Clarkson Gordon & Co


Clarkson Gordon was a national Canadian accounting and receivership business founded in Toronto, Upper Canada in 1864. It was known as an elite finishing school for Canadian business elite, and its managing partners are directly attributed for developing key bankruptcy and insolvency reform in Canada as well as innovations in receivership and development of receivership rules through legal challenges. At its peak, Clarkson Gordon provided auditing to all five of Canada's largest banks. Clarkson Gordon was headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada until 1989 when it merged with Ernst & Young following the merger of Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young & Co, creating the largest accounting firm in the world. At the time of its merger with Ernst & Young, Clarkson Gordon was the second largest firm within the EY Network, Clarkson Gordon then rebranded as EY Canada.

History

Clarkson Gordon was founded by the Clarkson family in 1864 by Edward Roper Curzon Clarkson as Clarkson & Munro since E.R.C was not yet 21 and too young to run his fathers receivership business. E.R.C. was a founding member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, serving as the CICA's first president and a prominent member and president of the Toronto Board of Trade, an organisation which his father, Thomas Clarkson helped found and himself served as president through the 1850s.
E.R.C's son, Geoffrey Teignmouth Clarkson took over the management of the firm following his qualification as an accountant at 15 in early 1893. G.T. was noted for being particularly private but politically savvy, having been offered the Minister of Finance position under Arthur Meighen. He also served on the board of governors for the University of Toronto & Upper Canada College.