Patricia Roberts has been teaching, coaching and mentoring in accounting, finance and business management for the past 10 years. She has taught entrepreneurs, professionals, senior government employees and clients of the Business Development Bank of Canada. Focussing largely on the critical aspects of business management, she has trained and mentored a diverse range of business and owners and managers in such topics as accounting, cash management, budgeting and finance.

After Patricia graduated from the B.C. Institute of Technology in Business Administration she worked with Merrill Lynch in Vancouver. In 1972, she moved to Victoria and worked in both the public and private sector while completing her Certified Management Accountant designation. With extensive internal and special investigative audit experience including director of Internal Audit, Ministry of Attorney General, she went on to complete her Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Fraud Examiner designations.

For more than two years now, Patricia’s work has been primarily in the interesting field of municipal government where she has filled the roles of treasurer, collector and deputy administrator. Her private sector experience includes managing all financial and administrative services for an internet-based firm, the largest of its kind in the world. She was a key player in business negotiations with international firms and in the set up of the financial and banking systems. As the director of Finance and Administration, B.C. Ministry of Regional and Economic Development, Patricia managed a staff of 120 and was responsible for the financial and administrative systems for five Ministries and eight Ministries of State.

Patricia’s experience includes managing her own public accounting and management consulting practice where she coached, trained and consulted to organizations in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. With her management accounting background she focuses on the importance of accounting and financial reporting for decision-making.

Patricia’s professional and community activities have included serving on the national Board of Directors of the Society of Management Accountants of Canada for two terms and for several years on the boards of both local professional and not-for-profit organizations.

After hours, Patricia enjoys spending time with her husband and pets and in developing her skill at photography. She loves to collect antiquarian books, delights in the wonderful road-side stands of farm produce and enjoys beautiful sunsets and walks by the ocean.