Taxes, accounting and chickens

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/06/2016 (3580 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You could say Rita Tully can count her chickens after they are hatched.

The chartered professional accountant, who’s also a certified general accountant, runs her business, Rita Tully CPA CGA, from her home located in the north Lido Plage area in the RM of Cartier. A chicken coop houses “the Ladies,” a small flock which provides Tully and her family with fresh eggs.

No need for a doorbell with Lucy, Tully’s small but lively dog, on duty as well.

This informal atmosphere belies the more serious nature of Tully’s business. She and her seven employees offer personal and corporate income tax service, bookkeeping and estate planning to individuals and companies across Canada. Thanks to her decision made years ago to help a friend who ran a direct sales business, and Tully’s own past experience selling Avon products, she provides accounting services for direct sellers, large and small. Her clients range from people who are just earning a bit of extra income to some of the top direct sales companies in Canada.

“I remained focused on the direct sales industry,” she said.

The heart of her operation is a bright room with windows along two walls and an extra-large desk topped with four computer monitors. Tully recalls being able to work at her desk while keeping an eye on her four children playing in the yard. Although they are now all in their 20s, her children Marie, Ruth, James and Daniel still play roles in their mother’s business, helping with website design and technical support.

Tully also credits her husband Denis with keeping the family fed while she works long hours at tax time and talks to clients across Canada’s time zones.

The Tullys moved from Winnipeg to their riverside property in 1988. At that time, Rita was working for the City of Winnipeg. She remembers how her work there involved switching from a paper-based accounting system to computers.

“We were literally clearing off desks and putting monitors on them,” she said.

She has also run her own accounting business since 1986, and in 1997, she decided to leave her job with the city.

“I needed to be home with my children,” she said.

Tully was active in supporting the St. Francois Xavier Community School and St. Paul’s Collegiate in Elie during the years her children attended them. She reported on school and communities activities for The Headliner (then called The Headingley Headliner).

While she scheduled her working day into the time that her children were in school, Tully said both sets of grandparents helped with childcare when she attended conferences or gave presentations. She’s still committed to further education, stating on her website that she devotes 100 hours each year to educational activities.

She took the big step of hiring her first employee in 2000. At that time, she was working in what was once her sewing room, and her employee had a desk just off the family’s kitchen/dining room area.

After her family helped convert their attached garage into office space, most of Tully’s staff work in her house. They manage to process about 1,000 tax returns while usually working Mondays to Fridays with weekends off. Tully said having a proper work/life balance is a priority. Her employees, all of whom are women, are able to adjust their hours to accommodate family responsibilities.

Some of her older customers like bringing their tax receipts to her home each year, then meeting again to go over their completed forms, however Tully does the majority of her business online. New Revenue Canada changes are making more financial information available online and the need for paper copies of income forms, charitable receipts and other information is decreasing.

She has arranged for two Winnipeg UPS stores to provide secure drop-off service for her clients.
While her employees all have specific duties in processing income tax forms, Tully checks everything over before signing off on each form.

“Every one of my clients talks to me,” she said.

Tully loves being able to work from her rural home, but admits that there are challenges. One comes from Mother Nature, as the flood-prone Assiniboine River flows past her backyard. She said the family has been ready to evacuate at least once and has sandbagged their property and others when the river rises.

The other challenge comes from technology as Tully said cell service is spotty. “We must have land lines.”

She backs up all her files and has an offsite storage system in case of a network failure.

Tully believes in networking and sharing ideas. She belongs to the Manitoba Marketing Network, WBOM Women in Business, and local organizations including the Lido Plage North Property Owners Association.

For more information, see www.ritatullycpa.com

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