The taxman rocks By Adam Pletsch Photography: Ruth Kaplan When Michael Veitch landed his biggest client in 1989, it was at a critical time for both parties. The Toronto-area CA was hoping to set up his own practice and the five Kingston, Ont., boys known as the Tragically Hip were on their way to becoming arguably one of Canada's best-loved rock bands. After 14 years as CA for the Hip, Veitch has seen the group's albums go platinum and its stadium shows sell out. But the 47-year-old is now an icon in his own right as the practitioner of choice for artists in the Canadian music industry. His current clients include folk songstress Sarah Harmer; Ian Thornley of rock band Big Wreck, whose songs have made Billboard's Top 10; and Kathleen Edwards, who was named one of this year's 10 artists to watch by Rolling Stone magazine. Veitch, a musician himself, started doing tax and accounting work for bands on a part-time basis in the late '80s while he had a full-time gig going with the Bank of Montreal. But in 1992, he formed M + M Veitch Chartered Accountants, successfully melding his true love of music with the practical pursuit of accounting. It's fulfilling work, says Veitch, but not anxiety-free. Since the life expectancy of a typical band is about five to eight years — less if personalities don't gel — his client base is always in flux. Another challenge is that most struggling musicians are more concerned with art than finances, so when money starts flowing in, he has to reshape their record-keeping habits. "First I teach them to be pack rats with their receipts then I try to get them to organize," he says, adding that some come to him four years behind in their filings. But as a guitarist who has been in bands most of his life (his current outfit is a Santana tribute band called Supernatural), Veitch can relate. And he acknowledges that musicians' intellectual pursuits are a quantum leap away from tax compliance. "It's like fitting the round peg into the square hole," he says.