NZDF financial head acknowledged by accounting peers
Chief Financial Officer Bridget Marks has been recognised for her ground-breaking work with the NZDF and made a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand (CAANZ).
08 March, 2022
The fellowship recognises Bridget’s outstanding career achievements and contributions to the accounting profession. She says she is delighted with the acknowledgement.
“It’s been amazing to work for Defence and the public sector, and it’s definitely something your average accountant wouldn’t face in terms of its challenges.”
Bridget spent 16 years at Deloitte’s before taking the role of finance manager at HQNZDF in 2012, bringing her experience of the commercial sector to the public service.
Up until then, the budgets for each of the Navy, Army and Air Force were essentially treated separately.
“So we didn’t get a sense of how much it actually cost to be prepared to go somewhere like Tonga or what the whole of life costs of our platforms were,” she says.
“I then had the opportunity to lead the financial modelling for the Defence Midpoint Rebalancing Review and Defence White Paper. This was the first time we modelled the whole-of-life costs in terms of what Defence delivers over a 20 year horizon.
It was a very challenging but rewarding opportunity to be involved in
Chief Financial Officer Bridget Marks
Chief Financial Officer Bridget Marks has been rewarded for her ground-breaking work with the NZDF and made a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand (CAANZ).
Bridget was appointed the NZDF CFO in 2018 following her return from a year at the Australian Defence College, and also completing a Master of Business Administration
As the NZDF CFO, Bridget is the chief financial advisor to CDF, also sits on the Executive Committee, Chairs the Organisational Committee and has to be across all of Defence, taking into account the complexity of military systems.
“From a financial lens we are effectively running a small airline, a shipping company and a huge logistics company whilst managing a large balance sheet of equipment worth millions of dollars. It’s a privilege and honour to provide NZDF and the Government with strategic integrated financial insights to enable them to make informed decisions.”
Chartered Accountants ANZ NZ Country Leader Peter Vial congratulated Bridget on her achievement.
“Bridget’s fellowship recognises not only her work and leadership within the NZ Defence Force, but the mana that she holds in the wider public sector and the Chartered Accountant community.”