Sustainability and Financial Management

SFM revolutionizes financial education with full sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) integration. Acquire premier accounting and finance expertise from the School of Accounting and Finance, enriched with sustainability from Canada’s largest Faculty of Environment, a leader in sustainable business education for over two decades.

Year 3 and 4

Get ready to specialize in standing out by customizing your SFM pathway. Choose your career specialization, test out co-op employment, and engage in co/extra-curricular activities in Years 3 and 4 to accumulate the knowledge and skills you’ll need.

You must select one career specialization. Use your remaining electives to mix and match from other fields of study at Waterloo that interest you.

Career specializations separate you from the crowd and are crucial to becoming future-ready. After building a solid foundation in accounting, finance, environment and sustainability in Years 1 and 2, SFM students customize their degree and follow their passions in Years 3 and 4 by choosing one of the following career specializations.

• Corporate Sustainability Specialization
• Government Policy and Financial Markets Specialization
• Indigenous Entrepreneurship 

Explore careers in the field by alternating school terms and paid co-op work terms throughout your degree – and graduate with 16 months of paid experience.

You might work as a sustainability analyst, financial analyst, ESG internal reporting associate, or business analyst.

Employers could include Deloitte LLP, RBC Financial Group, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Sustainable Waterloo, and Manulife Financial.

Read Dillon’s SAF undergraduate experience as he talks about working alongside the Sustainability and Social Impact team at one of the “big four” accounting firms.

Default Co-op Academic/Work Sequence 

The following chart identifies the default sequence of study and co-op terms employed by our SFM program.

Fall term (F) = September to December
Winter term (W) = January to April
Spring term (S) = May to August

WT = Work Term

Success as an accounting and financial management professional requires much more than technical skills. The School of Accounting and Finance offers professional development activities that will help you focus on improving skills employers demand.

Skill up to stand out. Let your professionalism shine by building strong analytical and people skills – teamwork, relationship-building, communication, and more – through co and extra-curricular activities and competitions.

Read student experience blogs as they focus on the importance and value in competing in competitions.

In an ever-expanding internationalized business world, having an international perspective can enhance your business acumen.

As an upper-year SFM student within the SAF International Study Course, you’ll meet global business professionals (in-person and/or virtually) to learn about business practices and challenges that affect an internationalized business environment.

Read International Study Trip blogs written by current SAF students.

Join Velocity’s experiential innovation hub at the University of Waterloo. They provide information, guidance, and programs for the entrepreneurially-minded and tailored pre-incubator programs for aspiring startup founders. Their mission is to provide experiences that inspire and inform entrepreneurial students from all backgrounds and life experiences. Whether you have an idea, are working on a project, or have an early prototype, Velocity wants to help you.

As an SFM student, you can leverage Velocity by booking a coaching session, where you can meet 1-on-1 with founders or past startup employees who can give advice based on their past experience. These sessions can help you prepare a pitch or provide general guidance about the startup landscape. You can also get involved by checking out one of their intro sessions and events to learn more about the organization and what services will help you turn your idea into reality.

You may be interested in Working Sessions, which are small invite-only sessions that allow you to work with a Velocity Coach and dive deeper into a wide variety of topics. These are only available to students who have previously met with a coach or attended an intro session, so make sure to get involved and jump in.

Velocity $5K Grant

Every year, $20,000 in grants are awarded to students with creative and innovative tech ideas.

To earn the grant, students must apply and be selected for the semifinals to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges from the local startup community. Each applicant has 3 minutes to present and show the judges why they deserve a place in the finals. Ten teams compete in the finals for a chance to win, and four of those teams will walk away with a $5K Grant!

CPA

Have you heard about Chartered Professional Accountants (CPAs)? Are you familiar with what they do? CPAs play a key role within the economy. They offer a strong set of accounting and managerial skills required for today’s complex and evolving business world. They also possess a unique mindset and perspective that makes them “broad-minded” and “forward thinking”.

Interested in becoming a CPA? SAF offers four programs that hold the highest level of national accreditation through CPA Canada.

CFA

What's the difference between a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)? A CFA demonstrates a strong foundation in advanced investment analysis and portfolio management, accompanied by a strict emphasis on ethical practice.

Does earning a CFA designation spark your interest? SAF is recognized under the CFA Institute University Affiliation Program.

CBV

The third professional designation you can work towards in SFM is a Chartered Business Valuator (CBV). As a CBV, you help determine the economic value of a business or company including finding the fair value. You'll also be able to determine the sale value, establishing partner ownership, and taxation. Find out how our Master of Accounting (MAcc) students receive advanced standing in the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators (CICBV) program of studies.

We know you have questions about student life, living on campus, co-op experience, and more. That's why we created the following links, so you have easy access to read student blogs, graduate success stories, and watch student experience videos.

Blogs/Stories

Your career path will depend on your interests. You might use your environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) knowledge to lead organizations toward a greener world. You could also pursue further education by completing SAF’s Master of Accounting (MAcc) program, providing you a direct route to the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation. You could also work towards your Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation by writing your Level 1 and Level 2 exams by the time you graduate.

Take a look at some future career options:

• Environmental Accountant
• Financial Consultant
• Sustainability Analyst
• ESG Analyst
• Trade and Anti-Dumping Programs
• Internal Auditor

Your education at the School of Accounting and Finance will prepare you for the career that you've always wanted. See what some of our students have accomplished since graduating and read our Alumni Success Stories.