By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban News
http://www.thesuburbannews.ca/content/en/16914
Collins Barrow, the Montreal chartered accounting firm, marked its 75th anniversary of practice in Montreal last week by giving back to the community, holding a golf tournament at the fabulous Le Diamant Golf Club which raised at least $16,000 for the Welcome Hall Mission.
Lionel Goldman, a partner with the firm, said Collins Barrow has been working closely with the Welcome Hall Mission for several years.
"It's an agency that we really connect with and our people have been volunteering there at Christmas time, handing out baskets," Goldman said.
"It's a public service that's not limited to any particular ethnic or religious group, it's there for everybody. We wanted to do a little bit of giving back, besides just celebrating our milestone, and it has turned out very well."
Collins Barrow, formerly SNG Collins Barrow, has had a long and distinguished history. Goldman pointed out that the company was founded in 1936 by Maurice Sorkin, who graduated from McGill University that same year. Jack Richer then joined in the late 1940s, and the firm became Sorkin & Richer and then Schlesinger Newman Goldman (SNG).
"Together, they built a fine practice.... Over the years, the firm developed a niche area in serving families, expertise in real estate, and always understanding the needs of well-to-do clients, tax-related, family and estate planning-related, and we've just grown over the years," Goldman explained. "Now, we have a multi-dimensional practice.
"About 10 years ago, we joined the Collins Barrow organization, which is a national network of accounting firms - the eighth largest organization in the country - and through that, we joined an international organization called Collins Barrow, which is the eighth largest accounting organization in the world. This enables us to serve our client's needs beyond the borders of Montreal or the province of Quebec. As our clients diversify and their interests go national and multi-national, we need to make sure we are prepared to meet their needs by having this worldwide organization at our disposal.
"Today, we're 11 partners and 65 people, and nicely positioned in the marketplace in Montreal."
Collins Barrow partner Jeffrey Greenberg said the golf tournament was a great success, "and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves supremely."
Luigi Pugliese, representing the Welcome Hall Mission, was very appreciative of Collins Barrow's efforts on his organization's behalf.
"We're quite impressed, and we've been doing business with them for more than 10 years," Pugliese said. "They're our auditors and it's an honour for us to be the beneficiary of this event. This is very generous of them, and they have volunteered at many of our events. We have a good partnership."