SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A longtime financial services professional is leaving the struggles of running his own business behind so he can join a team to expand their areas of expertise.

Charles Jeffery: Financial services professional joining Crow MacKay.

Tax and accounting professional Charles Jeffery is joining large firm Crowe MacKay Yellowknife as of Oct. 1 after five years of discussions.

Jeffery told Yellowknifer it has been tough to recruit.

"I have not been able to in the recent past attract suitable employees as either students or as skilled accountants to work in my office," he said. "It's becoming harder and harder to recruit young people into our trade. Like many skilled trades it's a long apprenticeship and other employment is quite often more lucrative, at least in the short run."

Jeffery joins 35 existing staff and partners at Crowe MacKay LLP and Crowe MacKay Financial Services Limited who live and work in Yellowknife.

The 67-year-old Jeffery said his age and the small size of his firm, Charles Jeffery Financial Services, made it difficult to attract new staff.

"People are attracted to the larger firms because the larger firms in some cases bring more interesting work, the larger firms bring a collegial environment, so you have a critical mass of people who are roughly your own age," he said. "It's very difficult for me to have a collegial relationship with a 30-year-old. The students don't get any older and the owners of businesses do. And so as I got older it was more and more difficult to attract people."

Jeffery's only two employees are family members - his son, who is also a pilot, and his daughter-in-law. Jeffery said he hasn't had another employee for two years.

In his interview with Yellowknifer, Jeffery acknowledged he had recently been suspended by the Charter Professional Accountants of Canada association but declined to disclose the reason. He also said the suspension wouldn't affect his work with Crowe Mackay.

"(The institute) didn't lop off my forehead," Jeffery said. "They took actions, which is their right to do and they did. They didn't explain it to me, and they haven't explained it to you."

According to the bylaws of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta, the suspension means Jeffery cannot do things such as use a professional designation, attend the association's meetings or register for courses and examinations.

The managing director of Crowe MacKay Yellowknife, John Laratta, could not be reached for comment on the suspension by press time.

In a news release issued by Crowe MacKay about the move, Laratta stated, "This is a wonderful opportunity to continue to grow our team and our business and be a leader in serving private business in the North."

As for any changes in the future due to the move to Crowe MacKay, Jeffery said he plans on continuing to lease his current office property to subletters and his son's future expansion plans for his airline business.

But Jeffery also said his clients shouldn't expect any major changes beyond the switch to the offices at 5103 51 Street.

"Instead of relying on my 35 years of professional experience exclusively, they will have the ability for me to have a collegial relationship with a group of peers," he said. "I haven't had that second set of eyes for many years. And that means I avoid situations where that would be necessary. So in any case, it means that the potential to have a broader band of professional services available to them in one place is there."

- with files from James Goldie

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