Business View Magazine Dec-2022

77 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 47 public companies and counting. “We do a lot of public company audits,” Sandhu says. “These are companies that are on the TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange), Venture, and whatnot.” The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) division understands how accounting and financial reporting can be complex for private companies. We provide three main services that are essential to business’ success, including year-end tax filings, financial statement preparation, and business advisory services. The company’s tax division focuses on corporate restructuring, including things like setting up family trusts, helping clients with purchase and sale transactions, amalgamations, and more. They also provide international tax work as well. “So any type of complex type of work, that’s kind of where we jump in,” Sandhu explains. “We actually have other accounting firms that reach out to us to help with some of the complex work. What ends up happening is that instead of having to go to some of those big firms, clients end up using us because we’re not as big as some of the other firms, we don’t obviously have as much overhead, but we do provide the same expertise they do.” “What we found is that sometimes at the bigger firms you don’t always have access to the partners because they’re big organizations. They’re dealing with Fortune 500 companies and that’s their priority,” Sandhu explains. “With us, a lot of the clients, we’re dealing with them directly. And sometimes clients do want a lot of handholding when it comes to some of these intricate tax plans. They just want someone that has the ability to listen and communicate complex tax terms with ease and in plain language. “We’re accessible, but at the same time, we’re providing the same expertise that some of the big firms provide. It really goes a long way.” Having the ability to speak one-on-one to clients helps them feel heard and allows them to be part of, and understand, some of the complexities of the process. “They really appreciate that,” Sandhu says. “Instead of being left in the dark, where we just do the transaction and then we go our separate ways, there are conversations that need to take place. If there are questions to be had, we try to be there for them because, at the end of the day, not everyone is going to understand some of the intricacies that are involved in some of the work that we do. We explain why we do things and we have found that clients really do appreciate that.” That human touch has helped the firm grow exponentially over the years, largely just through word of mouth. “A lot of our clients have really partnered with us, they’ve appreciated the expertise and the level of service,” Sandhu says. “We’ve had all organic growth. We don’t really do any advertising. Our existing clientele, our CLEARHOUSE LLP