CHARLIE ROBERTSON, CPA, RGH CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS AUDIT & ASSURANCE : "Making Your Dollar
You’ve just received an unexpected call from CRA, who says they’ve red-flagged some of the numbers on your return. You feel quite helpless, and need someone – now – to fix the matter.
Charlie Robertson could be your accountancy life preserver.
Heading the RGH audit and assurance team, Charlie brings a decade of wide-ranging experience, everywhere from being a small business owner himself, to acquiring expansive knowledge of public accountancy.
Small to medium sized business owners have benefited tremendously from his ability to skillfully rescue their taxes, their businesses – and assuage their fears.
But when you hire Charlie, you’re also gaining the sum of his team’s skills. Perhaps you’re looking for suggestions on ways to save corporate dollars, advice on better estate planning, or even some custom accounting – it’s all available, and then some, with partners that compliment each other’s strengths. As they like to tout, there is a service that can aid every stage of your business.
RGH serves companies at all stages of their business cycle, from startups to large multinational corporations. Their clients run the gamut of industries, including healthcare, financial services, retail and distribution, construction, real estate and land development, technology, biotech, and not for profit.
In addition, RGH has forged key partnerships with other accounting firms in the AC Group of Independent Accounting Firms, to maximize the expertise, and services, available to the client. In doing so, they can help any business grow that much stronger, and faster, and better.
But what also stands out, as Charlie will tell you, is that RGH isn’t simply interested in the books. They’re genuinely, deeply interested in the client. They take the time to find out what decision is right for you, and ensure everything is delivered superbly, and swiftly.
All of this, and more, might explain why the firm won the 2016 Consumer Choice award for a small business accounting firm in Halifax.
My Business Magazine caught up with Charlie to ask him all about why his clients put their faith in him, and what he offers that so impresses them:
MBM: What do you most want people to know about what you do?
Charlie Robertson: My specialty would be in quality control and assurance.
I also provide tax advice. I help people go to bat against Revenue Canada. I also help with tax planning and budgeting. So, that’s the beauty of being the sole practitioner of a small firm, is that you get to delve into everything.
I keep my skills honed on all aspects of accounting and tax, as opposed to just one specialty – which is what you would find in a big firm.
MBM: You have clients all over Canada – how does that work?
Charlie Robertson: Very well. With technology today, you can do a Skype meeting, or by email or phone. We are a 100 per cent paperless office, so we push people to use less paper, as opposed to printing off all of our letters and financials, and having them sign it. They generally sign it electronically.
MBM: Have you ever been in a situation where somebody said, ‘ You need to sort this stuff out ’ ? And how do you do that?
Charlie Robertson: For sure. It happens more frequent than not.
People get a little scared of Revenue Canada. They get a little scared of filing their taxes, so they let it go for a while. Then, all of a sudden, they get a letter from Revenue Canada saying, ‘You owe us some tax returns.’
That’s when they come to use and say, ‘Listen, I’m in a complete mess here. I don’t even know where to begin.’
We have to plan with them, get everything done, and submitted. Generally, what happens in those circumstances, is that we can put our consultant hat on, and recommend some changes on a go forward basis, to make sure they are getting all the tax advantages they should.
And to make sure they are always on-time with Revenue Canada.
The biggest thing about Revenue Canada is, if you are paying on time, filing on time, generally, you are okay in their books, as long as everything’s above radar.
We do both corporate and personal matters.
MBM: What are some things you offer that other small accounting firms don’t?
Charlie Robertson:
"We’re not just your compliance accountant. By compliance, I mean we’re not just going to do your taxes for you. We’re actually going to look at your business, and we’re going to make recommendations on how to make your business better."
We’re almost like a CFO. We make recommendations on ways to save money, ways of creating a budget, ways of tax planning.
We find ways to invest the money back into your company.
Once we can show that value in our services, we always have a wonderful relationship with people, and they never leave. They see the value in what we can offer.
Accountants don’t necessarily have the persona of being the most outgoing people in the world. But the firm we are creating here, we don’t have any of those typical accountants.
We take pride in being out in the community.
MBM: What are common corporate requests you get?
Charlie Robertson: If they are looking for bank financing and they need financial projections, financial statements, assurance related financial statements.
Usually this is outside the realm of what they can do internally, and they come to us.
MBM: What is the thing that you feel your firm excels most at?
Charlie Robertson: Our biggest strength, within our firm – other than we have a great group of employees – is the way that myself and our other two CPA's compliment each other.
We are all small practitioners. We all bring different skill sets to the table. I look after the assurance side of things.
Brendan Horning, CPA , is our Tax Advisor here. He’s a tax specialist both in depth and tax planning.
Craig Green, CPA, is our Business Advisory. So, he works on financing deals, budgeting, working more the CFO-type duties. He’s working with a company to try to get them out of a bad situation, or to make them excel.
That would be our biggest strength. We are able to compliment one another. Each of us has something to add to the client, as opposed to that client being the client of one CPA or the other. When you are a client of RGH, you are a client of all of us.
Dave Gordon has penned more than a thousand articles, and more than five hundred editorials, on every topic imaginable. He writes regularly on domestic and international politics, current events, culture, relationship issues, and much more.
He has spent time in the newsrooms of the Toronto Sun, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Baltimore Sun, National Post and eye Weekly.
CHARLIE ROBERTSON CPA
AUDIT & ASSURANCE
101 - 222 Waterfront Drive
Bedford NS B4A 0H3
Phone 902-466-0053
Fax 902-462-5900