Munish Mohendroo, Founder and Partner, Valkrest Consulting Corp., has more than 25 years of experience in providing financial advisory services and valuation advice to private mid-market clients across 30+ countries. He is a sought-after speaker on technical valuation topics and has several major athletic accomplishments under his belt, including climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and completing the World Marathon Challenge—SEVEN marathons on SEVEN continents in SEVEN days.
As an immigrant, Munish is driven to help integrate skilled immigrants into the Canadian workplace. He actively volunteers with organizations that work with immigrant professionals, supports immigrant entrepreneurs, and has led diversity and inclusion councils in his past roles.
How has the CBV designation supported your career development?
In 2002, I immigrated to Canada as an experienced valuation professional from South Africa; where I worked in the valuations team of a large firm, but without a formal valuation qualification. Shortly after moving to Canada, I obtained my CBV designation; which provided me with additional technical skills and helped my career progression as a valuation practitioner – both in Canada and outside of Canada. Subsequently, after over 20 years in professional practice with large firms, I established my own practice focused on Valuations and Financial Modelling. The CBV provided a platform to launch my own practice and garnered a lot of respect from clients who see you as a Valuations expert and have the confidence to give you assignments.
Can you share a particularly challenging, yet interesting valuation analysis that made you realize you had chosen the right career path?
In my opinion, being a CBV involves more of an advisory or consulting role where you can help clients from a strategic perspective. While assurance also allows for strategy and big picture thinking, it’s still fundamentally tied to a compliance perspective. As a CBV, I find it intriguing to assist clients on a pre-deal basis, helping them consider pricing strategies for potential acquisitions, the types of intangibles they may be acquiring and identifying potential synergies for that sector. This incorporates more of a consulting role and, as a CBV, I can wear both hats, i.e. participating in broader strategic discussions but also helping clients understand any financial reporting considerations once the deal closes.
What differences do you see in your current role as compared to your previous roles?
In my previous roles as partner with the large firms, my work was primarily focused on larger listed clients; and included a lot of engagements for financial reporting purposes. My current practice is focused on the private mid-market and/ or closely-held private businesses. While building and managing can be stressful and requires juggling many roles, it provides me more flexibility and control over my time.
Do you have any tips for people looking to become a CBV?
1. Take the exam writing technique courses, I found these extremely helpful.
2. Do the practice exams – as many as you can.
3. Seek guidance from other CBVs and fellow students.
#FunFact: I enjoy running – for fitness and for fun. I recently completed the World Marathon Challenge – completing 7 Marathons on 7 Continents (incl. Antarctica) in 7 Days (consecutive days). Pretty confident that I am the only CBV to have ever done this. Well, there are only 190 people in the world that have completed this; and I am the 6th Canadian to complete this ever.