Get to know Brent Wolfe, Partner

Brent Wolfe, CPA, is a Partner with MNP’s Assurance and Accounting Services team in Vancouver. Focusing on public companies, Brent provides tailored audit and business advice on a broad range of issues, helping clients optimize their businesses today and into the future.

Brent works with companies in the technology, cannabis, agriculture, food and beverage, and manufacturing sectors as well as with cooperatives. He has also worked with credit unions and other financial institutions, insurance companies, not-for-profit, and charitable organizations.

Why did you become an accountant?

Growing up, I spent most of my time at the hockey rink, playing competitively right up until starting my career in public accounting. Sports was and continues to be a big part of my life and it has caused me to appreciate and taught me the importance and value of teamwork.

When I was beginning to look at potential career options, I knew I wanted something that would allow me to continue working in a team-based environment and challenge me in the way my hockey career had. I had considered a couple of options, but ultimately a neighbour of mine growing up who ran his own accounting firm convinced me that accounting was the way to go for someone with my skill set and personality. I decided to give it a shot and have never looked back.

I joined MNP’s Vancouver office just a couple years ago after having spent my entire career up until that point at another firm in my hometown of Winnipeg. Although it was hard to leave friends and family (and the Winnipeg Jets) behind, the pull and excitement of the growth and opportunity at MNP out here in our Vancouver office was too enticing to pass up. It has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

What advice would you give someone starting out in their career?

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

One of the things I’ve learned in my career is that we’re all human – everybody makes mistakes and we all have our own unique struggles that we need help with and strengths that should be celebrated. Nobody needs to be perfect.

Sure, there are times for seriousness and professionalism, but if you don’t make time to goof around a little bit and have some fun along the way, I don’t think you’ll be as fulfilled in your career as you’d like.

What is your role at MNP?

I’m a Partner in our assurance practice, with a focus on public companies in the mid-market. The majority of my work includes audits, quarterly reviews, and prospectus support. I work with a lot of start-up and growth stage companies who are either recently listed or plan to go public in the near future. Clients come to me for assistance in preparing them for planned go-public transactions as well as for their ongoing audit compliance needs. Although my focus is audit, I really act as an advisor for my clients beyond the basic audit needs, helping to identify solutions to their problems and connecting them with my colleagues when the help needed is beyond my scope.

How has COVID-19 impacted the way you work?

We’ve had to adjust to a more virtual environment, but we are continuing to do all of the same things we did before, they just look a little different.

At the end of the day, I’m still meeting with clients, doing presentations, and coaching our teams on a regular basis and working through the same issues. I guess the biggest difference is probably that I’m a little comfier now when I work as the business casual dress code now only applies to my top half!

What can your clients expect from you?

I pride myself on being up front and transparent with my clients, whether that be related to communicating an unexpected issue that we’ve uncovered in their books to a large audit task taking longer than expected to simple regular updates. As much as we go into every engagement hoping that it will run perfectly smooth, there are inevitably hiccups and speed bumps along the way. I am open and transparent about these with my clients. This allows us all to efficiently reach solutions which are equitable to all sides.

I also pride myself on my ability to guide clients through complex accounting transactions. Many of our clients would be considered start-up/growth stage entities. They have smaller finance functions, yet they oftentimes enter into complex financings or business combinations that require some in-depth knowledge of the applicable accounting standards and valuation techniques to record those transactions correctly.

We work closely with our clients with the help of our valuations team to guide them through the accounting implications of these transactions and provide them with the resources and tools they need to be able to go back and put together a well thought-out assessment that we can audit. I find this approach much more positive both for our clients and ourselves compared to suggesting they figure it out on our own and we see what they come back with. The ongoing collaboration allows for far greater efficiency in the work that we do and a more effective result for the client.

Contact Brent

To learn how Brent can help your business succeed, contact him at 604.637.1592 or [email protected].