Jennie’s focus on client relationships allows her to provide sound advice to clients. Get to know…

Jennie Riddell, CPA, CA

Although it is not always evident from the state of her desk, Jennie is super organized. Her strong problem solving and organizational skills and her focus on client relationships allow her to provide sound advice to clients and her co-workers at RLB. Her responsiveness keeps clients and co-workers coming back for her advice and guidance. These skills, along with the strong support system she has built at work and at home, have allowed Jennie continued success in her career.

Jennie grew up in Stratford, Ontario and was exposed to accounting throughout her childhood as her dad is a CMA, and her best friend’s dad was a CA. To see if accounting was for her, Jennie completed a high school co-op term in the accounting department of a plumbing company. Even with this exposure and Jennie’s strength in math and problem solving, she was not yet sold on a career in accounting.

Jennie decided to enrol in the general business program at Wilfrid Laurier University where she would be able to gain business knowledge, but not have to choose a specific career path right out of high school. For her co-op terms at Laurier, Jennie started to gain more exposure to accounting. Her first two terms were at a small public accounting firm in Woodstock. These terms provided Jennie with a great foundation in all types of public accounting work from bookkeeping to corporate year-ends, audits and tax returns. Although Jennie enjoyed her time there, she did not enjoy the drive to Woodstock each day, especially in the winters.  She hoped to find a co-op placement that would be able to provide exam preparation support for the Chartered Accounting (CA) exams. For her third and final co-op term, Jennie obtained a placement in Nunavut as she thought it would be interesting to try something new. However, after thinking about the lack of sunlight and extreme cold, Jennie decided it would be better to stay closer to home. Instead, Jennie was hired at RLB where she gained more exposure to a wide-range of public accounting work. Jennie enjoyed getting to solve problems and interact with a variety of clients, so she decided that she would like to continue her career in public accounting upon graduation from university.

After graduation, Jennie and her then boyfriend, Sean, were living in Waterloo. Sean found his dream job a few blocks from the RLB office in Guelph, so Jennie’s acceptance of a full-time position at RLB worked out perfectly and the couple decided to relocate to Guelph.  Jennie wrote her last CA exam in the fall of 2005. In December 2005, Jennie had a big day when she found out she passed her CA exams, and obtained her CA designation, and got engaged, all on the same day.

At RLB, Jennie is now a Partner with a focus on profit-oriented companies. Jennie is part of the Business Management Solutions group at RLB. As part of this group, Jennie does a variety of consulting projects for clients from controller duties to reviewing client processes and preparing calculations including cash flows to support earnings for bank financing. Jennie enjoys being able to help clients streamline their processes while still maintaining strong controls. These jobs also provide Jennie with challenging work and the ability to interact more with clients to gain a better perspective on the issues facing those companies. Jennie’s client base is varied with many manufacturing companies, as well as other profit-oriented companies and a few not-for-profit organizations.

Although the majority of Jennie’s time at RLB is client focused, she also finds time to for Women in Leadership Group with the goal of attracting, retaining, and engaging women leaders at the firm.

Jennie is the mom of three children, Madelyn (5), Benjamin (3) and Declan (1). The family and their dog, Buddy, enjoy spending time outside and vacationing at the cottage. Due to the age of the kids, Jennie and Sean are often chauffeuring Mady and Ben to their activities. Jennie also plays in a women’s soccer league in Guelph.

In the future, Jennie hopes to grow the consulting group at the firm and manage her own book of business at RLB while still focusing on spending time with her family. Jennie’s problem solving and organization skills will ensure she finds the balance she craves, while continuing to provide the best service possible to her clients.