To help boost your career, you may choose to become a certified professional by pursuing a recognized designation - used to prove your qualification in performing a job or task. The courses that you'll take through the Computing and Financial Management (CFM) program will help to prepare you for a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation but there are many other professional certifications that you may decide to pursue.
A CFA designation is a professional credential that is recognized worldwide and is administered by the CFA Institute. It is the highest distinction available to a professional working in the field of investment management.
How CFM prepares you for the Level I exam
CFM is a member of the CFA University Affiliation Program, which means that its curriculum is endorsed by the Institute in helping to prepare you to write the CFA designation exams (known as CFA Level I, II, and III).
The CFA designation is a self-study, graduate-level program, but many of your required upper year courses from your CFM studies will help to prepare you for the CFA Level I Exam, including:
- AFM 272 — Global Capital Markets
- AFM 274 — Introduction to Corporate Finance (formerly known as AFM 275 — Corporate Finance or AFM 372 — Corporate Finance 2)
- AFM 322 — Derivatives and Securities
- AFM 424 — Equity Investments (replaced by AFM 427 — Intermediate Portfolio Management starting in spring 2025)
- AFM 425 — Fixed Income Securities
It is through these courses that you'll be able to write your first CFA exam right out of university. Students who are not part of a CFA University Affiliation Program typically require additional studying and classroom hours to challenge the exams successfully.
There are no university programs that offer exemption to the CFA exams and co-op hours cannot be counted toward the designation. You must be in the final year of your degree to participate.
Student Scholarship
The scholarship reduces the CFA Program exam registration fee and is available to CFM students.
Applications must include:
- A current resume
- An updated unofficial transcript
- Co-op Employer Performance Ratings
Like many of my CFM peers, I wanted to start my CFA journey by writing the Level I exam while still in school. My biggest worry was finding study time between coursework and co-op. But CFM courses like AFM 191, 274, 272, 322, 424, and 425 had already covered most of the curriculum. Most of my prep became revision rather than learning from scratch, and that made passing on a compressed timeline very manageable.
Advance your career with 20% off CFA learning
In partnership with the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute, the School of Accounting and Finance is proud to promote ongoing professional learning for its students to strengthen their long-term career development and personal growth.
>> Enroll in professional development certificates at an exclusive 20% discounted rate.
Access is enabled with an active @uwaterloo.ca email account.
Other professional designations
There are a variety of other professional programs available to you upon graduation that are offered all over the world. Another option to consider, with a financial degree, is the Chartered Business Valuators (CBV) designation.
If you are interested in earning a professional designation, you should research options in your field of interest.