Drew Tetz is the senior manager of Edmonton-based Brad Tetz Chartered Professional Accountants, a firm founded by his father and which has become a family business—Drew’s mother and fiancée also work for the company. Drew recently completed CPA tax specialization course and specializes in unique needs of owner-managers in the energy, construction and service fields.
In this episode, Drew explores how the new rules for small businesses impact income-splitting among family members, discusses the effect automation has had on accounting, and explains why there’s no better time to get into accounting.
Download the full transcript here
Podcast highlights:
- Drew attended the University of Alberta, then earned his CPA designation with KPMG before switching to his father’s firm, where he took the In-Depth Tax Program; he’d always been interested in taxes thanks to it being his father’s specialization.
- The Brad Tetz firm is able to provide the same quality of service as a larger firm but with a lower price point for their clients; they want to take the burden of worrying about taxes off their clients’ shoulders.
- He prefers working with his father’s smaller firm compared to KPMG because he prefers direct input with owner-managers.
- Some Canadian energy companies are finding more success in the United States due to the changing nature of the energy industry; Drew hopes the situation stabilizes enough that more of that energy money can be brought back into Canada.
- While his sister’s are not part of the firm, they did arrange to get a fairer share as part of their father’s succession plan; Drew says it’s good for siblings to be on equitable footing in these matters.
- Most of the firm’s revenues come from traditional bookkeeping.
- Drew thinks that new accounting automation software frees up time for he and his colleagues to directly interface with clients; he thinks it will be a “major net positive” for the industry.
- What Drew views as the CRA’s increased aggression is proving to be a challenge to both accountants and clients; there’s also difficulty in staying on top of automation while not alienating their longtime clients.
- The upside of not acquiring other firms is that you can work on building up your own client base within your current specialization rather than inherit clients that require different specializations.
- Drew doesn’t have a written financial plan, however he is able to save $10,000 per year in his TFSA; he’s currently a DIY investor and plans to hire an advisor in the future.
- His parents have absolutely had the biggest positive influence on his life for seeing how to properly run a firm.
- Don’t feel like you have to apply to one of the Big Four accounting firms right out of the gate; there’s lots of experience to be found in smaller firms, plus you aren’t as locked in.
- His parting piece of advice is that you should learn the power of compounding and investment early on.
Quotes:
“We want to make sure that our clients never have to worry about the CRA.”
“We just hope this turbulence dies down and all the companies are able to get on good footing again.”
“All of Canada’s better when Alberta’s good.”
“You don’t want to see your sibling getting something of value that you’re not also getting.”
“Now bookkeepers are more acting as consultants for businesses versus just being that person to dump receipts to.”
“We don’t want to go out there and change too much about how we do things if our clients don’t see the value in that.”
“Accounting is cool again.”
“The best time to invest was yesterday and the best time to invest going forward is today.”
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source https://richarddri.ca/balancing-the-books-with-drew-tetz/
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