Taxing times

EDITOR'S NOTE:

This is the first in a series of profiles on the Institute's Professional Development Program instructors. In this issue, we feature the tax course instructors. Subsequent issues of Beyond Numbers will contain articles about instructors in other areas of our PD program.

Collectively, their experience as tax experts pre-dates the inception of income tax in Canada. "They" are Hugh Woolley, CA, Denise Lammi, CA, Mary Power, CA, and Andrew Taylor, CA, the Institute's Professional Development Department instructors who specialize in teaching popular tax courses for members throughout the province.

Hugh Woolley, CA, is a native of Vancouver and a 1985 graduate of the Commerce faculty at the University of British Columbia. He articled with Arthur Andersen and got his CA designation is 1988. Woolley moved over to Sheinin & Co. in 1989 and while there, did an 18-month exchange with Revenue Canada in Ottawa where he researched and wrote tax rulings. He started his own firm Lewis & Company, Chartered Accountants, with Peter Lewis, CA, in 1994 and about five years ago started teaching tax courses for the Institute.

"I've taught the advanced tax planning and income tax update courses all over BC," Woolley says. "My most memorable trip was between Kelowna and Kamloops. It was snowing, so I decided to do the sensible thing and take the bus. Unfortunately, with the weather and all the postal stops, what is normally a two-hour drive turned into a five-hour bus ride. I think I arrived at midnight."

Woolley also tried an innovative location for teaching Canadian tax: Phoenix.

"Several years ago, I taught a group of BC CAs in Phoenix who were all there on a golfing trip," he explains. "It was a great location, but not really economically feasible to repeat the experience."

Woolley points out that teaching helps him stay current. "It's my own form of PD," he says.

Denise Lammi, CA, is a partner with the Vancouver firm of Lammi & Wojtowicz, Chartered Accountants, which was established in 1989.

Born in Lethbridge, Lammi grew up in southern Alberta and attended the University of Lethbridge, graduating in 1979 with an undergraduate degree in Management Arts.

She articled with the Lethbridge firm of Young Parkyn McNab & Company and received her CA designation in 1984. She remained with the firm until 1987 when she joined Touche Ross (now Deloitte & Touche) in New Westminster from 1987 to 1989.

"During my time with bigger firms, I got very used to doing in-house seminars on tax changes," Lammi explains. "I guess that was the start of my 'teaching career.'"

In 1989, she began teaching tax courses for the Institute including the tax update courses (corporate and personal) and just three years ago wrote and produced a new one-day course titled "Basic But Essential Income Tax Issues for the General Practitioner." She and her partner David Wojtowicz, CA, annually do two components of the tax course updates: the BC module and the federal-BC tax facts and figures.

"I've taught all over - the Okanagan, Prince George, Terrace, Vancouver Island, and even up to Whitehorse," Lammi points out. "I really like the energy of teaching, and I like getting people interested. It also helps me stay current, and I enjoy the interaction with my fellow instructors."

Lammi remembers the fire alarm going off while she was teaching at an Okanagan hotel and she caught a cold from spending over two hours huddled in the parking lot.

Lammi also recounted the time while teaching when she leaned on a table holding pitchers of ice water, glasses, and papers, and it collapsed.

"I just stepped over the ice cubes and kept on teaching," she says.

Like other Institute instructors, Mary Power, CA, has taught in both the School of Chartered Accountancy and the PD program.

Originally from Prince Edward Island, Power has been a permanent resident of Vancouver since 1981. Earlier she earned two undergraduate degrees: one in arts from the University of PEI and one in education from Ottawa University. She also completed the Licentiate in Accounting in 1977 at UBC. Power articled with Peat Marwick (now KPMG) in Ottawa and received her CA designation in 1979.

She worked with several CA firms before striking out on her own with MV Power Inc. in 1992.

"I specialize in tax and, in fact, have done so since 1979," Power points out.

She began teaching with SCA in 1982 and with the PD program in the mid-Sos and has exclusively authored and taught tax courses.

"I enjoy teaching," Power says. "It gets me out of the office, and it's nice to see other parts of the province and what's going on for those CAs."

Andrew Taylor, CA, is a 1981 graduate of UBC's commerce faculty and became a CA in 1984 after articling with Thorne Riddle (now KPMG). He stayed with the big firm until 1988 and then went out on his own. He currently shares premises and files with tax specialist Jim Wong, CA, and terms it "the best relationship" he's ever had "...certainly more rewarding than my marriage."

Taylor began teaching for the Institute in 1987 with the School of Chartered Accountancy and did all the tax levels for the students.

"Teaching is fun," Taylor says. "In my early days of teaching, I think I did it to show that not all the good tax specialists are at the big firms, and later it just became my way of giving something back to the CA profession."

Taylor points out that teaching helps you hone your explanation skills, which is useful with clients as well as students.

"If you can explain complex tax issues to your colleagues and students, you will certainly be better able to do so with clients," he says. "And you end up having a greater depth of knowledge of the current tax issues because of the amount of research you have to do when preparing to teach a course."

Taylor says he appreciates travelling the province to teach because it gives him the opportunity to see what the Canada Customs & Revenue Agency is emphasizing in its different offices.

"Often we can alert folks in other communities by pointing out what the CCRA has gone after in another area," he points out.

Taylor says he appreciates the professionalism and support of the Institute's Professional Development Department staff.

"They will help you out in any way they can, and that makes a huge difference," he says.

Of course, the Institute has gotten good service from the instructors like Taylor as well, who recalls being called one day to come over immediately to take over teaching a course when an instructor failed to show up.

"I just walked over from my office," he explains. "I think I arrived at the coffee break and was in time to help out the co-presenter."

If you are interested in authoring or presenting a course through the Institute's Professional Development Program, contact Director of Professional Development Moira Bryans, CA, at (604) 488-2640 or by e-mail at bryans@ica.bc.ca.

BY DEBORAH FOLKA, MA, APR

Copyright Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia Jan 2001
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