Reckon Limited announced that its long serving Chairman, Ian Ferrier will retire effective on 1 July 2018. Mr. Ferrier will be replaced as Chairman by the current Deputy Chairman, Greg Wilkinson. Mr. Wilkinson has served as Deputy Chairman of the company since 2006.

During his tenure, Mr. Wilkinson has contributed a pragmatic approach to the decision making process of the board and played an important role in challenging management on their vision and strategy for the business. The company also announced that effective 1 July 2018 Philip Hayman will be appointed as an independent non-executive director of the company. Mr. Hayman was one of the co-founders of Reckon in 1987, alongside Greg Wilkinson and was at various times in the early days of the company CFO and head of logistics.

He departed from Reckon in 2004, but has maintained his interest in Reckon through his ongoing shareholding. Mr. Hayman is presently a director of an unlisted public company with manufacturing in China and sales in Australia and New Zealand. He also consults to an agricultural company with extensive holdings in southern NSW.

The Board has been giving careful consideration to an appropriate succession plan for current Group CEO, Clive Rabie, who has occupied that role since 2006. The Board now believes it is an appropriate time for Mr. Rabie to begin a transition period to a new CEO. To that end, effective 1 July 2018 Mr. Rabie will be appointed as Managing Director.

The move will enable Mr. Rabie to step aside from his commitment to day-to-day operational responsibilities, allowing him to focus on corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions while mentoring and overseeing the executive team during a transition period of about 2 years. Current Group CFO, Chris Hagglund will continue in his existing role but will also take on operational responsibility for the Legal Practice Management Group. In parallel with Mr. Rabie's shift in focus, Sam Allert, who was running the Australia and New Zealand operations, will assume the operational responsibilities of Chief Executive Officer effective 1 July 2018, reporting to Mr. Rabie.

Mr. Allert will also be appointed as executive director effective 1 July 2018. Mr. Allert joined Reckon APS in 1999, where he was one of the first employees in the APS business. Since then, he has held various roles within this division, from office management to sales management and more recently running the Australia and New Zealand operations including the Reckon One business.