Meet Jennifer Steckly | CPA, CA, Partner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jennifer Steckly and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer, what principle do you value most?

Honesty, Integrity and Transparency. These form part of our core values at Colby Steckly CPAs and we apply them with everything we do internally as well as externally. Even when it is hard, and a tough conversation has to had, on the other side of that conversation there is always a reward.  An improved relationship with a team member, better understanding of a vendors process, trust reinforced or loyalty increased with a client.

These values also apply on the positive side. It is important to honestly share positive feedback and wins with our team, our vendors and our clients. Sometimes in the thick of our day to day operations, as business owners, we can forget to do this. Making sure that we take a beat and honestly appreciate our team, our vendors and our clients, is important and always very rewarding.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We are small business CPAs and what sets our firm comes down to another core value that we hold, collaboration and teamwork. Again we apply this both internally and externally. This has fostered a team approach internally that allows to provide top quality output and great turnaround times. Applied externally this value has also fostered and maintained a client centric approach to everything we do. We see ourselves as part our clients financial support team. We make sure that we are there when they need us, we are available to them for questions and we reach out to collaborate on improvements they may want to implement in their businesses.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I actually get to be a tour guide every once in a while as  my sister in law lives in Ottawa, when she visits we like to show her the best of our city. I would definitely go for a walk in the river valley specifically the Terwillegar dog park. The Terwillegar park is my happy place and it really has some great trails that show off the beauty of Edmonton in all seasons. The food scene here is so great it is so hard for me to choose a favorite local watering hole. I recently tried was Bodega by Sabour and it was fantastic! Great concept, fantastic food and a lively atmosphere. We also have such great venues for live entertainment in Edmonton so when I have the opportunity I like to go to a concert or the theatre.  You can’t really talk about Edmonton without talking about our festival scene. So depending on what season we are in anyone visiting Edmonton should take in whatever festivals are happening.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

I think for me there are two main people that fostered  in me the skills I needed to create the success that our firm has experienced so far. The first is my mom, Barb Steckly. She is also an entrepreneur and works harder than anyone I know. I definitely learned from her hard work, creativity and resiliency. Whenever things get hard, I still go back to her go to encouragement “anyone can do anything if it’s not forever”. This always gets me through the tough moments that come with being a business owner, and the tough moments that come to all accountants during busy season, neither of which last forever. Every business has seasons and goes through challenges and experiences wins, that phrase reminds me that the hard parts are just a short season before the wins start rolling in.

The second group of people who were great mentors to me early in my career are the partners at the firm where I articled, three partners in particular. The first was great at business development and I learned from him the value being client centric in everything you do. The second was the partner that I learned audit from, as he wished my business partner and I well in our new firm, said something that I repeat to all of my students regularly, “always do the right thing, even when no one is watching”. The third partner was a tax wizard and really taught me how to see the big picture of a person’s finances, business and personal together, he also taught me that bigger is not always better, both in terms of client base and in terms of the actual client. It’s about fit, not size.

Website: https://www.colbysteckly.ca/

Instagram: colby.steckly

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-steckly-cpa-ca-04852643/?originalSubdomain=ca

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colbystecklyaccountants/