Key Team Members

Director

Michael Prasad CA (CPP), MBA, MInstD

Michael Prasad is a Specialist Chartered Accountant with over 25 years’ experience.

He has extensive experience and expertise in financial management, governance, strategy development and risk management. He is widely known for his contribution to the accounting profession in New Zealand and is a Director and sits on several of his clients Advisory Boards.
 
He has been involved with professional bodies previously the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (“NZICA”) and now Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (“CAANZ”) for nearly 20 years.
 
He has been one of the 19 elected members of the New Zealand Regional Council of CAANZ representing members resident in New Zealand and was a member of its Nominations and Governance Committee. stepping down in December 2017. He is currently a member of the Public Practice Advisory Group of CAANZ. This is a Trans-Tasman group of 20 Chartered Accountants in Public Practice which provides advice to the professional body CAANZ on matters related to members in Public Practice. For over the past 15 years he has been a member of the Auckland Tax Liaison Group, which meets with representatives from Inland Revenue every quarter to discuss tax operational matters. He is currently the Vice-Chair of the Auckland Public Practice Special Interest Group. This is a group of nearly 220 Auckland Chartered Accountants in public practices who meet monthly for 10 meetings a year for professional development. He regularly presents to this group. He is currently also on a Working Group of CAANZ to review the Special Purpose Financial Reporting Framework for Profit Entities. This Reporting Framework was developed by NZICA for use in New Zealand and is being reviewed.
 
He has previously held roles as Chair of the Auckland Leadership Team, Chair of the Auckland Branch Committee and Chair of the Auckland Public Practice Committee of the NZICA and had served on these committees for many years. He was also part of the Fit for the Future 3 Review project for NZICA which reviewed a number of governance issues. He was Chair of the Auckland Leadership Team during the merger between the professional bodies in New Zealand and Australia resulting in the formation of a new single professional body across both countries now known as Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

He has had a long association over some 15 years as a parent trustee at Christ the King Catholic Primary School, St Dominic's Catholic Primary School and Marist College and has Chaired the Review Committees at these schools. He is highly experienced in school governance, ensuring that regular reviewing, compliance reporting and strategy planning all have a vital link in improving school and student achievement.
 
He is a Director of ChildFund New Zealand and Chairs its Audit and Risk Committee. ChildFund New Zealand is an international development organisation working together in partnership with children, their families and communities to overcome poverty and protect children from violence and harm. www.childfund.org.nz. In 2018 he has been appointed to the Finance Committee of ChildFund Alliance which is a global network of 11 international child-focused development organisations from Sweden, Australia, Germany, United States, Ireland, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Canada, Spain and France. https://childfundalliance.org/

Senior Manager (Team Leader)

Suhail Akbar CA (CPP)

Suhail Akbar is our Senior Manager and Team Leader and oversees the technical and accounting work for all clients. He is qualified as a Chartered Accountant and holds a Certificate of Public Practice and has nearly 10 years experience as a Chartered Accountant.

He combines his technical expertise with client relationships and ensures that clients consistently get technical advice of the highest quality. He has been involved in significant IRD Audits and Risk Reviews and has helped achieved outstanding results for new clients who seek out our expertise when in difficulty with the IRD.

He is an expert in group tax accounts, company consolidations and financial reporting. He works with clients in a number of different industries from privately owned family businesses to large scale property development. His tax work involves assisting clients to become fully compliant with all of their tax obligations as well as assisting clients with correctly taking money out of companies and trading trusts avoiding tax traps. His attention to detail is second to none and he ensures that all clients are pro-active with their financial reporting requirements including ensuring that reporting to banks for banking covenants are accurate and on time.

Suhail is well versed with 'best-practice' and supports the innovative thinking of the firm even when it relates to difficult financial reporting and tax obligations for clients. He enjoys taking a hands-on approach, building trust and constructive relationships with clients.

Suhail also contributes his time to his community and has assisted in the setup, development and running of a childhood learning centre based in Wellington to deliver Islamic Education. He has two young children, enjoys his squash and is highly competitive in everything he does.      

Business Manager

Zabeen Prasad

Zabeen Prasad is our Business Manager and is the face of for our practice. She oversees the smooth operations of our practice by ensuring smart scheduling of work, client communications and feedback processes all work correctly first time. She is your first port of call if you need anything from MPG and is a mind of information for everyone.

In her fast-paced role, she is able to multi-task with precision while at the same keeping a strong client focus by ensuring delivery of the required outcomes from the team to clients. She is a people's person and is a problem solver who enjoys directing the team to perform at its maximum capabilities. She contributes to the great success of the team by ensuring that the firm is focused on client solutions and objectives and is driven by a passion for continual improvement of processes and systems.

She has a strong interest in netball and contributes a significant amount of her time as Treasurer of Auckland Fiji Community Netball. She helps organise fundraising for a representative team to travel overseas annually to play in the International Secondary Schools Netball Challenge Competition covering representative teams from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and the Pacific Islands as well as organising all of the Auckland Fiji Community Netball teams to play in the local Pasifika Tournament and Fiji Day Celebrations. She has a lot of time for her community and enjoys the friends she has made.