HLB Mann Judd expands to Newcastle via local team of Cutcher & Neale
Accounting and consulting firm HLB Mann Judd has added a new branch in Newcastle, with the representative audit & assurance team of Cutcher & Neale now becoming a full network member.
The move sees four new partners join HLB Mann Judd – Mark O’Connor, Nick Nancarrow, Alyce Stones, and Jacob Medel – along with directors Natalie Dobinson and Anna Janssen, who together boast almost 150 years worth of combined experience.
Previously a representative firm, the addition of the Newcastle branch takes HLB Mann Judd’s independent member count to one dozen covering every mainland Australian capital along with regional NSW and the Gold Coast and its outlets in Auckland and Fiji.
“This addition helps strengthen HLB Mann Judd’s’ national presence and ensures we continue to deliver trusted expertise to clients across Australia and beyond,” said Australasian chair Tony Fittler. “Their long-standing reputation for quality audit and assurance services, particularly in supporting community organisations and private businesses, is an excellent fit with our network.”
In addition to not-for-profits and community organisations such as sports and social clubs, the Newcastle team have broad experience supporting private clients with their audit, governance, and other business and financial needs across a wide range of sectors, including mining, manufacturing, construction, hospitality, healthcare, and professional services to name a few.
Both O’Connor and Nancarrow had been with Cutcher & Neale – a top 40 accountancy which recently expanded to Melbourne – for around three decades apiece, respectively as partners since 2002 and 2017, with the director duo of Dobinson and Janssen also company veterans. New partners Stone and Medel joined in 2008 and 2017, the latter crossing from Findex in Dubbo.
“This step is about strengthening the existing relationship,” O’Connor said of the team’s switch to HLB, albeit while remaining in their current base. “The Newcastle office has always been devoted to delivering clarity and consistency, and the transition gives our clients even greater access to the depth and breadth of HLB both nationally and internationally without losing the local relationships they value.”
Globally, HLB has a headcount in excess of 50,000 professionals spread across more than 150 countries, who together generate revenues in the order of $6 billion as the world’s eighth largest organisation of its kind. The network’s Australian wing contributes around $135 million of that figure according to the AFR’s annual rankings, with its 2025 numbers due next month.
