Theodore Ward & Co Chartered Accountants is an independent chartered accounting firm that works extensively with its clients to ensure that their personal and business needs are met.
With knowledge and experience across a broad range of industries, our energetic team aspires to provide our clients with a fresh and innovative approach to providing professional services and help them achieve their goals.
So, whether you are a start-up, sole trader, company, trust, or a more complex business structure, we have the knowledge and expertise to ensure your individual and business success.
Director
Member, Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand
Fellow, CPA Australia
Registered Tax Agent
Xero Advisor Certified
Stephen Henderson brings wisdom, understanding and integrity to his leading role at Theodore Ward & Co, an accounting firm that’s name has a long history but always with its eyes focused firmly on the future benefits for its clients. Having now passed his 30th year in Public Practice, Stephen has accumulated a broad range of experience that have given his clients not only a traditional but when required a very progressive outcome to their, tax, business management, accounting and governance issues that have arisen.
Genuine, mutually trusting, and enduring relationships with clients are underpinned by sound financial advice across a wide cross section of industries delivered in a planned, simple, and comforting style which defines his approach to client relations.
Stephen’s clients are diverse. They include high Net worth individuals with foreign investment portfolios, a diverse group of professionals in the fields of medicine, engineering, law and architecture, small, medium, and exceptionally large family-owned businesses turning over more than $25 Million annually and shortly to be announced a fully operational goat export abattoir in the far central west of NSW.
Through a diverse range of professional independent contacts Stephen has a niche specialty of being able to walk clients through complex regulatory & succession issues, including the preparation of a full estate planning for the many clients who appreciate their legacy, assistance to his property development clients and other professional services that may be at least useful for a second opinion.
By nature, Stephen is calm and observant, describing himself as “a good person to have in your corner” along with his Big Picture approach and ever-present willingness to go the extra mile, it is no wonder why he has built up a trusting and wholesome relationship with his clients across the years.
Stephen is especially interested in Estate Planning and all the complexities involved with business succession or alternatively helping business owners negotiate the best outcome for the sale of their business.
He helps resolve challenging issues and provide answers to the sensitive questions that evolve around a family’s decisions when senior members are going into retirement and the restructuring of the family wealth that takes place to secure the next generation.
Stephens’ clients would not be surprised to learn that his customer service philosophy is to exceed client’s expectations by delivering punctual favourable outcomes over and above the compliance tax and accounting obligatory obligations.
Stephen values his role among a distinguished group of professionals in the firm recognized for its flat structure that values the contributions of all team members, for delivering positive outcomes to a loyal community of clients, many of whom represent multiple generations of a single family.
Stephen would best be described as altruistic in nature, not in a mutually exclusive way but in the effort made to seek out the best possible solution for a client’s business and/or personal goals.
Stephen is grounded by his beautiful wife and two fantastic children, both of whom have vowed not to be accountants.
Stephen is grounded by his beautiful wife and two fantastic children, both of whom have vowed not to be accountants.
Associate Director
Bachelor of Business,
Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand Member
Leo had an interest in accounting and tax way before he graduated in the University of Technology, Sydney in 2005. He was subsequently admitted as a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants (now Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand CAANZ) not long after.
His passion has led him to gain 14 years of experience most of the time being in a senior role in a BRW top 30 firms in Australia.
Leo has developed an in depth understanding of the needs of small and medium sized enterprises as a result of experience gained over the last 14 years. This includes being involved both directly and in a consulting capacity to a large number of small and medium sized businesses across a variety of industries including medical practices, legal practices, wholesales and retails, logistics, IT, real estate, property development, construction, restaurants as well as not for profit organisations.
Leo also has great exposure with SMSFs and currently further extending his interest in estate planning.
SENIOR TAX MANAGER
Member, Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand
Chartered Tax Adviser, Taxation Institute of Australia
Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning
Registered Tax Agent
Vanessa has accumulated a broad range of experience both within Public Practice and and public listed companies driven by her interest in taxation and business.
Originally training in a top tier chartered firm, Vanessa spent a number of year in Public Practice at large and small firms specialising in taxation for high net worth individuals and small to medium size enterprises. After receiving her Masters of Taxation from the University of Sydney, she spent the next 7 years within the banking and funds management industry at an ASX listed company in a taxation specialist role. This gave Vanessa experience in dealing with all levels of management as well as exposure to the drafting of tax legislation through industry. Other areas of speciality include superannuation and estate planning.
Since then, she has returned to Public Practice and for the last 15 years has gained valuable experience across many industries including professional practices, construction, real estate, investment, transport, wholesale, retail, hospitality and IT. Vanessa finds building relationships with clients one of the most important and rewarding parts of her role and has great satisfaction in seeing her clients happy.
