Carter Wilson, 25
Wilson’s colleagues call him a unicorn, because it’s so unusual to see a young First Nations CPA (Photograph by Daniel Crump)
I was born in Peguis First Nation, two hours north of Winnipeg. When I became an accountant, I knew I wanted to work in the Indigenous sector. First Nations need a strong financial reporting process to improve the lives of their members. CPAs can project funding needs for schools or health centres so they get more resources to deliver services, or help ensure there’s funding to repair key infrastructure, like water and electricity services.
A First Nation can be much more complex than any private business. Normally, a business only needs to produce one income statement. But First Nations businesses and organizations might have hundreds of income statements to report how their funding has been spent. While articling at MNP, I audited businesses owned by Indigenous people, like hotels, restaurants and stores, along with First Nations government organizations.
After two years in the audit department, I switched over to consulting. Now I mostly work with Indigenous government organizations, like health centres, personal care homes, housing departments and education administration. At first, we take care of their bookkeeping. Then we train their staff to do it themselves.
Before the pandemic, whenever I first started working with a First Nation, I would usually fly up once a month and stay for a week to learn about how they operate their business. Once, we needed to take four flights, mostly on small planes, to get to a remote northern community. We were told to bring our own food, blankets and water. It’s important for us to understanding who we’re working with, to learn how they live and what their communities are like. [Learn how CPA Canada is laying the groundwork for prosperity in Canada’s Indigenous communities, including the CPA Martin Mentorship Program for Indigenous High School Students.]
“If I had my way, there would be hundreds of First Nations CPAs. That’s what we need.”
I’m excited about the chance to improve Indigenous people’s livelihoods through better financial practices. Early in the pandemic, one client was having trouble processing cheques to pay people because of the lockdown, so I helped them set up cloud-based accounting software. A lot of our clients don’t have great internet access, and sometimes we have to get creative—for example, we might set up a server in their community that we can access remotely. The future of accounting in northern communities depends on reliable internet. Once that exists, cloud-based accounting systems will help relieve their administrative burdens.
I work with around eight First Nations clients at a time, and I’m usually the only Indigenous person on our accounting teams. My clients trust me because of my knowledge of Indigenous history and culture. They can tell me what keeps them up at night. Some clients specifically request to work with me on their projects because I make them feel comfortable. Of course, I’m not travelling much anymore because of COVID. While I miss face-to-face interactions with clients, it’s much easier to connect over Microsoft Teams or Zoom than to fly a small plane into the North. It’s more efficient: because there’s less travel time, I can meet with multiple clients in a day rather than spending a full day travelling. [Better understand the perspective of Indigenous students as they navigate through the CPA profession with the Introduction to Indigenous People culture course.]
I passed the CFE in fall 2020, and I recently received my designation. My colleagues call me a unicorn, because it’s so unusual to see a young First Nations CPA. If I had my way, there would be hundreds of First Nations CPAs. That’s what we need.
NEXT GENERATION CPAs
Read about four other up-and-coming accountants hungry to make a difference.
Also, delve into insights emerging from CPA Canada’s strategic initiative, Foresight: Reimagining the Profession, and learn what the future holds for accounting.