Editor’s note: This week, we profile the six winners of the Lunenburg Queens Business Excellence Awards.
Paul Belliveau and Cy Mayo, partners at the accounting firm Belliveau Veinotte Inc., are still grappling with being a large business.
“We don’t think of ourselves as a large business,” said Mayo, who has been with the Bridgewater firm for over 30 years. “It’s humbling to think that it’s happened.”
The firm had recently been nominated for a small business award at the Lunenburg Queens Business Excellence Awards (LQBEA).
However, upon filling out the awards application, they discovered they were too big.
“They realized that because of our staff numbers, we’re technically a large business,” said Mayo with a laugh.
The firm then completed paperwork for the large business award, which they won at the LQBEA on Mar. 5.
Belliveau said he is amazed at how the firm has grown over the 42 years since he joined.
When he started, he said, Belliveau Veinotte Inc. employed a dozen people and had one office.
“We’ve grown to over 40 people in over six offices,” explained Belliveau. “On any given day, Cy or myself could be dealing with your grandmother in the morning and a multinational firm an hour later.”
He added that although the firm had grown, it has remained true its roots in Bridgewater, where their head office in located.
The firm also has offices in Halifax, Chester, Liverpool, Shelburne and Barrington.
“It’s community based,” said Mayo of the expansion, adding that the firm has grown along with the communities they serve.
Since opening over 40 years ago, the firm — which covers the gambit from taxes to business audits — has helped and grown with hundreds of businesses across the South Shore.
“Without any other small businesses, we can’t do what we do,” said Mayo.
When asked about their next steps, Belliveau said the firm hopes to remain independent.
“We want to grow our firm with the people we have,” he said.
“If not the largest, we are close to being the largest non-national accounting firm in the province.”
And both Belliveau and Mayo pointed to the firm’s slogan as proof of their vision for the future: “Big enough to meet your needs, small enough to know your name.”
