Professor Normand Gendron
Assistant Professor
Accounting

Office: McCain Centre 405Q
Phone: 902 457 6224
Fax: 902 445 2582
Email: Normand.Gendron@msvu.ca
Office Hours: By appointment.

Qualifications: 
Bachelor of Business Administration, Mount Saint Vincent University (2011); Master of Business Administration, Saint Mary’s University (2014). Doctoral studies in accounting and taxation at the Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University (in progress). He has also completed graduate coursework in the Mount’s Lifelong Learning program.

Professional designations: Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA); Certified Management Accountant (CMA).
His academic honours include the Governor General’s Medal and the Senate Award of Distinction from Mount Saint Vincent University, and recognition by the Beta Gamma Sigma academic honour society.

Joined the Mount: 2006 as a BBA student; 2014 as a sessional instructor; 2022 as a full-time Assistant Professor of Accounting.

Relevant Prior Work Experience:

Normand’s professional background includes senior finance and administration roles in nonprofit and charitable organizations, municipal government and professional regulation. He has held leadership positions with Société de La Garderie Le Petit Voilier, Clean Nova Scotia Foundation, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society and the Municipality of East Hants. His responsibilities have included financial reporting and internal controls, budgeting and capital financing, human resources, information technology and regulatory affairs.

In private practice from 2014 to 2022, he provided accounting and tax services to individuals, businesses and charities. His work included personal, corporate and charity tax filings, representation before the Canada Revenue Agency, advice on film and digital tax credits, and the development of accounting systems and internal controls.

Courses Taught:
Taxation and accounting: Taxation; Advanced Taxation; Introductory Accounting I and II; Intermediate Accounting: Assets; Intermediate Accounting: Equities & Special Topics; Managerial Accounting; Hospitality Management Accounting.
Finance and nonprofit leadership: Finance II; Finance – Tourism; Nonprofit Financial Management; Nonprofit Leadership: People Management.
Management, information systems and marketing: Introduction to Business Administration; Business Ethics; Introduction to Information Systems in Organizations; Management Information Systems; Operations Management; Small Business Management; Organizational Topics; Not-For-Profit Marketing.

Normand’s teaching connects technical knowledge with professional practice. He uses tax planning cases, court decisions and collaborative problem-solving to help students understand how accounting and tax rules apply in practice. His classes also examine the social and economic consequences of taxation for individuals, businesses and charities. He emphasizes active participation and a supportive learning environment, with opportunities for students to apply their knowledge through supervised community work.

Research Interests:
Normand’s research focuses on taxation, financial reporting and accountability in the charitable sector. His current work examines how external auditors judge their professional responsibilities when concerns under charity law could threaten an organization’s registered status without producing a quantitatively material financial statement misstatement. The study considers how those judgments affect auditors’ decisions about further investigation, consultation, communication and their continuing involvement with the organization.

His research on charity finances examines the relationship between participation in the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and charities’ reported net assets as a measure of financial capacity. He is also developing research on the use of public charity information returns to identify reporting risks and support decisions about matters requiring further inquiry.

He collaborates on research into student engagement and the development of managerial competencies through extracurricular learning in business and tourism education. His recent conceptual work also explores how generative artificial intelligence may influence the development of professional and scholarly identity in management education.

Research Grants:
Graduate research support: Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Fellowship, Saint Mary’s University (2025–2028); Nova Scotia Research & Innovation Graduate Scholarship (2016).

Professional Projects and Activities:
Normand established the Mount’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program tax clinic in 2023. He trains and mentors student volunteers as they prepare tax returns and benefit applications, combining supervised professional learning with free assistance for students and community members. The clinic offers in-person and online services and has received grant support from the Canada Revenue Agency.

He has also developed community-based learning projects with the Mount’s International Education Centre and Brunswick Street Mission. In a 2023 Advanced Taxation project, students worked with these partners to identify gaps in tax information and volunteer training materials. They produced accessible guides, forms and checklists for tax clinic volunteers and clients. Funding from CEWIL and the Mount supported the project, with a contribution from the Mission.

As coordinator of the Mount’s Nonprofit Leadership Program from 2023 to 2025, he reviewed the program and redeveloped its senior courses in people management, governance and strategy, and nonprofit financial management. His work emphasized Canadian content and participatory learning. He has also supervised graduate practicums in lifelong learning and provided mentorship to accounting graduates through CPA Nova Scotia.

His volunteer service has included board treasurer roles with Brunswick Street Mission, the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Nova Scotia, the Centre d’appui à la petite enfance de la Nouvelle-Écosse and the East Coast Environmental Law Association. He has also provided volunteer financial management and tax advice to Le Petit Voilier, Ross Creek Centre for the Arts and Two Planks Theatre.

Normand develops and delivers community workshops on nonprofit financial management and governance, taxation, financial literacy and fraud prevention. His work has included training for nonprofit board members and municipal outreach staff, as well as presentations for students, seniors and other community groups.