Sims Partners makes a break

The Western Australian branch of accounting firm Sims Partners will be known as WA Insolvency Solutions from July 1.

WA Business News understands a merger is in train for the firm’s Sydney office, while the other state branches will sever ties with the insolvency specialists and operate under different titles.

The St Georges Terrace branch, under partners Kim Strickland and Chris Williamson, directs six of the 12 Sims Partners offices throughout Australia, with rural offices in Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Busselton, Albany and Bunbury.

Mr Strickland said the benefits of being a member of a national association no longer outweighed the costs.

“The main reason, the primary reason is that we don’t want to be distracted in WA with what happens on the east coast,” Mr Strickland told WA Business News.

“Insolvency in New South Wales and Victoria and in Queensland for that matter is totally different.

“The number of companies becoming insolvent has been rising dramatically in those states, but they are declining here.

“It’s hard to have a national view because they’re entirely contradictory markets.”

It’s not the first time Mr Williamson and Mr Strickland have overseen a company name change.

Up until May 2005, Mr Strickland, who began practising corporate and personal insolvency in 1989, and Mr Williamson, who has specialised in management and business recovery for almost 30 years, were partners of Hall Chadwick Chartered Accountants & Business Advisers.

The pair resigned from the partnership in June 2005 to start up the Sims Partners WA branch.

WA Business News understands Sims Partners in Brisbane, Melbourne and South Australia will not join the Sims Partners merger and would also operate autonomously. Canberra partner Henry Kazar has already cut ties with Sims Partners and is now known as Kazar Slaven Chartered Accountants.

The Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane offices did not return calls before WA Business News went to press.