WEBVTT 00:00:03.639 --> 00:00:06.400 Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:10.679 of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla and this week 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:13.119 we are sitting down and talking with a couple 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:16.480 of folks in our congregation about their work 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:20.000 because we know that Christians don't just exist 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:23.539 inside of the church building here. They also 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:25.879 exist out there in the workplace doing all kinds 00:00:25.879 --> 00:00:28.699 of different things. Yeah and so we're talking 00:00:28.699 --> 00:00:32.149 with two accountants this week. about their job. 00:00:32.270 --> 00:00:35.030 So thank you for joining me folks. You're welcome. 00:00:35.789 --> 00:00:39.149 Good to be here. Yeah. So maybe we'll just get 00:00:39.149 --> 00:00:42.149 you to start by introducing yourselves. Do you 00:00:42.149 --> 00:00:46.689 want to go first here? Sure. I'm JP Strassler 00:00:46.689 --> 00:00:53.770 and I've been an accountant for 30 years. Okay. 00:00:54.310 --> 00:00:59.869 And I've been at Trinity for just about two and 00:00:59.869 --> 00:01:03.009 a half years. Okay. And really excited to be 00:01:03.009 --> 00:01:05.650 here this morning. Okay, great. Yeah, so my name 00:01:05.650 --> 00:01:09.250 is Aaron, Aaron Marr. I've been an accountant 00:01:09.250 --> 00:01:14.930 for almost 30 years as well. Okay. And Trinity 00:01:14.930 --> 00:01:18.569 for a couple of years now. Okay. So, yeah. Oh, 00:01:18.569 --> 00:01:22.750 great. Yeah. So what prompted you to want to 00:01:22.750 --> 00:01:25.390 work in accounting? Maybe we'll start over here 00:01:25.390 --> 00:01:29.439 again with you, JP. Why be an accountant? For 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:34.659 me, I guess, a couple of reasons. First of all, 00:01:34.659 --> 00:01:38.379 coming out of university, I wasn't sure exactly 00:01:38.379 --> 00:01:41.379 what I wanted to do career -wise. I knew it would 00:01:41.379 --> 00:01:46.719 be business -related. And since business really 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:49.480 boils down to numbers, I thought an accounting 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:52.659 designation would serve me well. Sure. Also, 00:01:54.340 --> 00:02:01.079 most of my friends were doing it. So peer pressure. 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:05.540 Well, it was just, it was sort of neat how my 00:02:05.540 --> 00:02:07.540 graduating class at university, most of us all 00:02:07.540 --> 00:02:11.780 ended up at the same CA firm. Okay, cool. So 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:14.560 one day we're, you know, university students 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:17.539 and then a couple months later we're kind of 00:02:17.539 --> 00:02:20.900 together, but in suits and in a professional 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:26.639 environment, which was funny. And I guess probably 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:34.020 also my mom. She always said, I'd be a good accountant 00:02:34.020 --> 00:02:38.479 because I'm an analytical thinker. And she would 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:43.020 quite often say, she'd comment how I like to 00:02:43.020 --> 00:02:47.780 take things apart. And it's funny how at that 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:50.419 point in time, because I'm a forensic accountant, 00:02:52.050 --> 00:02:54.729 that little did she know that eventually I would 00:02:54.729 --> 00:02:56.569 become a forensic accountant, which essentially 00:02:56.569 --> 00:03:01.050 involves taking apart numbers and looking behind 00:03:01.050 --> 00:03:05.569 them and figuring things out. That's cool. What 00:03:05.569 --> 00:03:07.800 about for you, Aaron? Yeah, and I mean, who really, 00:03:07.900 --> 00:03:09.400 who wouldn't want to be an accountant? Sure. 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:12.159 I mean, that sounds really interesting, actually. 00:03:12.699 --> 00:03:15.360 I think we're selling it well here, right? Yeah, 00:03:15.379 --> 00:03:17.379 yeah, yeah. I think enrollment in accounting 00:03:17.379 --> 00:03:20.099 is declining, actually, so we have to do our 00:03:20.099 --> 00:03:24.460 part here. Yes. Yeah, a lot of it comes, a few 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:26.460 things. I mean, numbers, you mentioned, I've 00:03:26.460 --> 00:03:29.819 always loved numbers. I would say it's a bit 00:03:29.819 --> 00:03:33.180 of a misconception that Accounting and math are 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:35.719 kind of hand -in -hand, but I loved math. And 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:37.759 that's what I went to university for. I did a 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:41.520 math degree at Waterloo. But also I chose to 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:45.759 do accounting sort of as a minor. That's what 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:48.819 led to my co -op work terms. One thing leads 00:03:48.819 --> 00:03:51.580 to another. Get a good job. And, you know, here 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:55.759 I am. But also, again, I had a parental influence 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:58.180 as well. My father's an accountant. So that, 00:03:58.180 --> 00:04:01.000 you know, I had heard about it and you know all 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:06.599 that kind of thing as well so yeah that's kind 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:10.000 of what led me into the field and you know I 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.280 enjoy it lots of different you know experience 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:18.079 lots of different businesses and you know like 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:20.879 JP says it all a lot of it every business comes 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:24.339 down to to numbers at the bottom right so it's 00:04:24.339 --> 00:04:28.019 it's a Interesting field is for sure. Yeah. Yeah 00:04:28.019 --> 00:04:31.500 for sure. So maybe before we go any further We've 00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:34.579 sort of just said accounting and talked and and 00:04:34.579 --> 00:04:36.639 kind of have a general assumption that people 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:39.339 know what that means But maybe they don't know 00:04:39.339 --> 00:04:42.779 what that means So like what does a typical like 00:04:42.779 --> 00:04:46.660 work day or work week look like for you? Yeah. 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:48.860 Yeah, I mean, well, obviously you're gonna get 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:51.959 two very different answers here. Yeah you know 00:04:51.959 --> 00:04:55.220 and that's You know, one of the interesting things 00:04:55.220 --> 00:04:58.160 is, yeah, you can go lots of different directions. 00:04:59.660 --> 00:05:03.019 So for me, I work for, I'm going to say a big 00:05:03.019 --> 00:05:06.160 grocery retailer. The name might slip out and 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:08.560 I just don't want people coming to me and complaining 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:11.420 about the quality of their produce if I name 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:14.480 the company. Are the prices? Exactly. Well, we 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:17.180 won't go there yet, right? But we might go there. 00:05:17.899 --> 00:05:21.689 So yes. you know, again, I'm responsible for, 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:25.050 you know, making sure we report accurate financial 00:05:25.050 --> 00:05:27.529 numbers. And it's a very big company, billions 00:05:27.529 --> 00:05:30.250 of dollars in revenues and tens of thousands 00:05:30.250 --> 00:05:32.089 of products, all that kind of thing. So it's, 00:05:32.089 --> 00:05:34.129 you know, we're making sure we report accurate 00:05:34.129 --> 00:05:37.569 numbers all the time. So that our business, you 00:05:37.569 --> 00:05:39.329 know, we can make good decisions. So it's either 00:05:39.329 --> 00:05:42.389 for me, it's reporting on historical numbers 00:05:42.389 --> 00:05:45.970 and then making projections for the future. And 00:05:45.970 --> 00:05:49.389 that's what we do. And that's what you know, 00:05:49.470 --> 00:05:51.529 as an accountant. That's a traditional accounting 00:05:51.529 --> 00:05:54.029 role. JP will probably talk about something very 00:05:54.029 --> 00:05:57.810 different. I think we both started in the public 00:05:57.810 --> 00:05:59.689 accounting world, which is, you know, you come 00:05:59.689 --> 00:06:02.870 out of school, you go into a CA firm, and you're 00:06:02.870 --> 00:06:05.009 doing auditing, tax, all the traditional stuff. 00:06:05.629 --> 00:06:07.389 And then you can go in different directions. 00:06:08.370 --> 00:06:10.810 And then, you know, it leads to other things, 00:06:11.170 --> 00:06:16.149 you know, I got involved in some charitable organizations. 00:06:16.149 --> 00:06:18.740 And again, Even charities need accountants, right? 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:20.819 Yeah, for sure, for sure. Everybody needs accounts. 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:23.240 And, you know, we have two great ones here or 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:27.740 several great ones here at Trinity. And yeah, 00:06:27.980 --> 00:06:30.759 every organization needs needs to know what their 00:06:30.759 --> 00:06:33.899 what their financial health is and all that kind 00:06:33.899 --> 00:06:36.480 of stuff. Yeah, for sure. Cool. Yeah. So what 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:39.139 about for you, JP? What does work look like? 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:43.540 What does work look like? Well, every day is 00:06:43.540 --> 00:06:48.730 different. Sure. So by way of background, yeah, 00:06:48.769 --> 00:06:52.589 I'm a forensic accountant. So what that is, I 00:06:52.589 --> 00:06:56.709 would describe as sort of a hybrid between a 00:06:56.709 --> 00:07:01.430 financial accountant, an auditor, and an investigator. 00:07:01.870 --> 00:07:07.529 Okay. So the types of engagements I get brought 00:07:07.529 --> 00:07:15.899 into involve Typically, financial disputes, partner 00:07:15.899 --> 00:07:20.920 disputes, matrimonial disputes, hidden income, 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:27.120 hidden assets, financial fraud, usually in a 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:30.680 workplace investigation situation, employee dishonesty. 00:07:32.989 --> 00:07:36.629 and also just a general like loss quantification. 00:07:37.170 --> 00:07:38.629 Okay. Commercial insurance claims a business 00:07:38.629 --> 00:07:41.730 has a fire, a flood, a theft. They're closed 00:07:41.730 --> 00:07:45.970 for weeks or months and their insurance policy 00:07:45.970 --> 00:07:49.050 covers them for lost income. So that has to be 00:07:49.050 --> 00:07:51.050 quantified, which involves sort of crystal ball 00:07:51.050 --> 00:07:53.550 gazing. You know, what would the business have 00:07:53.550 --> 00:07:56.569 earned had the incident not happened. Right. 00:07:56.829 --> 00:08:01.310 So projections and things like that. Okay. And 00:08:01.310 --> 00:08:05.620 so that's So that's what I do. I knew very early 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:10.139 on when I was, as Erin mentioned, starting off 00:08:10.139 --> 00:08:12.680 in a public accounting firm, the traditional 00:08:12.680 --> 00:08:17.639 areas there, audits and doing tax returns. I 00:08:17.639 --> 00:08:20.939 knew very early on. That's not where you wanted 00:08:20.939 --> 00:08:24.600 to be? That's not what I wanted to do. And I 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:28.879 think my work level and my performance reviews 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:35.639 clearly reflected that. But I was fortunate that 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:39.600 at the time, forensic accounting was just becoming 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.620 established as a specialty area. And the firm 00:08:42.620 --> 00:08:47.059 Alzat actually had the first forensic accounting. 00:08:47.259 --> 00:08:52.100 group and because and my work group was situated 00:08:52.100 --> 00:08:54.100 in the office right next to them I was always 00:08:54.100 --> 00:08:56.700 talking to them and putting my hand up if they 00:08:56.700 --> 00:08:59.419 needed extra extra help and so I got some exposure 00:08:59.419 --> 00:09:02.240 to it and as soon as I that happened I realized 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:04.480 the light went on this is what I wanted yeah 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:09.840 okay and never looked back okay cool yeah um 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:13.509 so when I asked each of you to sort of do this, 00:09:13.769 --> 00:09:15.590 especially you, JP, you said, would anybody want 00:09:15.590 --> 00:09:19.289 to listen to a podcast about accounting? But 00:09:19.289 --> 00:09:23.330 usually, you know, as soon as you mentioned. 00:09:24.059 --> 00:09:26.120 the word accountant or counting, you know, I 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:28.779 start glazing over real quick. So I was like, 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:31.679 are you sure? Do we have any numbers on the screen 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:35.480 that show our views dropping off here? Didn't 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:37.659 I say that? Like you really want people to watch 00:09:37.659 --> 00:09:40.940 the podcast. Yes, yes, yes. So and to get like 00:09:40.940 --> 00:09:44.120 thumbs up. And you said, sure. No, this is going 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:46.419 to be it's going to be awesome. It is because 00:09:46.419 --> 00:09:48.799 you're awesome people doing interesting things. 00:09:48.820 --> 00:09:52.639 Oh, you're making us blush. So. Let's make it 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:55.120 exciting. What is your favorite part of your 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:59.340 job? Yeah, Aaron? Aaron's loaded right again. 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:03.179 Well, I don't know. Or favorite memory from your 00:10:03.179 --> 00:10:07.769 job? Yeah, memories, I mean... You know, I don't 00:10:07.769 --> 00:10:09.409 know if I'm gonna be able to give any good stories 00:10:09.409 --> 00:10:11.850 on the you know, what I do is an accountant But 00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:14.570 you know early in my career was at the accounting 00:10:14.570 --> 00:10:17.289 firm a lot of young people it was it was, you 00:10:17.289 --> 00:10:19.330 know High -intensity, but we had a lot of fun. 00:10:19.330 --> 00:10:23.169 We had an accounting softball league. So Exciting 00:10:23.169 --> 00:10:27.470 right But but now it's you know, what gives me 00:10:27.470 --> 00:10:30.789 satisfaction is Making sense out of numbers, 00:10:30.789 --> 00:10:33.710 right? It's you know, again a big company like 00:10:33.710 --> 00:10:37.149 the one I work in it takes a and analytical, 00:10:37.889 --> 00:10:42.490 and I see the value that brings in distilling 00:10:42.490 --> 00:10:44.929 numbers quickly and making sense out of them 00:10:44.929 --> 00:10:49.409 and communicating them to other people. And again, 00:10:51.549 --> 00:10:54.570 one example, I'm on the board of international 00:10:54.570 --> 00:10:58.450 teams, which is 10 projects around the world. 00:10:58.929 --> 00:11:00.669 And I've sort of gotten involved in that. I can 00:11:00.669 --> 00:11:04.049 look at that through a financial lens and hopefully 00:11:04.049 --> 00:11:08.169 bring value to um you know to the organization 00:11:08.169 --> 00:11:10.990 by so that kind of brings me satisfaction you 00:11:10.990 --> 00:11:13.629 know not exciting you know i don't have any great 00:11:13.629 --> 00:11:17.129 stories i bet you jp does but uh um you know 00:11:17.129 --> 00:11:19.610 that's that's the kind of thing that i i i do 00:11:19.610 --> 00:11:22.309 uh like about the about the job and the profession 00:11:22.309 --> 00:11:24.750 yeah yeah for sure it gives you those practical 00:11:24.750 --> 00:11:27.690 skills and that ability to do things in your 00:11:27.690 --> 00:11:31.929 job but also in in other ways right and and like 00:11:31.929 --> 00:11:35.549 we said you know every organization Has to have 00:11:35.549 --> 00:11:37.289 that. So you can work in any kind of company 00:11:37.289 --> 00:11:39.470 you want if you're an accountant. Every, you 00:11:39.470 --> 00:11:40.610 know, you want to work for the Toronto Maple 00:11:40.610 --> 00:11:42.350 Leaf, they have accountants, right? Right. You 00:11:42.350 --> 00:11:44.529 want to work for Trinity Streetsville, they have 00:11:44.529 --> 00:11:46.789 accountants. Numbers are numbers. Numbers are 00:11:46.789 --> 00:11:49.110 numbers. And it's not about the numbers in the 00:11:49.110 --> 00:11:51.190 end. It's about what, you know, it's a means 00:11:51.190 --> 00:11:55.049 to an end. Sure. And, and, and, but it's a, it's 00:11:55.049 --> 00:11:58.149 a, you know, integral part. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. 00:11:58.149 --> 00:11:59.850 What, what about for you? Any favourite parts 00:11:59.850 --> 00:12:02.090 of your job or favourite memories? Yeah, absolutely. 00:12:03.289 --> 00:12:05.570 I'm the kind of person that I get bored really 00:12:05.570 --> 00:12:08.470 easily. So what I love about being a forensic 00:12:08.470 --> 00:12:13.129 accountant is the variety of work and the challenge 00:12:13.129 --> 00:12:18.009 of it. In terms of the variety, like every assignment 00:12:18.009 --> 00:12:23.669 is different. Different industry, different businesses, 00:12:24.570 --> 00:12:27.169 meeting tons of people from the C -suite down, 00:12:27.889 --> 00:12:33.029 different issues. So just, yeah, which I really 00:12:33.029 --> 00:12:37.480 enjoy. And then on the challenging side, yeah, 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:41.799 because each assignment's different, there's 00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:44.419 no script to follow that you can just sort of 00:12:44.419 --> 00:12:48.120 copy and paste and you have to figure out a game 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:54.019 plan each time. There's a ton of analysis, searching 00:12:54.019 --> 00:12:57.639 for the proverbial needle in a haystack, the 00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:01.639 smoking gun, the fraudulent transaction, which 00:13:01.639 --> 00:13:06.909 is... which can involve a lot of digging and 00:13:06.909 --> 00:13:10.409 interviewing people that quite often do not want 00:13:10.409 --> 00:13:13.429 to be interviewed. Of course, yes. Being able 00:13:13.429 --> 00:13:15.549 to develop a rapport with them to get them to 00:13:15.549 --> 00:13:23.409 open up. Creativity, strategizing, how -to because 00:13:23.409 --> 00:13:26.809 clients don't want to fund an endless fishing 00:13:26.809 --> 00:13:30.799 expedition. we need you to figure this out and 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:34.480 let us, you know, confirm yes or no, is this 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:38.639 employee defrauding us? Right. And just in terms 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:41.200 of amount of judgment. Yeah. Because, you know, 00:13:41.379 --> 00:13:43.320 ultimately I need, you know, the work product 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:47.700 is to prepare a report where I'm opining as to... 00:13:47.529 --> 00:13:51.029 what my conclusions are, whether there is a fraud 00:13:51.029 --> 00:13:54.450 or if it's a lost quantification, what the number 00:13:54.450 --> 00:13:59.690 is. So all eyes are on me as to what that number 00:13:59.690 --> 00:14:03.529 is. And I have to be prepared to go to court 00:14:03.529 --> 00:14:06.649 and defend it in my position. That sounds like 00:14:06.649 --> 00:14:12.029 a lot of pressure sometimes. I'd call it good 00:14:12.029 --> 00:14:15.110 pressure. So for me, I just, I just love it. 00:14:15.289 --> 00:14:18.429 Okay. Just, yeah, it's exciting. It's fun. It's 00:14:18.429 --> 00:14:22.750 yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So you're both accountants, 00:14:22.929 --> 00:14:25.309 but you're also both Christians, people of faith. 00:14:25.470 --> 00:14:28.870 And so are there ways that you think your faith 00:14:28.870 --> 00:14:33.990 impacts the way that you do your job? Yeah. Do 00:14:33.990 --> 00:14:43.600 you think? Yeah, certainly. there's a lot of 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:52.139 overlap between the rules and the standards that 00:14:52.139 --> 00:14:55.820 accountants and specifically forensic accounts 00:14:55.820 --> 00:14:58.759 need to adhere to. So a lot of overlap between 00:14:58.759 --> 00:15:04.000 that and called the attributes of a Christian. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:13.179 Quality such as honesty, and integrity, and trustworthiness, 00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:20.159 fairness. For me, I have to be very, very fair, 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:25.440 or else I'm not serving my clients well if I'm 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:31.419 being biased. So I have to be unbiased and objective. 00:15:32.779 --> 00:15:35.779 and not judgmental of others, even if I'm sitting 00:15:35.779 --> 00:15:40.100 across from someone who's been accused of stealing 00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:47.120 a lot of money from their company. It's not my 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:53.559 role to judge them. My role is to seek the truth 00:15:53.559 --> 00:15:59.159 and ultimately that justice prevails. And because 00:15:59.159 --> 00:16:04.040 the work that I do is highly confidential, I 00:16:04.040 --> 00:16:10.139 can't brag about it. I was hoping for some good 00:16:10.139 --> 00:16:20.159 stories here, JP. All the stories. So I see a 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:24.139 lot of alignment between my work and my fave. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:28.639 Yeah, for sure. What about for you? Yeah, I mean, 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:32.429 certainly off the top. you know, the professional 00:16:32.429 --> 00:16:36.370 standards and ethics that JP speaks about, you 00:16:36.370 --> 00:16:39.850 know, that applies to all of us who get a professional 00:16:39.850 --> 00:16:44.450 designation and, you know, again, there's overlap. 00:16:44.490 --> 00:16:46.470 I don't know that I would do it differently as 00:16:46.470 --> 00:16:49.029 a Christian or not, but it definitely aligns 00:16:49.029 --> 00:16:51.210 with, you know, all those values he spoke of. 00:16:52.190 --> 00:16:55.490 But, you know, I think maybe more generally, 00:16:56.450 --> 00:17:00.059 just as a you know, going into a corporate workplace, 00:17:00.059 --> 00:17:04.980 right? It's about, you know, how I treat the 00:17:04.980 --> 00:17:08.660 people I work with, you know, whatever levels 00:17:08.660 --> 00:17:15.039 I'm interacting. It's, you know, it's being consistent, 00:17:15.160 --> 00:17:17.099 I find, trying to be consistent across all the 00:17:17.099 --> 00:17:19.339 areas of my life, right? I try to be the same 00:17:19.339 --> 00:17:23.160 person I am at home, as at work, as at Trinity, 00:17:23.700 --> 00:17:25.759 as, you know, when I take my kid to the hockey 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:28.230 game or whatever, right? I don't want to be a 00:17:28.230 --> 00:17:30.589 different person in those different environments. 00:17:31.190 --> 00:17:34.890 So, you know, in the workplace I want to be, 00:17:34.890 --> 00:17:39.049 you know, obviously respectful and not engage 00:17:39.049 --> 00:17:44.049 in negativity and office gossip and, you know, 00:17:44.289 --> 00:17:46.509 display humility, which is, you know, that's 00:17:46.509 --> 00:17:49.769 in a corporate company environment, right? That's 00:17:49.769 --> 00:17:52.890 a quality that's maybe a little counter to what, 00:17:52.890 --> 00:17:58.369 you know, is normal. You know, I want to show 00:17:58.369 --> 00:18:02.430 gratitude for my job, right? I'm happy, you know, 00:18:02.630 --> 00:18:05.750 there's a lot of complaining and negativity sometimes 00:18:05.750 --> 00:18:08.049 about your work environment, your boss, this, 00:18:08.230 --> 00:18:11.109 that, right? I'm sure, Kyla, you complain about 00:18:11.109 --> 00:18:12.990 love all the time, I'm sure, right? Yes, of course, 00:18:13.150 --> 00:18:18.509 yes. But, you know, so I want to be grateful 00:18:18.509 --> 00:18:24.730 for my employment and yeah, all that kind of 00:18:24.730 --> 00:18:30.579 stuff. I mean this is a you know another in a 00:18:30.579 --> 00:18:33.859 big company like mine right we have people you 00:18:33.859 --> 00:18:37.000 know making all different wages and things like 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:39.819 that you know I can't do much about it but I 00:18:39.819 --> 00:18:43.140 do advocate for fair distribution of you know 00:18:43.140 --> 00:18:45.599 wages and things like that if that's a bigger 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:47.859 even than my company is a societal kind of thing 00:18:47.859 --> 00:18:50.890 but you know, where I can bring my voice up and 00:18:50.890 --> 00:18:52.849 say, this is what I think or believe. It's not 00:18:52.849 --> 00:18:55.369 going to maybe make a difference, but you never 00:18:55.369 --> 00:18:57.369 know. You never know. You never have to see. 00:18:57.609 --> 00:19:00.329 So, yeah, I mean, I think it's it's trying to 00:19:00.329 --> 00:19:04.890 be consistent and be that same person. You know, 00:19:05.230 --> 00:19:10.670 authentic, authentic, authenticity. Yeah. See, 00:19:10.950 --> 00:19:15.009 Paul Henderson out the window. So I. a part of 00:19:15.009 --> 00:19:16.549 a leader impact group. I don't know if you're 00:19:16.549 --> 00:19:17.930 familiar with that. Either if you're familiar 00:19:17.930 --> 00:19:20.829 with leader impact, Paul is a founder, I believe. 00:19:21.250 --> 00:19:23.369 And that's business people having a small group, 00:19:23.690 --> 00:19:26.609 like Trinity has small groups and we talk about, 00:19:26.710 --> 00:19:29.809 we read business books, but we, you know, it's 00:19:29.809 --> 00:19:32.430 based on your personal, professional and spiritual 00:19:32.430 --> 00:19:35.849 life. How do you, and so, you know, I'm in a 00:19:35.849 --> 00:19:38.009 group with some, you know, some of the guys are 00:19:38.009 --> 00:19:40.730 retired and that, but they, you know, we talk 00:19:40.730 --> 00:19:44.140 about That authenticity and consistency across 00:19:44.140 --> 00:19:46.940 different areas of your life. Mm -hmm. Yeah. 00:19:47.259 --> 00:19:50.339 Yeah, I think that's so important and something 00:19:50.339 --> 00:19:54.960 that We don't necessarily Think about when we 00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:59.579 think about Like as as Christians like how does 00:19:59.579 --> 00:20:02.640 how does our work like how does our work in our 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:05.559 faith sort of interact with one another right? 00:20:06.220 --> 00:20:08.839 Well, I think can be tough when Obviously when 00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:14.059 it conflicts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah So as Miss Erin 00:20:14.059 --> 00:20:18.400 was saying, I feel fortunate that my work is 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:22.900 totally aligned with my faith. So tomorrow morning 00:20:22.900 --> 00:20:26.859 when I go to work, I can be the same person. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:29.880 I don't have to be a different version of myself 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:31.980 or be different, you know what I mean? Which 00:20:31.980 --> 00:20:37.859 is a blessing. Yeah, and something that I don't 00:20:37.859 --> 00:20:42.099 think people would necessarily Think about not 00:20:42.099 --> 00:20:44.099 nothing people say I don't think people think 00:20:44.099 --> 00:20:47.400 about Business in any particular way, but right 00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:49.599 they don't necessarily stop to think oh if I'm 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:53.519 going into this career Like it aligns well with 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:55.900 my faith right right because you know some careers 00:20:55.900 --> 00:21:01.279 to be successful You know you need to act in 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:05.240 in a certain way and have certain you know goals 00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:09.900 and values That can certainly be it conflict 00:21:09.900 --> 00:21:12.720 with With Christian values. For sure, for sure, 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:17.180 yeah. What about challenges? Are there any ways 00:21:17.180 --> 00:21:21.099 that your work creates challenges in your life? 00:21:21.420 --> 00:21:23.380 And does it create challenges for your faith 00:21:23.380 --> 00:21:31.680 specifically? I mean, work in general takes up 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:35.579 a huge chunk of our lives, right? So it's, you 00:21:35.579 --> 00:21:37.960 know, sometimes it's maintaining that balance, 00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:40.609 right? The classic work life. balance, right? 00:21:40.609 --> 00:21:43.650 So, are you giving too much of your life to your 00:21:43.650 --> 00:21:46.769 work and then not balancing it out with, you 00:21:46.769 --> 00:21:54.730 know, the other parts? Yeah, how does it, my 00:21:54.730 --> 00:21:57.710 profession challenge, or my work challenge, my 00:21:57.710 --> 00:22:02.349 faith, I was really challenged, I was really 00:22:02.349 --> 00:22:04.549 challenged by some of Rob's sermons on the the 00:22:04.549 --> 00:22:06.809 S -words, right? Well, forget about gluttony 00:22:06.809 --> 00:22:08.970 for a second, because that was, you know, but 00:22:08.970 --> 00:22:12.230 I'm in greed. So greed was a tough, you know, 00:22:12.230 --> 00:22:16.190 and I think as an accountant, I'm trained to, 00:22:16.190 --> 00:22:20.710 you know, mitigate risk and prepare for contingencies 00:22:20.710 --> 00:22:23.289 and to, you know, have the strong balance sheet, 00:22:23.289 --> 00:22:26.589 right? And all that kind of stuff, right? And 00:22:26.589 --> 00:22:29.809 I found, you know, myself thinking, okay, I'm 00:22:29.809 --> 00:22:31.630 not speaking for all accountants, but if I do 00:22:31.630 --> 00:22:34.930 that in my personal life, right? And, okay, I'm 00:22:34.930 --> 00:22:37.630 an accountant. I can manage my financial, you 00:22:37.630 --> 00:22:39.630 know, well -being. I don't need anyone else to 00:22:39.630 --> 00:22:43.890 take care of me. I can mitigate risk. Then I'm 00:22:43.890 --> 00:22:47.170 not trusting God for anything, right? You know, 00:22:47.170 --> 00:22:51.069 and that was the subtlety, I think, of the... 00:22:51.069 --> 00:22:54.730 That was really the subtlety that Rob spoke about, 00:22:54.730 --> 00:23:01.650 you know, in that series of, you know, am I... 00:23:02.519 --> 00:23:05.920 If I left room for God in my, you know, in my, 00:23:06.279 --> 00:23:09.000 and again, as an accountant, I feel like, okay, 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:11.700 I can manage this. I can do it, right? I know 00:23:11.700 --> 00:23:15.079 how to handle my finances, but that's not trusting 00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:17.180 God with a portion of it. So that's a challenge 00:23:17.180 --> 00:23:20.200 for me. That was a big challenge for me, actually. 00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:31.200 Yeah, over to you, JP. For me, Yeah, I guess 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:34.140 two things. First of all, being a forensic accountant 00:23:34.140 --> 00:23:38.099 and also having my own practice just amplifies 00:23:38.099 --> 00:23:44.819 the time pressures. As a forensic accountant, 00:23:46.059 --> 00:23:48.539 because the assignments are all one -offs, so 00:23:48.539 --> 00:23:53.700 there's absolutely zero predictability to when 00:23:53.700 --> 00:23:57.799 an assignment is going to come in. how big it's 00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:01.420 going to be, and therefore the resources that 00:24:01.420 --> 00:24:05.099 will need to be wrapped around it, the urgency 00:24:05.099 --> 00:24:08.799 of it. Sometimes you get a call and say, OK, 00:24:08.980 --> 00:24:11.880 we need you to be somewhere in basically two 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:15.440 hours in a boardroom downtown because things 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:19.039 are happening tonight. Right. And the bell rings. 00:24:21.019 --> 00:24:25.740 So yeah, so it can be just tough to manage at 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:31.019 times and avoid working the crazy hours. But 00:24:31.019 --> 00:24:34.380 that's just sort of part of the gig, I'll call 00:24:34.380 --> 00:24:36.980 it. And I've been fortunate that it's been able 00:24:36.980 --> 00:24:42.380 to just strike a pretty healthy work -life balance. 00:24:46.959 --> 00:24:51.039 It's so are there ways that you think your faith 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:54.720 or sorry that your work has impacted your face 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:58.400 So we talked about you know, how your faith impacts 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:00.339 the way that you do your job But are there ways 00:25:00.339 --> 00:25:03.720 that you think your job and the doing of that 00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:07.619 has taught you things About God or has shaped 00:25:07.619 --> 00:25:14.000 your faith in a particular way Yeah, do you want 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:19.079 to jump in JP? Want me to go first? Actually 00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:26.960 for me, it's not a tough one. So the question 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:32.359 is how has work affected my faith? Yeah, so as 00:25:32.359 --> 00:25:37.619 I look back over the course of my 30 plus year 00:25:37.619 --> 00:25:41.880 career and the last 20 years of my own practice, 00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:49.779 And I look back, I can, you know, I see unmistakably, 00:25:49.799 --> 00:25:54.819 you know, God's hand at work with just, you know, 00:25:55.019 --> 00:26:00.519 guiding me and things that happened, but also 00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:03.640 didn't happen. And at the time not understanding 00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:06.819 why, and it's not really what I had in mind, 00:26:06.819 --> 00:26:10.119 but now in the proverbial fullness of time going, 00:26:10.259 --> 00:26:15.599 hmm, okay. And just, you know, in God's provision. 00:26:16.779 --> 00:26:20.700 I think back when I launched my practice, starting 00:26:20.700 --> 00:26:26.940 from nothing, and just everything fell into place. 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:34.279 Office space, check. Staff, check. IT, marketing 00:26:34.279 --> 00:26:36.319 support, website design, check, check, check. 00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:39.880 Okay. Well, the other thing, clients? Yeah, yeah, 00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:44.130 yeah. They showed up. Yeah. So just, uh, yeah, 00:26:44.170 --> 00:26:49.690 just seeing, um, God's provision, um, and, uh, 00:26:49.690 --> 00:26:53.069 uh, it's just, yeah, I'm a single to me, just 00:26:53.069 --> 00:26:57.630 God's involvement, um, and, uh, his faithfulness. 00:26:57.630 --> 00:27:01.529 So I just serve to, you know, I guess, reinforce 00:27:01.529 --> 00:27:06.150 my faith and just to make it what's the word, 00:27:06.150 --> 00:27:10.410 you know, real. Like, it's just not, you know, 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:14.200 Yeah, God is doing things in your life today. 00:27:14.619 --> 00:27:18.200 Right. And just look back in amazement, just 00:27:18.200 --> 00:27:20.660 again, things that happened, people that were 00:27:20.660 --> 00:27:22.859 brought into my life, sometimes for a very short 00:27:22.859 --> 00:27:26.759 season to help me with one thing, others, you 00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:30.799 know, for a longer period. But just, you know, 00:27:30.859 --> 00:27:33.500 the people I needed at the right time. Yeah. 00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:37.119 Yeah. And to remember that, like, God cares about 00:27:38.289 --> 00:27:40.829 those details of our lives too, right? It's not 00:27:40.829 --> 00:27:42.690 just the spiritual stuff. It's the practical, 00:27:42.809 --> 00:27:45.750 like right now. Yes. Excellent point. Yeah. God's 00:27:45.750 --> 00:27:49.609 really involved, not just is aware, but cares. 00:27:49.670 --> 00:27:55.289 Yeah. And to be with you each step of the way. 00:27:56.490 --> 00:28:00.690 And just is, yeah, His goodness, His love, and 00:28:00.690 --> 00:28:02.390 that's, you know, prayers are not only heard, 00:28:02.430 --> 00:28:05.809 but answered. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, 00:28:05.849 --> 00:28:09.220 I Guess I'll you know again back to my point 00:28:09.220 --> 00:28:12.859 being grateful and gratitude for for my employment, 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:18.160 right? So same idea like yeah, it's You know, 00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:21.720 I've been blessed and and I want to carry that 00:28:21.720 --> 00:28:24.660 attitude and you know, sometimes I think oh, 00:28:24.660 --> 00:28:29.599 you know You know, could I be doing you know, 00:28:29.619 --> 00:28:32.769 should I be? You know working in a corporate 00:28:32.769 --> 00:28:35.210 big company is that so it's not where God needs 00:28:35.210 --> 00:28:37.569 me to be right? Oh wants me to be but then I 00:28:37.569 --> 00:28:41.609 think yeah that people here, you know You can 00:28:41.609 --> 00:28:45.630 be You know again your authentic self you're 00:28:45.630 --> 00:28:48.930 you know a Christian in a in any place that God 00:28:48.930 --> 00:28:50.710 puts you and you're working I'm working with 00:28:50.710 --> 00:28:55.029 people and I'm you know same as you know, I would 00:28:55.029 --> 00:29:01.180 anywhere and Yes, I mean that's you know sort 00:29:01.180 --> 00:29:06.200 of jumping off JP's comments there. And other 00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:13.079 ways, I was thinking how has, again, even the 00:29:13.079 --> 00:29:16.099 organizations I'm a part of, so any charitable 00:29:16.099 --> 00:29:23.220 organizations, I'm always moved and continue 00:29:23.220 --> 00:29:28.049 to be sensitized to... People less fortunate 00:29:28.049 --> 00:29:30.349 and things like that and and working for a big 00:29:30.349 --> 00:29:33.269 grocery. It's been tough at the big grocery retailers 00:29:33.269 --> 00:29:36.329 for the last, you know You know, there's been 00:29:36.329 --> 00:29:38.289 a lot of negative press and that sort of thing 00:29:38.289 --> 00:29:41.049 and I followed it very closely and it's it's 00:29:41.049 --> 00:29:42.990 Caused me to think about a lot of things But 00:29:42.990 --> 00:29:45.869 I mean people not being able to afford their 00:29:45.869 --> 00:29:50.109 their groceries is a real thing and you know, 00:29:50.130 --> 00:29:53.609 so I have to reflect on my role at one of these 00:29:53.609 --> 00:29:57.519 big companies and say Is this something we can 00:29:57.519 --> 00:29:59.420 do something about? Is this something we should 00:29:59.420 --> 00:30:03.519 do? How do we? I'm not going to go too down that 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:07.119 rabbit hole because there's a lot of stuff in 00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:12.299 the media that's nonsense. But anyways, still 00:30:12.299 --> 00:30:17.700 it touches me that people can't afford to buy 00:30:17.700 --> 00:30:21.900 food, right? So anyways, that's just very specific 00:30:21.900 --> 00:30:27.150 to things in my own organization and again any 00:30:27.150 --> 00:30:29.250 charitable organizations I've been a part of 00:30:29.250 --> 00:30:31.569 that if I'm not necessarily as an accountant 00:30:31.569 --> 00:30:34.349 but I do think about you know these kind of things 00:30:34.349 --> 00:30:39.309 from the financial lens and yeah yeah yeah yeah 00:30:39.309 --> 00:30:43.809 for sure I think like in my own life I've been 00:30:43.809 --> 00:30:46.150 fortunate I guess is the right word that most 00:30:46.150 --> 00:30:49.970 of my jobs have been in ministry settings for 00:30:49.970 --> 00:30:52.769 churches or other sort of faith -based organizations 00:30:53.980 --> 00:30:56.579 And so in that way, like, my faith is always 00:30:56.579 --> 00:30:59.660 very explicitly sort of part of my job. But when 00:30:59.660 --> 00:31:03.619 I think about the, yeah, forensic accounting, 00:31:03.900 --> 00:31:05.819 not that I think about that too often, but, you 00:31:05.819 --> 00:31:09.299 know, in those worlds or in grocery chains or 00:31:09.299 --> 00:31:12.619 whatever it is, like, if there were no Christians 00:31:12.619 --> 00:31:15.500 in those spaces, right? Like, how different would 00:31:15.500 --> 00:31:19.670 they be? Right, and and maybe it doesn't make 00:31:19.670 --> 00:31:22.049 it. Maybe you can't fix corporate culture Maybe 00:31:22.049 --> 00:31:25.250 you can't fix the big high -level policies, but 00:31:25.250 --> 00:31:29.190 you're impacting the culture of the office space 00:31:29.190 --> 00:31:31.990 in which you work right and you're creating a 00:31:31.990 --> 00:31:35.569 space there where Something can happen. God can 00:31:35.569 --> 00:31:39.170 move in that space by by your presence Yeah, 00:31:39.210 --> 00:31:41.890 even if it's not, you know this big massive shit. 00:31:41.890 --> 00:31:44.849 Yeah. No, I appreciate that. Yeah, and no, I 00:31:44.849 --> 00:31:47.589 yeah culture is That's a good way of putting 00:31:47.589 --> 00:31:51.230 it for sure, right? Well, I think people in the 00:31:51.230 --> 00:31:57.250 workplace, they noticed how you conduct yourself. 00:31:59.930 --> 00:32:04.750 And they notice when you do the right thing, 00:32:04.750 --> 00:32:13.069 even though it's not going to be rewarded or 00:32:13.069 --> 00:32:17.569 applauded. But I think, yeah, people see that, 00:32:17.569 --> 00:32:20.589 hmm, and it resonates with them. And it's just, 00:32:20.630 --> 00:32:23.029 it's a different, you know, they see it, you 00:32:23.029 --> 00:32:25.869 know, okay, you think differently, you're acting 00:32:25.869 --> 00:32:29.130 differently, you handle that differently. And 00:32:29.130 --> 00:32:31.849 so that's, yeah, I think our impact in the world. 00:32:32.130 --> 00:32:35.349 Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. Thank you 00:32:35.349 --> 00:32:38.289 both for sitting down and having this conversation. 00:32:38.349 --> 00:32:40.869 I think it's been really helpful to get your 00:32:40.869 --> 00:32:43.759 perspective on things and when you were both 00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:45.980 talking about, you know, why you went into accounting, 00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:48.099 you talked about, you know, being a number sort 00:32:48.099 --> 00:32:51.799 of person. And I appreciate that God has created 00:32:51.799 --> 00:32:54.759 number sort of people in the world to handle 00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:57.039 those things so that I don't have to be a number 00:32:57.039 --> 00:32:59.119 sort of person. It's not everybody's thing, that's 00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:02.559 for sure. No, but it's so good. Yeah, so thank 00:33:02.559 --> 00:33:04.500 you both for this conversation. Oh, you're welcome. 00:33:04.619 --> 00:33:07.660 Thanks for inviting us. It's been great. And 00:33:07.660 --> 00:33:09.819 thank you for tuning in to this week's episode 00:33:09.819 --> 00:33:12.680 of Trinity Talks. I hope that however God has 00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:14.339 shaped you, whether you are a numbers person 00:33:14.339 --> 00:33:17.920 or not, that you are able to find God's calling 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:21.059 in the work that you are doing. And we'll see 00:33:21.059 --> 00:33:21.859 you again next week.