School of Accounting and Finance

 

 

SAF Students Advance in Global Financial Competition

Five students from The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) at the University of Waterloo have been chosen by the Toronto CFA Society to advance in a world renowned financial competition.

The Waterloo team consisting Ian Gutwinski (MAcc), Michael C. Liu (MAcc), Mike Y. Liu (MAcc), Daniel Pacione (MAcc), and Meng Wang (BAFM’11), were among four Ontario universities that were declared finalists in the annual CFA Institute Research Challenge, an equity research competition involving student teams from the world’s top university business and finance programs.

The competition, which spans one academic year, involves analyzing a public company (selected by Toronto CFA Society) and presenting the research. Each team works with a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charterholder who mentors the team during the research process.

“I think the CFA IRC experience is absolutely incredible for the students,” explains Craig Geoffrey, SAF Financial Professor and team mentor. “As a lecturer who comes from industry I think perhaps the biggest learning outcome is bridging the gap between the classroom and the real world. The uWaterloo team did a great job applying their knowledge to a practical challenge, advancing to the next round against excellent competition from top Canadian business schools.”

The Waterloo team is preparing to present their analysis of the Onex Corporations to a panel of judges in Toronto on March 1, 2012. The winning team will then qualify for the regional North American competition to be held in New York City on April 10, 2012. The regional winner will advance to the global final in New York City on April 11, 2012. More than 2,500 students from 546 universities around the world participated in the 2010-2011 competition, according to CFA Institute.

 

SAF
The School of Accounting and Finance is the only English speaking professional school of its kind in Canada. We offer 2 undergraduate (Accounting and Financial Management and Computing and Financial Management) and 3 graduate (Master of Accounting; Master of Taxation; PhD in Accounting) programs to provide students with the technical, analytical, evaluative, and communication skills needed to prepare for successful careers in public accounting, finance, industry, government and not-for-profit sectors. In conjunction with the Faculties of Mathematics and Science, the School also administers 2 undergraduate programs (Mathematics/Chartered Accountancy; Biotechnology/Chartered Accountancy) and 1 graduate program (Master of Quantitative Finance).