guidance for auditors and providers of other assurance services.
David possesses a strong reputation as an auditor that seeks to fully understand his clients’ particular set of circumstances, and the way in which those circumstances may impact upon his work from a technical perspective. As an example, over an eight year period David worked exclusively as the lead auditor for an ASX-listed resources company. During this time, the company grew from a micro-cap junior explorer, to an international resources producer with world-class assets located both domestically and internationally, and which now sits comfortably within the ASX/S&P 200 Accumulation Index. At one stage, David was the only lead auditor advising a Top 200 company who wasn’t part of Australia’s “Big 4” accounting firms, a testament to his ability to build strong, long term client relationships.
Voluntary work
Member, International Committee of the Red Cross
Bachelor of Commerce and Administration – Victoria University (New Zealand)
Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia
Fellow, CPA Australia
Member, Institute of Internal Auditors
Member, Canadian Comprehensive Auditing Foundation