Two Bay of Plenty accountants have been awarded a prestigious fellowship, out of 58 nominees worldwide.

The top accounting honour is awarded annually to members of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Trudi Ballantyne.

Neville Grey is one of two Bay accountants to win an award.

The award recognises outstanding achievements to accountancy locally, nationally, or internationally, as well as services to community and business.

Recipients Neville Grey and Trudi Ballantyne were both 'surprised and honoured” when they found out about the award.

Neville, director of accountancy and business advice firm Staples Rodway in Tauranga, has had a long term involvement with CA ANZ, secretary of the Bay of Plenty Harness Racing Club, and a trustee and accountant for the Tauranga Boys College Charitable Trust.

Neville was honoured when he found out about the award.

'I got a call at home one evening, and I was quite surprised because I wasn't expecting it.

'It's a pretty big thing.”

Trudi, the director of Te Puke's The Business Results Group, played a key role in the kiwifruit Psa crisis, helping vine growers navigate tax and accounting issues.

Trudi says she was 'surprised and humbled” when she received a call about the award, and says it was an unexpected.

'I had no idea. [CA ANZ] rang me and said ‘Congratulations, you've been honoured with a fellowship'.

'I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, me?'”

CA ANZ New Zealand Country head Kirsten Patterson explains that the fellowship is 'very prestigious”.

'[The awards] recognise members who are role models for the trusted leadership in business and finance that underpins being a member of CA ANZ.”

She says the fellowship is especially powerful because 'it is conferred by fellow members”.

Trudi agrees, and says the award is acknowledgement for the work that she and other accountants do.

'It's a recognition from your peers, and you get nominated by people you don't even know, so it's not a prize or a win as such, it's more that your peers recognise that you've done something that's outside of what people would normally do.”