The
right
pathway
for
me
Before
looking
into
the
Accounting
and
Financial
Management
(AFM)
program,
I
had
no
idea
what
an
accreditation
pathway
was
and
how
it
worked.
University
of
Waterloo’s
School
of
Accounting
and
Finance
(SAF)
has
received
the
highest
level
of
accreditation
from
the
CPA
(Chartered
Professional
Accountant)
Canada
and
the
CFA
(Chartered
Financial
Analyst)
Institute,
providing
students
with
a
direct
pathway
to
the
CPA
and/or
CFA
designation.
For
CPA
I
would
normally
have
to
go
through
an
undergraduate
program
at
university,
then
go
through
a
two-year
CPA
professional
education
program
and
get
30
months’
work
experience
on
top
of
that,
in
order
to
get
a
CPA
designation.
With
UW’s
many
resources,
anyone
who
takes
AFM
will
be
able
to
streamline
the
process.
After
my
undergraduate
studies,
I
can
then
go
for
my Masters
of
Accounting
and
complete
the
remainder
of
CPA
accreditations
in
eight
months
instead
of
two
years.
I'd
also
be
able
to
get
a
lot
of
my
work
experience
during
co-op.
CFA
is
very
similar
to
CPA,
but
you
need
48
months
of
qualifying
work
experience
and
you
need
to
take
three
exams.
I
can
get
16
months
of
finance-focused
work
experience
with
co-op,
and
with
the
AFM
program,
I
will
have
the
opportunity
to
challenge
the
first
and
second
exams
by
the
time
I
graduate.
[G2] CFA
and
CPA
are
not
for
everyone,
but
if
you
are
thinking
about
them
as
a
career
then
go
and
check
out
the
university’s
AFM
webpage
for
more
information
on
them.
