Collins Barrow chairman Lionel Goldman said the association has been seeking a Toronto firm for six months since previous member Mintz & Partners joined Deloitte earlier this year. “DMCT emerged as the strongest candidate among the many we met and were interested in representing us in Toronto,” he said.

DMCT senior partner Harry Blum noted the firm preferred to join an association rather than a network in order to retain its independence and autonomy.

Blum said: “What we were planning was taking our existing national and international affiliation and converting it to a model that mirrored Collins Barrow’s approach. When we met with Collins Barrow we observed that, for the most part, they had already built the platform and it aligned perfectly with our needs.”

According to the International Accounting Bulletin, Collins Barrow is the eighth largest accounting organisation with fee income of about C$105.5 million in the year ending December 2007. It also had 468 professional staff across 37 offices and is a partner of Praxity, the eighth largest global accountancy organisation.

Collins Barrow now has representation in Canada’s six most populous provinces. The network is in “serious discussions” with a firm in Saskatchewa, the next largest province without representation. In addition, Collins Barrow is in the process of launching a recruiting initiative in Quebec City.

Arvind Hickman