Wolfgang Hagenhofer, CGA,
Jack of All Trades: Celebrating 25 Years of Membership

Author’s note: When I recently interviewed Wolf Hagenhofer, CGA, I recognized him immediately. Wolf spent eight years on the education committee, and a total of 18 years invigilating exams—including some that I wrote! It was a pleasure to meet the person behind that stern supervisor of exams.

Wolf was born on October 26, 1946, in Germany. In 1952, he came to Canada with his parents and settled in Sarnia, Ontario, where his family ran a construction business. Describing his childhood, he said, “Struggles either strengthen you or weaken you; fortunately, in my case, the struggles in my early years in Canada were trials by fire and made me very self-reliant.”

Wolf completed a degree in chemical engineering, but never practised the profession. Instead, after a year of teacher’s college, he taught mathematics to grade nine, 12 and 13 students at St. Patrick’s High School in Sarnia for a year. He then left for Europe and worked in high-rise construction for several years. On this journey, he met his future wife, Trudy, on a trans-Atlantic liner departing New York for Bremen.

Upon Wolf’s return to Canada, he enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Western Ontario, specializing in accounting. By the time he graduated in 1974, he had developed a fascination for taxation, and took the opportunity of joining a training program with Revenue Canada.

Wolf finally found his niche and he remained with Revenue Canada (now the Canada Revenue Agency or CRA) up to the present. In his long CRA audit career, Wolf was used to asking the questions; on the night of our interview, I had the privilege of asking the questions.

NS: How has the CGA designation aided you in your career?

WH: The CGA designation provided me with up-front recognition when meeting clients and colleagues; it was then up to me to maintain the initial momentum by providing top-notch professional service.

NS: Can you provide me with the general details of your career, as well as your involvement with the Association?

WH: I could enumerate the various jobs I have held at the CRA, but more relevant is the fact that I was able to apply my diverse training and past experience in these various jobs. As an example, my engineering studies came in very handy in a two year stint in the scientific research and experimental development audit team. My teaching experience was applied when I was responsible for “polishing” teams of new auditors. Similarly, my year at teacher’s college—one I thought was wasted after I left my high school teaching career—provided me with the tools to help create a set of national courses on indirect verification of income techniques. I have always promoted the integration of good small-business practice—practices I learned in the contracting business—into my civil service work. The lesson here is the value of having a variety of experiences in your background.

In relation to Association involvement, I was on the education committee for Kitchener-Waterloo Chapter for eight years. I invigilated exams for 18 years, was active in the annual Tax Preparation Services since their inception, and I have lectured the former CGA Canada micro-economics and math course.

NS: What have you learned and gained during your volunteer position with Kitchener-Waterloo Chapter?

WH: Eight years on the board, several years of being chair of the education committee, brought me into contact with many energetic and can-do people. It was exhilarating to network with them. More particularly, I was introduced to the processes of budgeting and conducting effective meetings. When I became a team leader, I applied these best practices that I saw on the board to my own teams wherever possible.

NS: What developments did you see in the Kitchener-Waterloo chapter during your 25 years as a CGA?

WH: I can only touch on a very few of the many developments I have seen. There has been a dramatic growth in the number of students and CGAs—I can remember invigilating an examination one night when there was only one student scheduled to write! I remember the BC era—“before computers”—and how we managed to function without them! I have appreciated the move to more integrated and comprehensive program, as opposed to stand-alone courses. Also, I remember the university degree program exit requirement sparked a huge spike in program enrolment from community college students and how our quest for access to public accounting licences is finally bearing fruit.

NS: What message do you have for students in the CGA program of professional studies?

WH: The CGA program of professional studies gives you some tremendous tools for your professional success; however, there are some additional competencies that you need to develop to fully realize your career potential. I am thinking of interpersonal and communication skills, particularly verbal communication skills. If the formal curriculum is your foot in the door, these soft skills are what will take you the distance. I just wish that it had not taken me 60 years to realize this!

NS: How can you develop these soft skills that you feel are so important?

WH: You can develop these skills by: volunteering for chapter activities, my volunteer experiences taught me a lot. Try to attend chapter events, you’ll have the opportunity to network, and being able to network is a learned and very important skill for business professionals. Most importantly, try to challenge yourself by forcing yourself in situation you are afraid of, and overcome that fear.