Cinema chain hires 17 local accountants in global back-office hub

Photo / Mark Mitchell

Reading International, the US parent of the local cinema chain, has hired 17 accountants to beef up a global back-office based in Wellington.

Group chief financial officer Andrez Matyczynski told an audience at its Courtenay Central theatre the kiwi dollar and competitive wage costs are behind the plan to centralise its global accounting in New Zealand with a hub that operates 21 hours a day.

It has spent $1 million upgrading the Wellington hub's offices and internet infrastructure, and has hired 17 local people which it will pay about $1.5 million a year in wages. The new team of 20 replaces 18 accountants in the company's US and Australian offices and will save Reading about $250,000 a year.

"New Zealand has a stable workforce, wages are competitive, we're not going to pay more for the staff, and the currency's favourable - even at 85 US cents it's still favourable," Matyczynski said. With offices as far apart as Perth and New York, "one of the biggest issues is communications," he said.

Bringing the back-office function to New Zealand has echoes of the Prime Minister's ambition to build a financial services hub for the Asia Pacific region. The government is mulling options on how to proceed with plans to build a regional back-office, though it would be a long-term effort rather than an immediate goal.

Last year's New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants remuneration survey showed the average salary of 1,022 respondents at $262,417, 1.9 per cent higher than the average of 368 Australian accountants surveyed, but about 12 per cent lower than the average of 81 North American respondents at $295,168.

Reading's Matyczynski said the outlook for global and local cinema is solid, with group revenue likely to come close to US$229 million, when movie-goers flocked to see the 3D movie Avatar. New Zealand accounted for 11 per cent of the company's earnings in 2010.

Reading's principal operation is managing large retail spaces centred around cinemas, though 8 per cent of its earnings come from investing in real estate.

Last month, Reading chairman James Cotter flagged the possibility of Reading establishing or acquiring a property trust to manage its Australasian assets, but Matyczynski said this was a long-term goal and unlikely to happen in the next decade.

Matyczynski said Reading is looking at plans to expand its Wellington cinema space, though any announcement won't be coming for three or four months.

Wellington Employers' Chamber of Commerce head Ken Harris said the deal "reinforces the financial and operational advantages the city offers and will continue to promote a friendly business environment to encourage more international enterprises to follow suit."