The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The name has been shortened but the attention to detail remains sharp as a renowned Northern Manitoba accounting firm celebrates its silver anniversary. Kendall and Pandya Chartered Accountants, formerly Kendall Wall Pandya, has been serving clients for the past 25 years. "I'm grateful, certainly, to be able to be in the community that long and feel we're making a difference and providing a good service," says Dave Kendall, the firm's Flin Flon-based partner. The firm began in Flin Flon as Kendall and Vancoughnett in January 1984. Bill Vancoughnett had been looking for a new partner to replace Scott Merrell, who left to accept a position at HBMS. The man for the job was Kendall, a University of Saskatchewan graduate with a zeal for numbers. He moved to Flin Flon fresh off a seven-year stint with a firm in his home city of Saskatoon. Located on Main St. above what was then Preston Jewellers and is now The Cash Store, Kendall and Vancoughnett thrived but never lost sight of the potential for growth. In 1986, with no full-time chartered accountant in Thompson, Vancoughnett moved to Manitoba's third-largest city to expand the firm. Kendall remained in Flin Flon and in 1989 teamed up with a new Thompson-based partner, Bob Wall, forming Kendall and Wall. Manisha Pandya, also of Thompson, became the firm's first female partner in 1995, adding a third name to the letterhead. Wishing to be on ground level rather than atop a flight of stairs, the Flin Flon end of the operation moved to the lower level of the Co-op in 2007. With Wall putting away his adding machine and retiring, the firm became Kendall and Pandya effective January 1, 2009, with all services remaining the same. Over the past quarter-century, the firm has built up a sterling reputation in both Flin Flon and Thompson, fostering a staunch loyalty among clients. Kendall says about half of the Flin Flon area clients have stayed with the firm for the entire 25 years. Now into his 33rd year of accounting, the occupation still very much hold Kendall's interest, though there is that one rough patch every year. "It's certainly long hours, long days, at tax time right through to the end of April or the middle of May, and at some point there it gives you pause to wonder if you're in the right business," he says lightheartedly. "But certainly it's the work itself that is rewarding," he adds.
