Learning and receiving support and guidance from my Honouree

Hello! I’m Sarah, a first-year fellow in the

Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program. Deciding which university to attend is a big deal and trying to do so during a pandemic is even harder. Personally, the invite to the Fellowship Program was a huge part in deciding which school to go to. The thing that really intrigued me about the fellowship program was that each fellow gets an honouree who is a successful alumnus that is supposed to provide you with advice and guidance throughout your undergrad.

My Honouree is Colleen Haney. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant with experiences in a multitude of jobs throughout her career ranging from working in public accounting with BDO, PwC and smaller public accounting firms, to working in industry accounting with Blackberry. Now Colleen works as the CFO of Huron Creek Developments. So far, we have met twice, once at the yearly SAF banquet which was virtual this year, and once on a private video call. We have scheduled another meeting for the start of next term and I am able to email my honouree at any time should any questions or concerns arise.

During our first meeting, we were mainly focused on getting to know each other. Colleen asked me a bunch of questions about my interests, my high school experience, and my background. Then I asked her about her career path along with some other typical introductory questions. It turns out we actually have a lot in common as we are both active individuals and we both love to travel. Colleen even happens to be a friend of one of my closest family friends which was such a cool coincidence!

The description of her career path was really helpful and provided me with a lot of insight into the great opportunities within the accounting industry. Going into AFM, I didn’t really know much about accounting because I didn’t know any accountants. I just knew that I liked the idea of working at a large firm and that accounting was my favourite class in high school. Talking to Colleen about her experiences in the accounting industry helped me figure out what kind of co-op placement I want, what kind of accountant I want to be, and roughly how I can reach my goals. Before talking to Colleen about her experiences in industry and public accounting, I had no idea what the difference between the two was. Learning about her experiences in both types of accounting further solidified my goal to one day work in industry accounting and become a CFO. Furthermore, because Colleen herself is a CFO, it gave me an idea of the hard work and sacrifices needed to achieve that goal which was really helpful.