AFM Roadmap to Becoming an Entrepreneur

Are Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) or Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) suited to be entrepreneurs? Absolutely YES. Why? Consider what investors look for – beyond a great idea – to ensure long-term business success. A strong and thorough business and financial plan tells a story of how an entrepreneur foresees and projects the success of their idea, product, or business. As a financial expert, you would be in a unique position to develop the financial models and projections to ensure the startup thrives, providing what investors need to make a business investment.

Entrepreneurs want to change the world, they're drawn to opportunities, and believe anything is possible. Great ideas can form the foundation of a startup, but as a financial expert with a CPA and/or CFA designation you would have the knowledge and know-how to review complex problems, interpret data, lots of data, to make confident and courageous decisions to move the business forward.

Additionally, as a CPA and/or CFA, you’ll uphold a high level of ethics to build the credibility and reputation for your business.

Lastly, in an entrepreneurial setting, financial professionals are calculated risk-takers, navigating their business through the startup world's ups and downs. These skills combined with their analytical, collaborative, and ethical approach to business, positions a CPA and/or CFA to be an exceptional entrepreneur.

Now that you know why CPAs and CFAs make successful entrepreneurs, let’s look at how the AFM program sets you up for success.

You’ll dive deep into accounting and finance to learn how to bring financial leadership to business issues while positioning yourself as a valuable member of the team.

As an AFM student, you’ll:

• Develop your entrepreneurial mindset to become an expert in all stages of a business.
• Be in the driver’s seat to lead peers and yourself in tackling problems and cases to maximize your understanding of critical business startup and growth issues.
• Build your analytical prowess by learning how to apply, select, analyze, and effectively interpret data.
• Gain the know-how to become business savvy by learning how technology impacts business, and successfully leveraging it.
• Polish your professional and people skills – teamwork, relationship-building, and communication – by participating in workshops, tutorials, conferences, and competitions.

By the time you graduate, you’ll have the entrepreneurial mindset and financial expertise to provide new perspectives and unique solutions that positively impact global economies.

Customize your AFM pathway to enable you to lead the change and shape the future. Choose your Career Specialization(s), explore co-op opportunities, and engage in co- and extracurricular activities in Year 3 and 4 to exponentially build the knowledge and skills you’ll need as a future financial professional.

Select at least one Career Specialization. You can select two to truly customize your experience. If you pursue one Career Specialization, use your remaining electives to mix and match from other fields of study at uWaterloo that interests you.

Here’s how it works:

• You have 13 electives
• Career Specializations consists of 5 to 6 courses
• Some courses can be “double-counted” to meet requirements for more than one Career Specialization

TIP: Consider the area(s) of society that you want to impact and use your electives to customize your pathway so that you can gain the knowledge and skills to launch your career.

Step 1: Select a Career Specialization that will be your primary focus. This will often be the Professional Accountant Career Specialization or Financial Markets Career Specialization, and sometimes Entrepreneurial Mindset Career Specialization or the Sustainability Career Specialization.

Step 2: Use your remaining electives to enhance your Career Specialization. This can be a second Specialization to develop breadth of expertise or to connect your accounting, finance, business analysis know-how with studies in another field at uWaterloo.

Step 3: Explore co-op and co/extracurricular activities related to your academic choices to test-drive your ideas, build your network, and launch your career.

Concept is Velocity’s entrepreneurship and pre-incubator program 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, Concept wants to help you!

AFM students who are looking to leverage Concept can book a coaching session, where students 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. AFM students 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 them turn their idea into reality.

Students may be interested in Working Sessions, which are small invite-only sessions that allow students to work with a Concept 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!

Challenge the status quo, collaborate, innovate, and positively change the way business is done. The pathway to your professional career isn’t just what happens in the classroom. It's defined by the networks you create, competitions you win, clubs you contribute to, and the value you give and gain through your co-op work terms.

In AFM, you'll build a solid foundation in accounting, finance, and business in your first and second year. Then, in your third and fourth years, you'll select up to two Career Specializations to customize your degree. Along with your co-op work terms, you’ll further advance and hone your professional competencies and open doors to career pathways that follow your passion.

The entrepreneurial, communication, and real-world problem-solving skills you gain mean you’ll be more employable. Combine your skills with earning a CPA and/or CFA professional designation through AFM, and you'll build an amazing competitive advantage in the world of startups and entrepreneurship.

Accounting and Financial Management. Lead the change. Shape the future.