Doubly rare, it was a Quebec graduate, Myckaël Charbonneau from UQAM, who won the gold medal in the common final exam of the Order of Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada. And he is not the intern of a large firm, but the accountant of a non-profit organization, Maison d’Hérelle, which supports people living with HIV-AIDS.
Published yesterday at 6:30 a.m.
Myckaël Charbonneau confesses that he was “a little” surprised when CPA Canada announced to him that he had ranked first among the 3,769 Canadian participants who passed the final exam of the profession last September and that he was going to receive a $5,000 scholarship.
“I knew that I had done well in the exam which took place in September and that I had also had good grades in the baccalaureate and the specialized higher studies diploma, but I was still a little surprised to arrive at the very first row,” says the young chartered professional accountant.
The Quebec CPA Order also awarded a $5,000 scholarship to the national winner and UQAM also promised him one. This is welcome because Myckaël Charbonneau was able to reimburse his exam registration fees and his contributions to the order.
Traditionally, it is interns from large accounting firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young or Deloitte who place at the top of this annual national competition and they have their competition registration fees financed by their firm.
“I am proud to represent the community world. When it was announced that I had finished first in December, I received several calls from large offices like KPMG or Raymond Chabot who wanted to recruit me, but I will stay at Maison d’Hérelle. I don’t need to be in a big office to feel valued,” assures Myckaël Charbonneau.
It was while helping his father, owner of an industrial bakery and agricultural land in Saint-Amable, with bookkeeping and supplier accounts management that Myckaël Charbonneau became interested in accounting.
“I started taking courses at UQAM while being enrolled in Japanese studies, a passion of mine. I spent six months [au Japon]. Then I decided to enroll full-time in accounting,” says the 2024 grand prize winner of the new Canadian CPAs. It was at that time that one of his teachers recommended him to Maison d’Hérelle, a community organization housing people with HIV/AIDS, which was looking for an accountant.
“It was in 2019, I was in my second year of the baccalaureate and I started doing bookkeeping, paying for the 20 employees, managing the accounting software… and I got more involved by taking care of fundraising campaigns, social benefits, IT,” he relates.
Community engagement
Myckaël Charbonneau completed his baccalaureate in winter 2021, but preferred to wait until the end of the pandemic before starting his second year studies cycle because he wanted to take his classes in person. He completed his DESS last year and took the CPA exam in September. He is currently taking courses in taxation and plans to enroll in a master’s degree in accounting next year, because he wants to do research and ultimately become a professor at his university.
“I am starting a contract with UQAM this summer. I will prepare graduates for the common final exam next September, but I think my master’s thesis will focus on non-profit organizations,” explains Myckaël.
“There aren’t many CPAs working in the community, it doesn’t pay enough. But I am a tenant, I live in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and I do not want to become an owner. I don’t work to make money. At Maison d’Hérelle, we help people,” insists the accountant.
La Maison d’Hérelle was founded in 1989 on rue Saint-Hubert to support people suffering from HIV/AIDS at the end of their lives. Over the years and with the development of new therapies, the organization’s vocation has evolved to support all people living with the virus.
La Maison d’Hérelle has 16 rooms on rue Saint-Hubert to help the elderly or people weakened by illness and another center with 15 studios in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve to support people who face problems of homelessness or of drugs and who wish to live independently.
Finally, another center, the satellite, can accommodate six people in shared accommodation in Côte-des-Neiges.
“Myckaël was a great help from the moment he arrived when we were in a pandemic,” the general director of Maison d’Hérelle, Michèle Blanchard, told me, whom I met there. He made organizational changes that allowed us to get through this difficult period. It helped us better understand the governance rules for organizations like ours. We are very proud of him,” she continues.
Myckaël Charbonneau will continue his commitment to the Maison d’Hérelle organization for at least another year, maybe two. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Quebec AIDS Foundation and the Fonds Plancher, a platform that has just been set up to bring together the real estate assets of housing cooperatives in order to increase their power of action. community housing.
In short, the most talented accountant in the Canadian cohort of candidates for the title of chartered professional accountant of 2024 is resolutely committed to the community path and he hopes to serve as an example to others who will follow.
