Queenstown

Welcome to Sidekick Queenstown – your trusted local accounting team, combining the power of Xero cloud technology with a deep understanding of the Southern Lakes business environment. As proud Xero Platinum Partners, we help Queenstown businesses thrive with proactive, forward-thinking accounting solutions that focus on where you’re going – not just where you’ve been. 

Whether you’re a tourism operator in the heart of Queenstown, a builder in Frankton, or a hospitality business in Arrowtown, our team is right here in your community – ready to support your growth with real-time insights, tailored software tools, and practical advice that fits your goals. 

At Sidekick Queenstown, we speak your language, understand your challenges, and work alongside you to make business easier. If you’re looking for a modern, approachable team of Queenstown accountants who genuinely care, let’s chat – and discover the Sidekick you need. 

We invite you to book an appointment, pick up the phone, shoot us an email or drop by for a chat if you’re in Queenstown. Or, you can just fill in the form below to send us a message directly.

Postal address:
PO Box 2112, Wakatipu, Queenstown 9349

CONTACT DETAILS

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    Meet the Queenstown Team

    lisa-sidekick-queenstown-xero-accountants
    Director

    Lisa Lines
    Accountant

    Joy Mulrey
    Client Services Assistant

    Linda Owen
    Director

    James Swaney
    CEO

    Ric Thorpe
    helen-sidekick-tasman-xero-accountants
    Project Coordinator

    Helen Pauley
    Contractor

    Anna Cochrane
    Director

    Lisa Lines

    Lisa looks after our many and varied Queenstown clients which include tradies, travel agencies, rental agencies, doctors, not-for-profits, and many others.

    Lisa has a strong background in accounting with qualifications from Otago University and extensive experience with various Chartered Accounting firms, plus a long stint at Spark in Wellington. But Lisa’s not just about numbers, her main strength is supporting clients as a business advisor with forward planning and budgeting.

    Lisa’s farming background has stood her in good stead, and our clients appreciate her genuine, friendly, helpful and down to earth attitude.

    :BCom, CA, CPP

    Accountant

    Joy Mulrey

    Meet Joy, our brilliant accountant who keeps our finances in top shape. With experience at Fergburger and MedRecruit, plus running her own bookkeeping business, she brings a wealth of knowledge to our team. Joy holds a Law Degree (LLB) and is currently pursuing her Chartered Accountant (CA) qualification. When she’s not crunching numbers, you can find her on the netball court, exploring new travel destinations, or soaking up the beauty of Queenstown, which she proudly calls home.

    :LLB

    Client Services Assistant

    Linda Owen

    Meet Linda – our Client Services Assistant at Sidekick Queenstown. Linda brings over ten years of experience in the fitness industry, having worked as an Operations Manager and Boxing Coach at Industrial Fitness in Queenstown. More recently, she’s been supporting the team while on maternity leave.

    Before that, Linda worked in administration at Lifetime Insurance and managed at Peter Alexander. At Sidekick, she’s the friendly face helping keep things ticking behind the scenes.

    Outside of work, you’ll find Linda keeping fit with boxing, or being lovingly bossed around by her four-year-old daughter and one-year-old son!

    Director

    James Swaney

    James is a fully qualified Chartered Accountant and studied at Lincoln University to gain a BCom, majoring in Accounting, Finance and Information Technology.

    James spent over four years working in the motor vehicle industry in Timaru, before becoming a Chartered Accountant.
    Looking at the big picture, setting goals and helping clients plan to achieve those goals are what James enjoys most about his job.

    When James is not in the office he is usually spending time with his family, and sometimes out on the squash court or race track. James is also a big rugby, cricket and motor sport fan.

    :BCom, CA, CPP

    CEO

    Ric Thorpe

    Ric Thorpe is one of the owners of Sidekick Chartered Accountancy Group. Ric is one of the leads in the 20-strong Christchurch team, as well as assisting the Sidekick group across the South Island, which now has offices in six locations and over 50 team members (with an additional 15+ overseas). Ric has been instrumental in fostering the incredible family-like team culture at Sidekick and helping grow the business by spreading the word of Fixed-Fee, Modern Accountancy across the country. Ric has also held roles in governance and strategy for not-for-profit organisations, membership organisations such as the Christchurch Business Club, as well as within the Sidekick Group.

    Traditionally, Ric has been at the front end of Sidekick as the sales expert, building referral networks and solution partners across many industries. Since 2020, Ric has been predominantly Christchurch-based (which can largely be attributed to the Covid-19 situation). Now, as CEO, Ric’s role is consulting to small and medium businesses, working with clients to help them grow and driving the growth of Sidekick across the country with new office locations and recruitment!

    A key thing for Ric is culture. If you have the right people and they all have a common purpose along with respect and love for one another, your business should thrive!

    Project Coordinator

    Helen Pauley

    Helen is a Marlburian who has travelled the world and landed back here. Having a varied work life from managing a regional office for a multi-national advertising firm, owning a hospitality business to practice management of a medical practice, Helen brings a bucket load of skills. Communication is her flag ship skill and she enjoys problem solving. Resourceful and fun, pretty much sums her up.

    She is married to Gary, who is a Business Advisor and in their spare time they love to travel to family & friends, experience the great outdoors and discovering new recipes and flavours, accompanied by a glass of fine wine.

    :NZCC, NZIM Cert in Supervision

    Contractor

    Anna Cochrane

    Anna brings a wealth of experience in accounting tech, with a strong focus on FYI and Xero. Having worked closely with firms across New Zealand to implement systems and streamline processes, she’s a go-to expert when it comes to getting the most out of your tech stack.
    Anna is passionate about solving problems, improving workflows, and helping teams work smarter. Now based in Timaru to be closer to family, Anna supports Sidekick on a range of internal projects—bringing her trademark energy, insight, and practical know-how to every challenge.