Kris Witt is a trained nurse who has worked on the front lines of the health care system at Kootenay Lake Hospital. For the last 30 years, however, the Granite Road resident has helped people in a totally different way… at tax time.
Last week Kris Witt Accounting Company celebrated its 30th year in business at 1549 Granite Road. And though most people are surprised to know her more distant background, she says the worlds of health care and taxation is not as far apart as they may seem.
“To everybody it seems like quite a jump,” says Witt. “People consider nursing more of an art, but it’s a science. And accounting is not just math, it’s also an art because you need to be able to see that whole picture and think outside the box. And to really work with people and their money, you have to be sensitive.”
Born in Rivers, Manitoba in a little farmhouse with a midwife, Witt and her family travelled the country following her father’s career. Stops in her youth included St. Catharines, Don Mills, Calgary, North York and Coquitlam. In 1973 she graduated top of her class from BCIT as a registered nurse.
In 1974 Witt and her husband moved to the Nelson area to settle down. She nursed at KLH in pediatrics and medicine until 1977 when she had her first child. From there Witt worked part time for a year, but gradually moved away from the health care industry to focus on raising her two kids.
On their two-and-a-half acre property just west of Nelson, Witt got back to the land during the Harrowsmith era.
“If we couldn’t grow it, raise it or shoot it, we basically didn’t eat it,” she says.
Witt made all her own butter and bread, raised chickens and grew vegetables. Though raising kids and tending to the land kept her busy, her thirst for activity got her into doing the books for her husband’s business. That evolved into helping other relatives and friends.
“I discovered the thing I liked the most about working with all of those businesses was keeping the books,” she explains. “So that is when I started taking courses.”
Witt soon discovered her passion was for numbers.
“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle,” Witt says. “You’ve got all these pieces and you put them into a framework and then you get them organized to make sure that your picture is right at the end. And of course I love tax… and the whole concept is I don’t want anybody paying any more tax than they absolutely have to. I take it personally if people pay more than they should.”
She started her business from her kitchen and it grew over the years. Today she still works out of her home — though additions have made it less cramped — and during tax season splits duties between Granite Road and a room at the Best Western Baker Street Inn.
Witt is licensed by the Certified Management Accountants as a public accountant which means she is different than a Chartered Accountant.
“I’m kind of like the GP,” she explains in terms she’s comfortable with. “You go and see your family doctor, you can talk to your family doctor and cover a lot of ground. But if there is something more serious or more complicated then your doctor is going to refer you to a specialist. And I do the same.”
Currently, Witt files 470 personal tax returns a year and has 175 business clients. Her base is down considerably from a few years ago because of Witt’s commitment to her staff. Four tax seasons ago Witt’s assistant developed a “nasty” form of cancer. It was a difficult time and Witt stuck with her young employee.
“Rather than telling people I’m going to file stuff late because my assistant is sick, I just told people I can’t file on time and I really recommend that you go to a different accountant,” Witt says. “I told them that when you see my ads you will know things are back to normal and we will be happy to have you back. It’s all about the client. The same ethics, morals and approach I used as a registered nurse, I use as an accountant now.”
Things are back to normal now and her assistant has been back in the office for the last three tax seasons “doing wonderfully.” Though her business took a hit, Witt has no regrets for sticking by her assistant during a difficult period.
“She came to me straight out of college… she’s almost like my daughter,” says Witt. “She has been with me for the last 18 years.”
Now with 30 years behind her, the 56-year-old doesn’t hesitate when asked if there will be a 40th anniversary for Kris Witt Accounting Company.
“I keep it fresh because every client I have teaches me things. There are so many scenarios out there that every day can be different,” she says. “I love my job and I can’t imagine what I would do if I wasn’t doing this.”
Kris Witt Accounting can be reached at 250-352-9858.