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COVID-19 BDO Client Update

19 March 2020

At BDO New Zealand, we have been monitoring the evolving COVID-19 situation closely. We place the highest importance on the health and wellbeing of our workplace, people and clients, and with this in mind I wanted to update you on some of the actions we are taking to support public health goals and ensure our continuity of service to you.

We continue to work hard to ensure that the appropriate measures for business continuity are in place and are based on the medical advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the New Zealand health authorities. Our Board are reviewing and discussing the situation daily. We feel it is important to take a calm and balanced approach which we will continue to evolve and update as new information becomes available.

From this effort, we have introduced processes to mitigate potential risk and safeguard the continued delivery of support to our clients and suppliers as summarised below:

Where our clients experience a suspected or confirmed Covid-19 case, we will work closely with them to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone, including working remotely where appropriate and increased use of our video conferencing facilities.
When clients visit BDO premises, we will be confirming that recent travel overseas to impacted countries has not occurred within the past 14 days. If this is the case, we will endeavour to work with clients via alternative communication channels for ongoing support.
We have a robust IT remote access infrastructure in place, enabling all of our people to work remotely where required. Our IT supported response system will allow for timely communication to keep our people informed, able to react and remain safe.

BDO is following a policy of doing everything it can to help keep our clients safe, this includes best practice personal health care and processes on potentially contaminated materials. If you have concerns about entering our workplace or our BAU practices, please let us know. We would also ask that you advise us if you know of any potential risks at your workplace as we have a mutual obligation to keep our staff safe where they are working on client sites. Where possible, we may seek to use technology such as Skype rather than meeting in person when this is viable. Certain members of staff may not wish to shake hands or hongi in the present environment so please do not take offence.

While we introduce these measures we are also keen to minimise disruption and continue our work for you during this period as normal as far as possible.

Your BDO contacts will be happy to discuss any concerns or questions during this period.

If you need more information or guidance please get in touch with your local adviser. You can also visit the following websites:

Information included in this insight was last updated on 19.03.2020