Meet the Team
Kathy Swadling
Principal
After watching her father Arthur Griffiths look after a range of accounting clients from their home in Mentone, Kathy went on to study at Monash Caulfield. She then worked for her older brother Leo Griffiths in his practice Griffiths Gorman located first in South Melbourne and then in its current location in Cheltenham, where she first got to work with some of the clients which she still assists today.
Kathy completed her CPA, and after working at a collection of other accounting firms and commencing her own practice in 2006, she has returned to the Griffiths fold allowing Leo to retire.
Kathy’s experience includes assisting and auditing Self-Managed Superannuation Funds, where she is both a registered Self-Managed Superannuation Auditor and an advisor under the SMSF Advisors Network Pty Ltd offering SMSF financial advice.
Kathy has worked with many small to medium industries including businesses within Property, Building Industry, Medical, Manufacturers, Hospitality, Transport and Software developers.
Kathy currently serves on three local to Cheltenham community volunteer boards where she enjoys the opportunity to help the community spirit continue to grow.
Kathy, along side her husband Tony, enjoy watching their 4 boys grow into adults. They enjoy traveling and camping with the boys, embracing the opportunity to expand their children’s experiences. Living close to Cheltenham, Kathy loves the area enjoying the bay and community.
Accountants
Merryn Kovacs
Merryn is our Senior Accountant, after 15 years with Griffiths she knows our clients extremely well and has a fantastic rapport with them. Always willing to go that extra step to assist clients.
Having spent her junior accounting years with Price Waterhouse, she has moved between public accounting and private industry, having had some Financial Controller positions during her career, securing her CPA qualification along the way.
Living close to the beach, a Cheltenham based firm is the perfect fit. Only minutes from home and the beach, our outdoor loving accountant livens up our office. That together with her broad tax and accounting knowledge makes her an integral part of the company.
Jane Kirsner
A former lawyer, Jane changed careers to accounting in 2012 and hasn’t looked back. She studied both law and accounting at Monash University and has been with Griffiths Partners since 2015.
At work, she prepares accounts for small business clients and self- managed super funds. She prepares Tax and BAS returns for a range of clients, including individuals, partnerships, trusts, companies and super funds. Her legal skills come in handy when research or interpretation of legislation is needed.
Outside of work she enjoys cycling, yoga and walking her dog on the beach. She loves living close to Cheltenham and often cycles to work. She has two teenagers who generally don’t listen to anything she says but find her useful if they need money or transport.
Kylie Fixter
Kylie has been with us since 2003. Kylie is a Chartered Accountant who graduated from Monash University with a double degree in accounting and computing. Kylie started her career working at a large city accounting firm specialising in audit and moved to Griffiths Partners when she started her family.
Kylie undertakes self-managed superfund audits, incorporated association audits and trust account audits, with her specialty being self-managed super funds. She also prepares accounts for self-managed super funds and small business clients, as well as tax and BAS returns for a range of clients, including individuals, partnerships, trusts, companies and super funds.
Kylie is very involved with her three school aged children and their numerous sporting and social activities.
Bookkeeping and Administration
Tony Swadling
Bookkeeping
Tony managed to merge his love of aeroplanes with engineering, starting his career as an aircraft maintenance engineer in 1993. After working with Ansett and Qantas on their domestic jet aircraft, he qualified as a Licenced engineer on a number of aircraft types. After a 20-year career working for or contracting to all of the major Australian airlines, he finished as an aircraft maintenance project manager when the opportunity came to work with Kathy in their own accounting business.
6 years later and he has retrained and qualified as an accountant. Tony enjoys working with clients, and his specialties include accounting, bookkeeping, corporate affairs and managing the business.
Outside of the office, Tony volunteers as an outdoor water activity guide with the Mordialloc Scouts, sails on the family trailable yacht, as well as cooking and chasing after their 4 kids to sporting events, Scouts, music and school.
Julie Witte
Admnistration
Commencing with Griffiths Partners in 2014, Julie lives just out of Cheltenham with her husband and teenage daughter. Outside of work she can be seen cycling Beach Road, cooking up a storm or tending to her slightly neglected veggie patch.
In her past life, Julie has operated her own bookkeeping business but now prefers to interreact with people - colleagues and clients alike. She's your first port of call, greeting you on the phone or when you arrive for a meeting, handling your enquiries regarding the weather or accounting, directing enquiries to the appropriate accountant.
Lisa Fernando
Administration
Starting with Griffiths Partners in 2017, Lisa assists Julie 2 days a week with the administration, filing and mail. Lisa is very involved with her 4 school aged children and their sporting and social activities, and is qualified and works as a swimming instructor and in aged care.
