L. Denis Desautels, (born May 14, 1943) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

accountant, corporate director, and former

Auditor General of Canada The Auditor General of Canada is an officer of the Parliament of Canada to aid accountability and oversight by conducting independent financial audits of federal government operations. These audits provide members of parliament with objective e ...

Early life and education

Born in

Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the south bank of the Saint Lawrence River just east of Montreal. It lies on the west flank of Mont Saint-Bruno, one of the Monteregian Hills. The ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Desautels received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

Desautels Faculty of Management The Desautels Faculty of Management is a faculty of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The faculty offers a range of undergraduate and graduate-level business programs, including the Bachelor of Commerce, Master of Business Adminis ...

in 1964 and became a Chartered Accountant in 1966.

Career

In 1964, Desautels joined the Montreal accounting firm of Clarkson Gordon (now Caron Bélanger Ernst & Young). While working in the Ottawa office he participated in an exchange program with the office of the Auditor General. From April 1, 1991 until March 31, 2001 he was the Auditor General of Canada. He has served on the board of directors of CARE Canada, the Laurentian Bank of Canada, Groupe Jean Coutu (PJC) Inc., Bombardier Inc. and

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During t ...

Inc.

Honours

He was named a Fellow by the Order of Chartered Accountants of Quebec in 1986 and a Fellow by the

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

in 1991. He has received honorary doctorates from the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

and from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

. In 2001, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

in recognition of "a distinguished career in the private sector" and for having "served his country with dedication and integrity as Auditor General of Canada".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desautels, Denis 1943 births Living people Canadian accountants 20th-century Canadian civil servants Canadian corporate directors McGill University Faculty of Management alumni Officers of the Order of Canada People from Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville Canadian auditors