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From the Canadian Prairies, Dale Gislason, FCGA, is leading the national CGA association as its chair and CEO for 2001-02 with open communication and understanding.
By Margaret Jetelina
A whirlwind blows through the doors of public practice firm Gislason Targownik Peters (GTP), Certified General Accountants, in Winkler, Manitoba. "Not off to a good start, are we?" says Dale Gislason, FCGA, who enters smiling warmly. Gislason, 41, is only a couple of minutes late, but obviously doesn't like keeping people waiting.
Gislason, who looks like he just stepped off the golf course — wearing khakis, blue canvas shoes and a navy sweater draped around his shoulders — wastes no more time, leading the way back to his office to begin the interview. But he doesn't settle in his chair right away; instead he leans over his desk, clicking off e-mails and talking knowledgeably about the latest e-mail virus infecting the business world. After a few minutes of bustling back and forth, he sits down to his cup of coffee.
"Welcome to my life," he says, taking a sip from his mug.
Gislason is obviously a busy man, with not only his duties as partner of GTP, but also the leadership of the national CGA association as its chair and CEO for 2001-02, on his shoulders. Despite all the responsibilities that weigh on him, Gislason doesn't seem particularly fazed. He exudes a confidence that suggests he'll have no trouble meeting his many professional demands. In fact, by accounts, he probably thrives on doing so.
"He's not satisfied without doing three or more things at the same time — most of the time he's almost running," says fellow partner Ernest Peters, CGA, making a circling motion with his hands. "His mind operates on superspeed." Peters laughs heartily.
Gislason's "superspeed," however, doesn't seem in synch with the slow-paced image one conjures up when thinking of Winkler, a one-square-mile town surrounded by green and gold fields that make you wonder if the world is really round. True, Gislason is not exactly the rural type; he was, in fact, born and raised in Winnipeg, about 120 kilometres northeast of Winkler. But it is in Winkler that Gislason has chosen to live and work for the last 20 years.
From the Ground Up
Gislason first landed in Winkler as a student in the CGA program in 1980. He had been working for GTP's predecessor firm, Hermiston, Brent & Co., in Winnipeg. When the firm decided to take over an existing accounting practice in the nearby town, Gislason was asked whether he would like to head up the new branch.
Faced with this decision, Gislason called his wife Bernice and asked, "Do you want to live in Winkler?" She hung up on him, thinking the call a prank. "Winkler was the last place in the world he ever wanted to be," his wife remembers, adding that Winkler was where she was born and raised.
Gislason was, at the time, a young, newly married accountant, with a newborn son, Keith (now 22), trying to establish his career. Although he had never foreseen himself trading in the city for the country, the opportunity to head up the branch office was too tempting to resist.
And, 20 years and two more children (Colin, 18, and Kourtnay, 15) later, Gislason and his wife have never regretted the decision. Gislason proudly explains that Winkler has seen a building boom within the last couple of decades, growing from 5,000 to 8,500 people. "The only things you can't get in Winkler," Gislason laments, "are a good steak and ladies clothes." But it has all the other basic urban essentials — McDonald's, a shopping mall and, of course, GTP, which has grown along with the town to become the largest accounting practice in Winkler. "It is actually one of four accounting firms in the town, but it is the only CGA firm," Gislason says.
Growing the Business
Despite the firm's growth and success, the casual influence of the Prairies is apparent as soon as you enter its doors, with prints of farmhouses on the wall and a friendly jar of candy on the reception desk. Winkler is, after all, largely a farming community, concentrating on beans, potatoes, canola and wheat. "It's some of the best farmland in Canada," explains Gislason.
But inside Gislason's private office, the theme turns to golf, much like his wardrobe. Golfing could safely be called one of Gislason's passions; he tries to make it out on the green at least twice a week. A round of golf is more than just a pastime for Gislason, however. He credits it with no less than helping build the business.
When he first arrived in Winkler, he found that the firm had virtually no clients. "Most of the clients of the previous accounting practice were relatives of the practitioner." Gislason chuckles about it now, but back then, he got serious. His number one priority in his first few years in Winkler was to network and build a client base. The fairway became a primary meeting place. "In rural areas, you play a lot of golf," he says, adding that the courses are all close by and reasonably inexpensive, making it a prime networking activity.
Gislason also got involved in other community activities, like church, the Kinsmen Club and local sports clubs, among others. His involvement in the community helped him develop a name for the firm. "We were hungry for business, I even had a business phone extension in the house," he says.
When Gislason received his CGA designation in 1983, he became a partner of the firm, but the Winkler branch had still not hit its stride. "It took four years until the branch was self-sustainable," he says. But, the firm eventually developed a solid and varying client base, from farming clients to manufacturing clients to personal tax return clients.
"Dale is good at getting clients," says Peters, who joined the Winkler branch in the late 1980s and became a partner there in 1991.
Gislason is a bit more modest. "We were in the right place at the right time. We've had 15 years of growth here. It's a very prosperous, active environment."
In 1993, Gislason, Peters, and a third partner, Saul Targownik, CGA, who is based in Winnipeg, bought out the remaining Hermiston partners and renamed the firm. Today, they have 15 staff in Winkler and 11 more spread out in Winnipeg and nearby towns Altona and Carman.
Nurturing Communication
The firm's success is a result of more than simply networking and timeliness. It has a great deal to do with the down-to-earth way the partners lead the business.
"We have a very unique partnership," Peters says. "Most are doomed for failure, but the lucky ones survive. We care enough about each other as well as the business." He admits humbly that they're fairly popular accountants. "Our practice has grown and continues to grow," he says.
Gislason further credits their growth to the way they've positioned their services. "Our job starts when the financial statements end, which in the '80s was the 'product.' We are aggressive on advice and taking positions. That's one way we've differentiated our practice and one of the tools that helped us grow."
Gislason explains that honest communication with clients is key to making accounting services valuable. "Public practice is a communicating business, it's about communicating ideas and financial results," he says. As partner, that's where Gislason's focus is today.
"Dale has very high capabilities," says Peters. "He can see deeper than the surface and analyse a situation."
Peters adds that Gislason is also very caring about staff. Some of their staff members have been with the firm for more than 10 years. "Things are very comfortable here. The atmosphere is casual and friendly," says Gislason's assistant, Kim Vink. "Dale has high expectations, but is patient in teaching others. I came here not knowing anything about accounting. He's taken me from the grassroots," she says. "Number one, Dale is family-oriented. So if staff need time off, he's very empathetic."
Time for CGA
That empathy is a two-way street, especially now that Gislason needs more freedom in his schedule to accommodate his time commitment to the national CGA board. "Can't see how I would be able to take on the role of chair and have a full-time job, for example. My partners and staff pick up the slack ... they look after things when I'm not here," Gislason says gratefully.
It's not new to them, however. Gislason has been juggling his work schedule with CGA activities for several years now, not only as a member of many CGA-Canada committees and its board of directors (see "News from CGA-Canada" on page 36 for more details), but also as president of CGA-Manitoba (1997-98) and a member of its board (1992-98). He claims he's "like old furniture" around the CGA organization.
Gislason admits, though, that his commitment to volunteering has sometimes encroached on his personal life as well as his work schedule. "Between family, the practice and CGA, there is no downtime," he says.
To make it all work, some things do get sacrificed, such as his golf game, which he says is going downhill. Although Gislason doesn't worry too much about his golf handicap dropping — a "very shaky" six — he tries not to let his volunteering impact his family much. "He's always made an effort to make time for the children," says his wife. Sometimes, he gets a little creative, bringing his family along with him to CGA activities, for example. They all traveled with him to recent CGA-Canada conferences in Newfoundland, Calgary and Yellowknife.
Showing his children the country has, fittingly, always been a goal of Gislason's. As a child himself, he traveled across Canada with his mom, Barb, and his twin sister, Heather, and their younger brother, Daryl. Despite losing Gislason's father when Gislason was about eight, and supporting her family on the salary of a clerk, Gislason's mother managed to show them the country, from the Maritimes to the Rockies. "Not sure how she did that, but she thought it was important to see Canada," he says. Some of Gislason's best memories of childhood are, in fact, from his travels — the people and hospitality of Prince Edward Island to the mountains and wilderness of British Columbia. "We don't really appreciate how big Canada is," he says, pausing.
"When you see the differences in how people live and think, the regional disparities, their different issues, you start to understand why it's hard to get people on the same page," Gislason says. "Trying to understand those needs, stop and reconcile them is what CGA-Canada is all about."
That's also what the leadership philosophy Gislason brings to the role of chair and CEO is about, just as in his role as partner at GTP. "You can't lead by pushing. You have to lead with communication and understanding," he says. "When you get right down to it and listen, you realize that everyone in the CGA organization is working for the same purpose. We all have pride in our designation, can see how far CGA has come over the years, agree that a high standard for certification is important, and want a right to practise."
Gislason adds that the principles of communication and understanding are needed now more than ever. A number of new projects on the CGA table have been moving forward thanks to effective national and provincial co-operation. As one example, Gislason points to PDNetwork, the online professional development resource for CGAs across the country, which was launched in late September. PDNetwork can be accessed through all provincial and territorial affiliate Web sites as well as on CGA-Canada's site.
Gislason is well aware of the need for continuing professional development for CGAs, not only from his own perspective as a practitioner, but also as a responsibility of the association as a whole. A new strategic partnership with Athabasca University to provide a special MBA program for CGAs is another example of this commitment, he points out.
Gislason notes that the coming year will bring other developments on the education front in pre- and post-designation education.
On the technology side as well, Gislason keenly recognizes the need for greater co-operation and collaboration within the CGA organization. Several high-profile technology projects are under development, including the Common Association Management System (CAMS) and the super Web site project, which will see a new Web portal developed to host both national and affiliate Web sites.
Another major item of CGA business that requires support within the association will be the aftermath of a panel ruling on CGAs' public practice rights challenge under Canada's Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT).
Gislason says last year's chair Bruce Hryciuk, FCGA, had a similar vision of co-operation and open communication. "I'm going to keep the dialogue open," Gislason says. "That's what the job is all about."
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Read more about Dale Gislason, FCGA, and the new board of directors in News from CGA-Canada.
Margaret Jetelina is acting editor of CGA Magazine and a freelance writer and editor based outside of Vancouver, B.C.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net