Mohawk College has been the alma mater of many distinguished graduates. One of the perhaps lesser-known ones is the highly successful Joseph Truscott, a graduate of the Marketing and Accounting program. 

“The accounting program was a major advantage to me because I was allowed to enter Toronto Metropolitan [University] directly into fourth year, with an exemption for the first three years,” said Truscott, a Chartered Professional Accountant who is the sole practitioner at the firm that bears his name. 

“My education at Mohawk really helped prepare me.” 

A chartered accountant is a professional designation, of which there are three available in Canada. 

“As a Chartered Accountant you are allowed to practice publicly which means that you can have your own clients or look after people in business and industries” said Truscott. “I am also a CMA [Certified Management Accountant].” 

“I decided to go the Chartered Accounting route because I thought at that time, and I still believe, it’s the premier profession of the three.” 

Many students struggle in college when deciding what they want to do with their future, but that wasn’t the case for Truscott. 

“I was fortunate enough that when I attended Mohawk College there was an instructor named Jack Brown. He was very instrumental in assisting me with my decision.” 

Truscott says the entertaining aspects of Brown’s classes were what drove him to succeed. He describes Brown as a comedian who had a wide array of ties to wear and jokes to tell and points to this as a key aspect behind his success in the accounting field. 

“It was always an inspiration to go to his class; I looked forward to talking to him and meeting with him.”  

“Jokes kind of open the door for something that could’ve been closed. Jack added a different flair because of his personality that attracted me toward accounting.” 

Truscott doesn’t get to use humour as much as he’d like these days; he’s too busy running his firm, but he’ll never forget Jack Brown and the education he received. 

By Joshua J. Cooper

This story was originally published in Spring 2014 in the Mohawk Alumni In Touch magazine.