ICABC Awards for Early Achievement - Institute of Chartered ...

Michael D. H. Parker, CAWhen Mike Parker graduated from high schoolin Terrace in 1991, he knew one thing forcertain: The best way to protect himself in adifficult economy would be to build a strongskill set. He has continued building on his skillset ever since.Today, Mike is the partner in charge of taxationadvisory services at Daley & Company LLPChartered Accountants, the largest independentfirm in Kamloops.No one is more surprised than he that publicpractice has become his niche.In 1995, Mike was a 22-year-old working ona bachelor of commerce at the University ofVictoria, majoring in entrepreneurship, when hegot an exciting opportunity to start his ownbusiness as a retail/wholesale specialty coffeeimporter. Eager for the challenge, Mike put hisundergraduate studies on hold to open andmanage GroundWorks Coffee Co. He oversawthe entire operation from conception, includingfinancing, construction, and operations management.“Terrace had been under-exploited in terms ofspecialty coffee, so I saw a real market for it,” herecounts. “It ended up being an extraordinarylearning experience. I gained a firsthand understandingof the small business retail andwholesale marketplace, and I discovered whatkind of fortitude it takes to be an entrepreneur.”After two years spent working tirelessly to getGroundWorks up and running, Mike decided itwas time to complete his business degree. So hesold his company and went back to schoolfull-time, graduating from UVic in 1999.That same year, he joined the Kamloops officeof KPMG LLP in pursuit of the CA designation,which he saw as a valuable stepping-stone toa career in industry. Within his first year ofarticling, however, he had a completely newvision for his future.“I was shocked to discover how much I enjoyedpublic practice,” he remembers. “I thought Iwould get my CA training and move on, butpublic practice was much more dynamic thanI’d expected. I loved the learning curve, andthere were so many smart, talented people towork with—I actually loved getting up andgoing to work in the morning!”So when Mike qualified as a CA in 2002, hestayed with KPMG, working as a member of itstaxation advisory services team and advisingclients on a variety of taxation issues. That sameyear, he completed the CICA’s In-Depth TaxCourse.Then in 2005, another pivotal opportunitypresented itself: a partnership offer with Daley“Even while I was articling, I knew I wanted to be a partner—I wanted to be at the frontof client relationships,” says Mike Parker, CA. Photo by Tyler Meade of Tyler MeadePhotography in Kamloops.June/Summer ’09 ica.bc.ca 11