On July 1, Carleton alumnus Don Timmins became worldwide chairman of BKR International, an international association of accounting firms.
Timmins, a bachelor of commerce graduate from the class of ‘79 and a partner at Ottawa firm Welch LLP, was elected by members of BKR’s three boards and now holds the highest position in the association, according to BKR’s executive director, Maureen Schwartz.
“It’s obviously a great honour,” said Timmins. “I hope to be able to continue the growth of the membership and the strengthening of the organization. I look forward to those challenges.”
BKR International is an association that helps member accounting firms share resources, such as training and business practices, he said. Member firms also get local connections all around the world.
“[Welch] has clients that are starting to do, or have been doing, global business. We have contracts for audits in different areas of the world,” he said. “When we went to do some audit work in Mozambique, it was quite handy to have a South African affiliate . . . because obviously they had a better understanding of Africa than we did.”
Timmins added he will be responsible for watching over the association’s member accounting firms, keeping up the group’s standards of membership, adding new firms from different areas of the world, and giving support services to member firms.
He was asked to chair the international board over a year ago, he said, and his term should run for two years.