capability
Skeete, Best & Co. is a partnership that was registered under the Business Names Rules on November 14, 2001. The partnership has approximately 175 clients which are mainly small and medium-sized entities. Some of our clients are engaged in a variety of local industries such as manufacturing, retail and wholesale, agriculture, farming, hotel & hospitality, education, printing, construction, printing, and not-for-profit.
We also provide services to Companies operating in the International Business and Financial Services sector.
Meet The Partners
Douglas Skeete, FCCA, FCA
Douglas was a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the United Kingdom and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados. Douglas joined Pannell Fitzpatrick & Co. (now Ernst & Young) in 1970 and spent 26½ years with the firm. He was made a partner of Ernst & Young in 1990 until 1998 when he left the partnership to start his own consulting practice.
Whilst at Ernst & Young, he co-managed the audit department, which had a staff of approximately 40 professionals providing accounting, auditing, taxation and business advice to over 400 companies in the local and international business and financial services sectors.
Douglas was previously the Chairman of the Barbados Water Authority (1994-1997), the Deputy Chairman of the National Housing Corporation (1997-1999), a board member of Needham’s Point Development Limited and Needham’s Point Holdings Inc. (2000-2003), and a director of Rayside Construction Limited (2001-2003).
He was Chairman of the Barbados Investment & Development Corporation (“BIDC”) and the Barbados Institute of Management & Productivity (“BIMAP”)
from July 01, 2004 to May 05, 2006, Chairman of the Barbados International Business Promotion Corporation (now Invest Barbados) from February 2006 to May 2006 and Chairman of the National Housing Corporation (2018- 2020).
Winston M. Best, FCGA, FCA
Winston is a Fellow of the Association of Certified General Accountants of Canada as well as, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados.
Winston was a manager in the Insolvency Service Department of Price Waterhouse, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, from 1990 to 1994 when he left to join IDM Direct Marketing Corp., an offshore company as a financial controller. In June 1996, Winston left IDM Direct Marketing Corp. to start his own consulting practice providing a range of services including auditing, accounting, personal and corporate tax, corporate secretarial, financial accounting, insolvency, general and personal administration and general management.
Prior to joining Price Waterhouse, Winston served as a director and secretary of Courts (Barbados) Limited from 1978 to 1990 and acted as Managing Director on several occasions during the absence of the substantive holder of that position. Winston is 1 of a 100 CGA’s worldwide who was honoured for outstanding service by the Association of Certified General Accountants to mark its 100th anniversary.
Damien M.P.D. Skeete, B.Sc., FCCA, CA
Damien is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the United Kingdom and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB). In March 2017, Damien joined the partnership of Skeete, Best & Co. Chartered Accountants, as a Junior Partner, and has specific responsibility for People and People Development. He is committed to providing excellent service across the spectrum of assurance services this company provides.
Damien previously spent 10 years at KPMG Barbados, a global professional services firm. In his previous role as a Senior Accountant, he worked in auditing and offered assistance to both the tax and financial advisory divisions. He was also a member of the firm’s Technical committee and Corporate Social Responsibility team. At KPMG, Damien supervised a diverse portfolio of clients including those in the hotel industry, offshore sector (specifically reinsurance companies), public sector entities, manufacturing and retail corporations, special projects (ex. assurance services-USAID) and non-profit organisations.
Damien has been the ACCA International Assembly representative for Barbados since 2018, and was appointed to ICAB’s Council for the first time in 2019. Damien is currently the Chair of ICAB’s FutureTec committee and sits on ICAB’s Communications Committee. Damien is also Member Advocate in Barbados’ newly launched local ACCA Chapter and was awarded the prestigious ACCA Advocate of the Year 2019 award. Damien has recently been appointed as a member of ACCA’s SME Global forum.
Other Professional Staff
There are approximately ten (10) qualified accountants who assist us on a regular basis if we are unable to complete assignments utilising our staff.
We have a staff complement of four (4)persons as follows: –
· One (1) CGA-CPA qualified Senior Accountant
· One (1) Intermediate Accountant (Professional Level of ACCA)
· One (1) Assistant Accountant (pursuing the ACCA qualification)
· One (1) Administrative Secretary