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22 - 23 February 2027 | Rydges, Auckland & Virtual

Legal clarity, financial accountability & stronger governance

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Attend virtually or in-person

Legal, Financial & Governance Updates for Not-for-Profits & Charities 2027 is designed to help organisations navigate a growing range of legal, regulatory, financial and governance responsibilities.

With new employment law settings, health and safety reforms, privacy obligations, financial reporting requirements and mandatory governance reviews, charities and NFPs need to understand not only what has changed, but what those changes mean in practice.

At the same time, boards and leadership teams are under increasing pressure to demonstrate accountability, manage risk, make sound decisions and do more with limited resources.

This conference brings together the key updates, practical guidance and governance considerations organisations need to stay compliant, reduce risk and strengthen the way they are governed.

Key themes

Legal & Regulatory Change

Governance, Accountability & Board Effectiveness

Employment, People & Organisational Risk

Financial Stewardship, Sustainability & Compliance

Why should you attend?

  • Understand the latest legal and regulatory changes affecting charities and NFPs
  • Understand the responsibilities and liabilities of CEOs, trustees, officers and board members
  • Prepare for changes in employment, health and safety, privacy and tax
  • Strengthen financial reporting, assurance and related-party governance
  • Learn how to manage restructuring, conflicts, volunteers and compliance risks correctly
  • Take away practical approaches to improve board capability and governance effectiveness

Who should attend?

  • Chief Executives and General Managers
  • Board Members, Chairs and Trustees
  • Company and Board Secretaries
  • CFOs, Finance Managers and Accountants
  • Governance and Risk Managers
  • HR and People & Culture Leaders
  • Legal and Compliance Managers
  • Charity and NFP Managers
  • Operations Managers
  • Fundraising and Development Leaders

KEY SPEAKERS FOR 2026

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Featured workshop: Holidays Act reform

A practical session explaining the Holidays Act reforms, how leave calculations change, and how to prepare systems and teams for compliance.

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Venue

The location and how you can get there

Address

Rydges, Auckland
59 Federal Street, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010

Agenda to be announced

8:30

Registration and Coffee

9:00

Welcoming remarks from the Chair

9:10

Opening address: Inside the Employment Leave Bill

A policy overview of the proposed reforms and the Government’s objectives to simplify leave entitlements, improve compliance, and modernise the framework for contemporary work patterns.

  • Why the Holidays Act is being replaced

  • The move to an hours-based leave framework

  • Key policy objectives and expected outcomes

  • Timeline and legislative process

Daniel Erickson, Partner, Tompkins Wake

9:40

Understanding the New Leave framework

A deep dive into how leave will accrue, be taken and paid under the new system

  • Leave accrual in hours rather than days or weeks

  • Standard hours, additional hours and casual hours explained

  • How leave balances will be calculated and recorded

  • What changes for part-time, shift and variable-hour employees

  • Implications for leave management and record keeping

Sianatu Lotoaso, Senior Associate, Buddle Findlay

10:10

Morning break

10:40

Getting Payroll Ready for Employment Leave Reform

  • Understanding how the new leave framework may affect payroll configuration and processes

  • Preparing for hours-based accrual and leave compensation payment requirements

  • Reviewing payroll data, employee classifications and working patterns

  • Identifying calculation risks, data gaps and manual workaround risks

  • Planning payroll testing, validation and transition activity

  • Preparing payroll teams for implementation and ongoing compliance


11:30

Systems and Technology: Integrating Leave Reform into HR and Payroll Platform

  • System architecture considerations for leave reform implementation

  • Integration between payroll, HRIS and time-tracking systems

  • Data accuracy and leave balance management

  • Managing mixed work arrangements and variable hours

  • Planning system updates ahead of the transition period

  • Reducing implementation risk through governance, documentation and change control


12:10

Audience Q&A

12:20

The Business Impact of Leave Reform: Cost, Compliance and Workforce Planning

  • How leave reform may affect employer costs, leave liabilities and budgeting

  • Understanding the operational impact on workforce planning, rostering and backfill arrangements

  • Managing the impact on SMEs, large employers and complex workforces

  • Balancing compliance obligations with business continuity and productivity

  • Assessing compliance costs against the risk of under-preparation or non-compliance

  • Practical steps leaders can take to prepare the business before the reforms take effect

Blake Phillips, Senior Manager, Consulting Services, Grant Thorton

12:50

Lunch Break

13:50

Managing Leave Reform in Complex Workforces

  • Exploring reform impacts for shift-based, casual, and variable-hour employees

  • Understanding challenges across overtime, allowances, changing rosters and public holidays

  • Identifying high-risk sectors such as health, retail, the waterfront, hospitality, transport, and education

  • Sharing practical approaches for managing complexity and reducing risk

Alastair Espie, Partner, Duncan Cotterill

John Gray-Smith, Associate, Duncan Cotterill

14:20

Making Sense of Public Holidays and Otherwise Working Days

  • Understanding the proposed approach to Otherwise Working Days

  • Clarifying public holiday entitlements for rostered and variable workforces

  • Managing alternative holidays, transferred holidays and on-call arrangements

  • Reducing disputes around public holiday eligibility and payments

  • Applying practical examples to common workplace scenarios

Emma Peterson, Partner, Russell McVeagh

14:50

Afternoon Break

15:20

Roundtables:

1. Complex Workforce Clinic: Casuals, Shift Workers, Overtime and Allowances


2. Payroll System Readiness: Connecting HRIS, Rostering, Time and Payroll Data


3. Remediation and Historical Liability: What Should Employers Be Checking Now?


4. Legal Risk Areas in the Transition to the New Leave Framework

Julia McGibbon, Partner, Tompkins Wake


5. Managing Employee Disputes Under the New Framework

Sarah McFetridge, Senior Associate, Bell Gully

6. What Happens to Existing Holidays Act Liability

15:50

Employment Agreements and Legal Implications

  • What employers need to consider when updating employment agreements and internal policies to align with the new legislation

  • Updating employment agreement clauses

  • Managing collective agreements and bargaining implications

  • Public holiday and alternative leave changes

  • Defining working hours and employment arrangements clearly

  • Legal risk areas for employers

Rosemary Wooders, Partner, Bell Gully

16:20

Managing the Transition: Deadlines, Procedures and Practical Guidelines for Employment Leave Reform

  • Key commencement dates and transition timelines

  • What employers need to update before the reforms take effect

  • Required changes to policies, contracts, payroll systems and internal processes

  • Procedural steps for handling leave requests under the new framework

  • Record keeping, communication and employee notification requirements

  • Common implementation risks and how to avoid non-compliance

James Warren, Partner, Dentons

16:50

Audience Q&A

17:00

Summary remarks from the Chair & Networking Drinks

Back to top

Speakers to be announced

Sianatu Lotoaso

Senior Associate
Buddle Findlay
Sianatu specialises in employment (and related laws) and dispute resolution.  Sianatu advises on all aspects of the employment relationship.  Her experience spans public and private sectors and includes personal grievances, investigations, executive negotiated exits, disciplinary processes, restraint of trade, performance management, medical incapacity, restructuring and redundancy.  She also advises on collective and individual employment agreements.

Sarah McFetridge

Senior Associate
Bell Gully
Sarah is a senior associate in the employment and workplace safety team. She acts on a broad range of employment law matters, both contentious and non-contentious. Sarah has particular experience in advising clients undergoing employee investigations, personal grievance claims, disciplinary and performance processes, restructurings and negotiated exits. She is regularly engaged on the employment aspects of corporate transactions, large-scale global projects, and represents clients navigating dispute resolution processes. She also assists clients to implement sound practices in New Zealand, including advising on cross border issues, executive remuneration arrangements, employment agreements, independent contractor agreements, bonuses, and other HR documentation and policies.
Sarah joined Bell Gully having returned to New Zealand after five years in London where she gained international experience in employment and pension law at Slaughter and May, and Reed Smith. Prior to Sarah’s time in London, she was part of the employment and health and safety team at another top tier New Zealand law firm.​​ In 2021, Sarah contributed to Allen & Overy’s “Employment Reorganisation Roadmap​”, a free resource which answers key questions about the process to follow in employment reorganisations in 35 jurisdictions, including New Zealand.

Julia McGibbon

Senior Associate
Tompkins Wake
Julia is an experienced litigator having assisted both local and international clients with all aspects of dispute resolution in both health and safety and employment matters. Julia regularly advises clients on Holidays Act 2003 issues and audits, disciplinary processes, and organisational restructuring. Her experience extends to acting as an independent investigator. Clients say “Julia MacGibbon is sharp, responsive, and communicates with clarity. An experienced litigator, she inspires confidence when preparing for and strategising around disputes.”  Julia is mentioned in The Legal 500 rankings for Asia Pacific and was selected in NZ Lawyers Rising Stars 2021 list.  

Blake Phillips

Senior Manager
Consulting Services, Grant Thorton

Daniel Erickson

Partner
Tompkins Wake
Daniel leads Tompkins Wake’s Employment and Health & Safety Practice Group and is a recognised specialist in employment law. He advises employers across a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, freight and logistics, and retail, and is known for providing pragmatic, timely and easy-to-understand advice. Daniel also regularly assists senior executives and CEOs with the negotiation of employment agreements and exits. When matters cannot be resolved through negotiation or mediation, Daniel is an experienced litigator, appearing in the Employment Relations Authority and the Employment Court. He has particular expertise in health and safety compliance and regularly supports clients through WorkSafe New Zealand investigations and prosecutions. Daniel also undertakes complex external workplace investigations. He is recognised as a Recommended Lawyer by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific and a Leading Lawyer by Doyles Guide.

James Warren

Partner
Dentons
James Warren is a Partner in Dentons’ employment and workplace health & safety team in Auckland, with extensive experience in both the UK and New Zealand. He advises employers on complex workplace issues, regularly dealing with employee fraud and serious misconduct, including investigations, dismissals and the use of special remedies such as injunctions and freezing or search orders. His expertise includes managing the risks, evidence gathering and formal employment processes while navigating potential regulator or police involvement and criminal charges. An approachable and commercially focused advocate, James represents employers dealing with disputes, workforce change and employee claims, delivering practical solutions to difficult employment and regulatory challenges. James is consistently recognised in numerous legal directories, described as a “clear-thinking adviser” providing “robust and practical advice” and “great customer service.”

Emma Peterson

Partner
Russell McVeagh
Emma is a Partner in the Litigation team specialising in employment law and health and safety. She advises across the full range of employment issues, with a particular focus on personal grievances, confidentiality and restraints of trade, restructurings, and employment issues arising in insolvency. Before rejoining Russell McVeagh in 2016, she worked for a boutique insolvency firm in London and then at Simmons & Simmons in Hong Kong.

Rosemary Wooders

Partner
Bell Gully
Rosemary is a highly experienced employment and workplace health and safety lawyer, trusted by clients across diverse industries. She advises employers and senior executives on a wide range of matters, including disputes, collective bargaining, restraints of trade, redundancies, and privacy issues. An experienced negotiator, she represents clients at mediation and before the Employment Relations Authority, Employment Court, and Coroner’s Court. Rosemary is particularly interested in the intersection of technology, privacy, and employment law, and frequently provides expert commentary through media, seminars, and publications in New Zealand and abroad.

Alastair Espie

Partner
Duncan Cotterill
Alastair is a specialist employment lawyer who excels in delivering solution-focused advice that gets results. He is regularly engaged to undertake independent investigations into workplace complaints in both the public and private sector. Alastair also routinely advises employers on the setting up of investigations and engagement of external investigators, and also has extensive experience assisting complainants and respondents as they work through investigation processes.

Choose your ticket:

DOUBLE PASS

$ 900 per person +gst
  • For valid tickets, payment by 21 February, 2027.
Buy ticket

VIRTUAL TICKET

$ 1000 per person +gst
  • For valid ticket, payment by 21 February, 2027.
Buy ticket

SUPER EARLY BIRD

$1700
$ 1100 +gst
  • For valid ticket, payment by 30 October, 2026.
Buy ticket

EARLY BIRD

$1700
$ 1300 +gst
  • For valid ticket, payment by 18 December, 2026.
Buy ticket

STANDARD PRICE

$1700
$ 1500 +gst
  • For valid ticket, payment by 22 January, 2027.
Buy ticket

LAST MINUTE

$ 1700 +gst
  • For valid ticket, payment by 21 February, 2027.
Buy ticket

With Workshop

DOUBLE PASS

With Workshop
$ 1200 per person +gst
  • For valid tickets, payment by 21 February, 2027.
Buy ticket

VIRTUAL TICKET

With Workshop
$ 1300 per person +gst
  • For valid ticket, payment by 21 February, 2027.
Buy ticket

SUPER EARLY BIRD

With Workshop
$2000
$ 1400 per person +gst
  • For valid ticket, payment by 30 October, 2026.
Buy ticket

EARLY BIRD

With Workshop
$2000
$ 1600 +gst
  • For valid tickets, payment by 18 December, 2026.
Buy ticket

STANDARD PRICE

With Workshop
$2000
$ 1800 +gst
  • For valid tickets, payment by 22 January, 2026.
Buy ticket

LAST MINUTE

With Workshop
$ 2000 +gst
  • For valid ticket, payment by 21 February, 2027.
Buy ticket
Registration Conditions

Ticket Terms
All prices are in New Zealand dollars ($NZD)
A surcharge of 2.5% + GST applies to credit card payments on top of the total amount.
Standard Tickets are valid only for the specific event for which they were purchased and cannot be transferred to other events. To remain valid, Super Early Bird and Early Bird tickets must be paid by date quoted.
Group ticket options are valid for registrations from the same organisation, booked at the same time.
By selecting any special pricing offer for classes of organisation, sector, or individuals or using any promotion code, you are asserting to the organiser your right to claim any such pricing offer, and acknowledge the organiser’s right to audit such claim and, if in the opinion of the organiser using its sole discretion the conditions for special pricing are not met, reject any registration.

For full terms & conditions, please visit https://www.brightstar.co.nz/terms-and-conditions

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