Bridging Insights: A Conversation with Catherine Perka, Manager

Welcome back to Bridging Insights—a series of candid conversations with DMCL hiring managers, where they provide real insights into life at DMCL and what you can expect when you join our firm. For this edition, we’re chatting with Catherine Perka.

Catherine is a Manager at DMCL’s Surrey office, where she provides advisory, accounting, and tax services to a variety of private enterprise and individual clients. We asked her to share a little bit about her journey in public accounting—from graduating from the University of British Columbia all the way to her current role at DMCL—and what makes the Surrey office such a special place to work.

Catherine, you’ve built your expertise at DMCL since graduating from UBC. Can you share how the supportive environment here has influenced your professional growth?

The environment at DMCL is very supportive and team-oriented. Everyone’s willing to help and share knowledge, which makes for a positive and productive learning environment. DMCL has expertise in so many areas of accounting, tax, and advisory that there‘s always a resource to turn to. In public practice, you’ll always be learning; having these resources available, paired with a collaborative work environment, has enabled me to grow my knowledge in so many different areas in the accounting and tax world. 

That collaborative environment sounds incredibly beneficial. What other aspects of your career in public practice do you find most fulfilling?

The best part about working in public practice is the diversity of clients and industries that you are exposed to. As you gain experience with such a wide range of clients, it allows you to develop a well-rounded skillset in areas such as private enterprise, audit, tax planning, and advisory. I’ve learned how to understand each client’s unique needs and help them in making financial decisions.

Public practice offers lots of training and professional development, which allows me to stay up-to-date with changes in standards and regulations. Having the most recent and relevant information allows me to provide the best quality service and advice to our clients.

Balancing the technical demands of accounting with your leadership and mentoring roles can be challenging. How do you navigate these responsibilities, especially during busy seasons?

This isn’t always an easy task, especially when busy season hits and there are several deadlines to tend to. However, it’s important to remember that mentoring our staff is crucial for their learning and growth. This keeps our staff engaged, accountable, and fosters that collaborative environment that I mentioned.

It’s very important to prioritize all of your tasks and deadlines at the beginning of each day. I figure out which deadlines are top priority and which projects can be deferred. Of course, delegating responsibilities where possible and communicating my workload with colleagues is also key. During our less busy times, I catch up and get ahead on my work so that I am set up for success when busy season comes back around.

Given your extensive experience in the accounting industry, what trends do you see shaping the future? Are there any specific to cloud accounting, which you specialize in?

The most important trend that we’re seeing is that business owners want to be more involved than ever before. They want to understand their business and accounting and make decisions based on relevant and current financial information.

Cloud accounting is allowing our clients to have access to real-time information and financial reports so they can make accurate decisions. It offers access from anywhere at any time, and it provides our clients with the peace of mind that comes with increased data security and more opportunities to collaborate. Clients also usually want to delegate their bookkeeping and full-cycle accounting to us so they can focus their own time on growing their business, which cloud accounting offers. We’ve enjoyed growing this area of our business and, as a result, our cloud accounting group has grown significantly over the last several years.

Outside of work, you’re active in volunteering and enjoy outdoor activities. How does the culture at the Surrey office align with your personal values? What do you think makes it a great place to work?

Here in Surrey, open communication, collaboration, and a supportive work environment are very important to our team. We work hard and meet our deadlines, but we’re able to maintain a strong work/life balance as well. Everyone knows work/life balance is important to maintain so we can all remain productive and successful in our careers, but it’s sometimes easier said than done.

Social events are very important to our team, when we can all unwind and get to know each other in a relaxed setting away from computers and conference rooms. We spend a lot of time working together, so we make sure to balance it with some time to have some fun as well!

If you’re interested in a leadership role with our team in Surrey, we’re currently hiring for a Manager who is passionate about supporting junior staff and helping them succeed like Catherine. If this sounds like you, we encourage you to click the button below to apply!

Article written by Bridget O’Connor, Talent Acquisition Lead