Founded in 2013, Pango is the leading independent content production company in Aotearoa. From their base in Auckland they provide a unique cultural perspective to non-scripted content for TV and digital channels. Pango has a core team of about 25 people, as well as a much larger team of freelancers who are employed on a job-by-job basis.
Finance manager at Pango is Kiriana Burke, who’s supported by two in-house accountants. Until she discovered Traktion, Kiriana worked with a large Auckland accounting company for compliance needs. Which begs the question, why did she switch?
“The other big content companies in New Zealand are foreign-owned. We’re Kiwi-owned and consider ourselves a Māori business. And business is good! We’re really busy. For us, staying on top means being agile and moving quickly.
“We were with a big accounting company and you just don’t get tailored service. You’re just another client. I felt like they were just ticking the boxes – there was no personal relationship or proactive thinking.”
Kiriana started working with Gareth Yaxley at Traktion in 2019. She tested the waters with a variety of tasks before switching completely in 2021.
“I’m just so impressed with the communication. They’re responsive, which you don’t get with one of the big accounting companies. Gareth is easy to relate to, so I feel so relaxed talking to him accountant-to-accountant. And when we need to move fast, they pull out all the stops. Recently we purchased a couple of properties in quite a tight timeframe and they produced the numbers we needed quickly, which was no easy feat.”
In addition to annual reporting, Kiriana uses Traktion to help with questions about tax, business structure and forecasting. She has meetings with Gareth at least once a month.
“Pango is quite unique, so our financial life is not like a typical business. That’s why we need more than a typical accounting partner. Sometimes we literally have hundreds of people working for us, so we have to dial things up. While my own accounting team can deal with the daily stuff, having support for the bigger picture is immensely valuable to us.”
