Some might call Doane Grant Thornton’s focus on simplicity old-fashioned. But in an increasingly complex world, the approach of this leading Canadian accounting and business advisory firm is positively groundbreaking.
As organizations across Greater Victoria and Southern Vancouver Island adapt to shifting economic conditions, professional services firms play a key role behind the scenes — helping clients manage risk and plan for growth in an increasingly complex environment.
Doane Grant Thornton LLP, a Canadian member of Grant Thornton International Ltd., has long worked with a cross-section of local businesses and organizations to provide accounting, assurance, tax, and advisory services. The company has worked extensively with the Island’s key sectors, including logging and forestry, technology, hospitality, real estate and Indigenous organizations.
With a strong presence across Vancouver Island, including offices in Victoria, Nanaimo, Duncan and Courtenay, this SIPP member brings together professionals from a wide range of service lines whose diversified expertise offers a front-line view of the pressures and opportunities facing Vancouver Island’s business community.
“We’re proud to be a Canadian-based firm that started here a little over 85 years ago. It’s important to honour those roots — to remain a purpose-driven organization.”
– Michael Stubbing, Doane Grant Thornton
SIPP spoke with Michael Stubbing, Managing Partner – Vancouver Island, about the goals and impact of Doane Grant Thornton, the current economic climate and his vision for our region’s future.
SIPP: What groundbreaking approach or innovation would you say sets Doane Grant Thornton apart as a changemaker in today’s economic landscape?
Mike: Thinking about today’s dynamic economic landscape, what’s groundbreaking about our organization is the simplicity and almost old-fashioned focus we bring to our work. We’ve based our decision-making, our strategy and our direction even more in the last handful of years on what we call our three Cs: clients, colleagues and community. We figure if we can help our clients thrive, our colleagues thrive and our community thrive, then we’ll be successful.
We’re proud to be a Canadian-based firm that started here a little over 85 years ago. It’s important to honour those roots — to remain a purpose-driven organization. That’s a bit different from the current wave we see in our industry, which is moving towards private equity consolidation, which we’re dead-set against.
We’ve also made a commitment to our communities in that we don’t offshore our work, unlike many of our national competitors and even some local firms. While we use tools like AI, we’re committed to using them as a means to enhance the value we bring to our clients and to improve our colleague experience, not as a means to reduce our workforce. I think it’s that old-fashioned local approach that sets us apart in the changing, dynamic landscape we all operate in today.
SIPP: Isn’t it interesting how the “old-fashioned” way has become the new or revolutionary way now?
Mike: Very much so, right? I think all the issues we saw earlier this year, around geopolitics and trade tensions, reminded people about the importance of local businesses: Canadian-owned, locally owned and operated, contributing to the economy here rather than shifting profits or jobs to other locations. To some degree, we’re ahead of the curve there, because it’s something we’ve really been emphasizing for a number of years. It’s an approach that is becoming more popular in light of what we’ve seen earlier this year with some of the political machinations happening around the world.
SIPP: What motivated your organization to join the South Island Prosperity Partnership, and how does being a member of SIPP align with your vision for economic or societal impact?
Mike: Earlier this year, we organized and ran an initiative called Vibrant Communities here in Victoria. It was about connecting community leaders and changemakers from diverse backgrounds one-on-one, to discuss what makes our community great and their wishes for the future of our community. We then invite everyone to spend a day together working through a variety of exercises, visioning what Victoria could and should look like in 2030. At that event, I first met Aaron Stone [SIPP’s CEO] and through our discussions that day and afterward, I could see the alignment between what we’re each trying to do to help our communities thrive. In a rapidly changing world, what SIPP is trying to do and its purpose and mission are really important. I also believe it’s essential that regional economic development agencies exist and have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact. We decided to put our money where our mouth is and become involved in SIPP as members.
One of our key focuses is on ensuring we help our local communities thrive by contributing to the local economy through our operations, providing good jobs and helping our clients succeed. More than that, it means taking purposeful steps to go beyond the regular day-to-day to help our community. We accomplish this in several ways. For example, over the next year, we’ll donate approximately $130,000 to local charities on Vancouver Island, an increase from the nearly $100,000 we’re donating this year. We made this financial support through our Greater Purpose program. I believe, at this level of spending, we are likely the largest donor on Vancouver Island among accounting firms and possibly among all professional services firms.
Additionally, we’ll likely spend an additional $60,000 to $70,000 on various sponsorships, primarily to support local organizations. We also organize Greater Purpose Days, where we close our offices and spend the day volunteering for organizations — some of which we’ve contributed to financially, some of which we haven’t yet. This could range from volunteering with local charities to our team members joining the boards of organizations that happen to mention they are looking for individuals with a financial background to join their board and help drive the organization forward from a strategic perspective.
These Greater Purpose activities aren’t just something to tick a box for our team members — it’s something over and above their regular job description that they choose to do. This year, we had one-fifth of our group put up their hands to be part of our Greater Purpose community team. To have such a large portion of our group here on the Island say, “I want to do extra work over and above my regular day-to-day,” is amazing.
SIPP: What strategies do you believe are essential for cultivating a resilient, thriving economy here in our region?
Mike: There are several. A huge one — and one where SIPP plays a major role — is ensuring there’s a regional economic strategy and coordination among the huge number of stakeholders who play a part and have an influence on the region. Government, charities, not-for-profits, post-secondary institutions, healthcare industry groups, private businesses, and citizens — there are just so many stakeholders, and they all have their own perspectives. I think it’s crucial to have a high-level strategy that ties them all together, along with a high level of coordination among them. Otherwise, you have a bunch of people running around in various directions, and there’s very little big-picture progress.
That strategy needs to be rooted in our strengths as a region: our beautiful location, our ability to attract human capital and our unique geography, which feeds into sectors such as ocean and marine sciences, clean technology, tourism, and hospitality. There’s also the fact that we’re an island. This means things like sustainability, local first, and the importance of a circular economy are almost second nature to us.
We need to coordinate a strategy acknowledging these strengths while also addressing issues such as housing affordability and homelessness. We also need to strategically shift our public sector dependence to diversify our economy and strategize to ensure we’re creating workers with skills currently in short supply in areas such as healthcare, construction, and advanced technology. That’s where post-secondary education can play a major role.
Then, of course, we need a strategy to deal with geopolitical threats and also to take advantage of geopolitical uncertainties to make [our region] better and stronger. The local-first wave we were just discussing is a great example of that.
SIPP: With global competition for talent and investment intensifying, what unique advantages do you think Greater Victoria has on the international stage?
Mike: I’ve mentioned how gorgeous our region is and how lucky we are to live here. However, beyond its natural beauty, at a high level, we live in a country with a strong democracy, a good rule of law and robust protections for human rights, as well as a widespread public respect for those protections. Plus, we have a thriving economy, a solid investor and capital base, universal healthcare, a well-regarded public school system and important supports for our citizens. At the country level, Canada is well-positioned.
Here in Greater Victoria and on Vancouver Island, we live in what I think is the most beautiful and welcoming part of the country. [Our region] offers an incredible quality of life, so we’re uniquely positioned to attract talented people who can choose where they want to live and work. I love how there’s been a rallying behind attracting healthcare workers from the U.S. and taking advantage of this unique moment in time, where they are evaluating their options and deciding where they want to live, work, and raise their families. I appreciate that British Columbia is doing a great job of ensuring we’re front and centre in those considerations and discussions.
“I’m from a small town originally, and I remember as a kid looking around and seeing the people who put in the time and made the effort to make our community better. That inspired me.”
– Michael Stubbing, Doane Grant Thornton
SIPP: What regional challenge is your organization most dedicated to addressing and why? What drives that commitment?
Mike: This is an interesting question, given that we’re a private sector organization. I’m going to refer to the recommendations emerging from the Vibrant Communities event we hosted earlier this year. Those takeaways were generally categorized into five areas: community and collaboration, housing, transportation and infrastructure, healthcare, and economic development. As an accounting and advisory firm, we’re best suited to address the recommendations that fall into the community and collaboration category, as well as those in the economic development grouping. What drives us is our organization’s overall commitment to helping our clients, colleagues and communities thrive. And the communities portion of it isn’t just lip service — it’s core to all of our decision-making and the way we operate.
SIPP: What would you say drives you or inspires you personally to make a difference?
Mike: Rather than something singular, it’s a culmination of life experiences. I’m from a small town originally, and I remember as a kid looking around and seeing the people who put in the time and made the effort to make our community better. That inspired me. I’ve also had the pleasure of serving on quite a number of boards alongside people who donate countless hours to support organizations, and I’ve been really inspired by the examples I’ve seen through that.
I’m also inspired by the work we do at Doane Grant Thornton as a whole — our work with the local community and our Canadian roots. We spend a lot of time as an organization thinking about our legacy, both where we came from and the legacy we want to create.
SIPP: If you envision Greater Victoria and Vancouver Island two decades from now, where do you think we will be? What kind of transformations will have taken place?
Mike: I’m a hugely optimistic person, so it’s exciting to think forward two decades from now. Just looking out my window here, I envision a vibrant downtown where people live, work and play. That means we will have addressed issues like affordability by building more homes that suit individuals and families of all sizes, ages, make-ups, and abilities. It means we’ve addressed homelessness and addiction issues, which are separate issues from one another but obviously interrelated. I actually believe we’re starting to see some signs of progress on that already. Looking 20 years ahead, I’m optimistic about where we can go.
I also envision a future where we’ve taken steps to ensure local businesses can still be successful from a bricks and mortar perspective from locations right here in our community. I envision a Greater Victoria where there’s a higher level of coordination among our municipalities, likely achieved through some form of municipal amalgamation — or amalgamations — in which we’ve been able to preserve village and community centres throughout the area rather than just having downtown and a bunch of suburbs. As part of that, I also see the potential for enhanced public transportation and more bike infrastructure. I see a real investment in attracting and retaining healthcare professionals, as well as exploring new methods of delivering healthcare.
Generally, I see a greater sense of community optimism and shared values amongst the people of Greater Victoria and Southern Vancouver Island. So when I look forward a couple of decades, it’s an incredibly exciting place to be, and I’m looking forward to playing a very, very small role as an individual and as an organization in helping us get there.
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