The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) at University of Waterloo is a professional school within the Faculty of Arts. The School was established in 1980 under the name 'School of Accountancy'. Its name was changed in 2008 to better reflect its program offering. Today, more than 1,600 students are enrolled in the School's programs. In September 2009, a new 52,000 sqft building was officially opened to house the School. The School of Accounting and Finance offers the largest accounting and finance undergraduate cooperative education (co-op) program in Canada. The School's Master of Accounting (MAcc) Program allows students to complete all required Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) modules within eight months, and is only open to students who complete the School's undergrad programs. MAcc graduates only need to challenge (and pass) the Common Final Examination and accumulate the required professional experiences in order to become a CPA. MAcc and industry experiences gained from co-op are well known among Canadian accounting and finance industries. In June 2021, it was announced that the School and the Faculty of Environment will begin offering a new undergrad program, "Sustainability and Financial Management", and accept its first cohort of students starting Fall 2022. The program was created to prepare a new generation of accounting and finance professionals to lead businesses through an era of environmental sustainability, and to respond to the increasing importance of environmental finance and ESG factors.

Programs of Study

The School of Accounting and Finance offers four undergraduate programs, two graduate programs and one doctoral program. Additionally, the School jointly administers one undergraduate program and one graduate program with the Faculty of Mathematics and one undergraduate program with the Faculty of Science. The Bachelor of Accounting and Financial Management (BAFM) and Bachelor of Computing and Financial Management (BCFM) degrees are both CFA Institute's University Affiliated Programs, which recognize academic institutions that embed a significant portion of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK) into their curriculum.

Undergraduate Education

Bachelor of Accounting and Financial Management Co-op (BAFM): AFM Specializations: The Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program offers 6 specializations in areas such as public accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, sustainability, Business analytics, and corporate governance. The first two years at AFM is focused on laying the foundations in accounting and finance, with a focus in people skills, learning, and academic success. The initiative includes experiential learning opportunities such as events, workshops, interactive webcasts, and team-based problem-solving situations connected to courses and extra-curricular situations. Students must then select a specialization from the list below in their 3rd and 4th year: Students may choose two specializations at most. Bachelor of Sustainability and Financial Management Co-op (BSFM): SFM Specializations: The Sustainability and Financial Management (SFM) program offers 3 specializations: corporate sustainability, financial markets, and entrepreneurship. The first two years of the SFM program is focused on giving students a foundational understanding of accounting, finance, and sustainability. This includes experiential learning opportunities such as events, workshops, competitions, and team-based problem-solving situations connected to courses and extra-curriculars. Students must then select a specialization from the list below in their 3rd and 4th year: Mathematics/Chartered Professional Accountancy Co-op (Math/CPA): Biotechnology/Chartered Professional Accountancy Co-op (Biotech/CPA): Bachelor of Computing and Financial Management (BCFM):

Postgraduate Education

Master of Accounting (MAcc): Master of Taxation (MTax): Master of Quantitative Finance (MQF): PhD in Accounting:

School Reputation and Achievement

According to QS World University Rankings, School of Accounting and Finance ranks 101-150 globally in 2022 for the subject category of Accounting & Finance. SAF also ranks high in the 2020 Global Accounting Research Survey conducted by Brigham Young University:

Co-op Success

With co-operative education, over 95% of students secure full-time employment before graduation. The co-op employment rate has been consistently between 95% and 100% with the students working mainly in global, regional, and local accounting firms, chartered banks, asset managers and other financial services firms/intermeriaties, government, and non-financial corporations in accounting/finance related roles.

UFE/CFE Honour Roll and Gold Medalists

The School of Accounting & Finance has had success in its students and faculty research. Notably, many students who have challenged the Common Final Examination achieve honour roll as well as gold medal (Ontario and National). The National Honour Roll of the Common Final Exam recognizes candidates whose performance in the exam demonstrated academic excellence and exceptional abilities. The candidates listed on the Honour Roll are determined as the top 1% of the first-time writers who wrote all three days. In 2018 and 2019, SAF captured the National Gold Medal (highest CFE score in Canada) consecutively. SAF has obtained 6 national gold medals (best performance in Canada) from the period between 2010 and 2020. The CFE honour roll and successful CFE writers are mostly the Master of Accounting students. From 2018 to 2020, SAF students accounted for 23.5%, 18.5% and 18.9% of the Honour Roll recipients respectively - the best performance in Canada. 1 Honour roll count includes the gold medalists (3 regional + 1 national gold medalist). 2 If winner of the Ontario Gold Medal also wins National Gold Medal, such count is tallied separately. 3 The May 2021 CFE was only offered in the West and Atlantic Canada regions. The exam was not held in Ontario due to COVID-19 pandemic.

CFA Institute Research Challenge

In 2016, School of Accounting & Finance students became the first Canadian team to win the global annual CFA Institute Research Challenge. The CFA Institute Research Challenge comprises over 140 CFA member societies, 3,500 member volunteers, and more than 5,000 students from over 1,000 universities. The CFA Institute Research Challenge requires student teams (1 team per university) to research and analyze a publicly-traded company and then write a research report on their assigned company with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation. In 2021, School of Accounting & Finance was once again awarded the Americas Regional Champion at the 2021 CFA Institute Research Challenge, where 5,000 students across 950 universities and 82 countries participated virtually. In 2024, the School captured its second global champion title after eight years. The team competed against 1,100 schools and 6,700 students in six rounds of competition. The School remained the only Canadian school to ever capture the global champion title.

Student life

Aside from the clubs/societies available within the University of Waterloo, there are various extra-curricular activities available to SAF students only. The Accounting and Finance Student Association (AFSA) is the government body for the SAF undergrad students, divided into many sub-committees. AFSA is run and governed by a fully-elected Executive Team and a partially-elected Board of Directors. SAF also holds a student-run orientation week for first year undergrad students after the regular Waterloo orientation week, Accounting and Finance Orientation Week (AFOW). Furthermore, ACE Consulting Group is also a SAF student-run consulting organization that provides Kitchener-Waterloo entrepreneurs and small business clients with professional consulting services. The School of Accounting and Finance Outreach & Ambassador Program (SOAP) is a year-long program for current SAF students to represent the School in recruiting, marketing, and connecting with future prospective students. Other initiatives in relation to SAF academic learning include: School of Accounting and Finance organizes two national student-run conferences annually:

Notable alumni and faculty