In July of 1899 a ten year old boy lost his father. As a result, he had to quit school to take on a number of paper routes to help support the family. One of the routes brought him downtown Ottawa to deliver to the local businesses and offices. One of the boy’s customers, on this downtown route, was a Chartered Accountant.
Surprised to see the young man not at school or playing with his friends, this accountant inquired about the circumstances. After the young boy explained his situation, the Accountant offered the boy an increased wage to give up one of his paper routes and help him with the hand delivery of important financial documents; an offer to which the boy eagerly agreed.
As time went on, the Accountant encouraged the boy (now a young man) to take correspondence courses and complete his education. In fact, he suggested he consider correspondence courses specifically in accounting. He took this helpful advice and did just that.
The Accountant told the young man that, should he be successful in completing his accounting correspondence courses and go on to earn his Chartered Accountant designation, he would make him a partner in his firm. This is exactly what the young man did, and following the completion of his schooling, the Accountant named him a partner at the firm.
In 1918, the two men agreed to go their separate ways, the older gentlemen wanting to pursue his insurance business and the young CA eager to start his own firm. It was in that same year that the young man, Mr. George Andrew Welch, founded Welch & Company.
We are very grateful for and amazed at George Andrew Welch’s strength and determination. Welch LLP now employs over 300 individuals and is celebrating 100 years in business in 2018. (By the way, the mentor was Ernest A Larmouth. Everyone at Welch certainly owes him a debt of gratitude for taking a chance on George in the first place).
