Blog

Striving to bridge the gender gap within the finance industry through an engaging conference

Hi everyone! I’m a 1B student in the Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program and I knew when I first started university that I wanted to get involved with an initiative that I was passionate about and made a real impact. After attending a lunch and learn event hosted by the UWaterloo Women in Finance (WIF) initiative, I realized I had found my match!

Lessons gained from competing on a national stage

Having participated in numerous entrepreneurship programs before university, the dynamics surrounding growing companies have always fascinated me. After getting involved with the University of Waterloo’s Student Venture Fund (SVF) during my second year in the Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program, I combined my background in operations with a newly found interest: early-stage investing.

Experiences from an unusual Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC)

Earlier this month, I was fortunate enough to participate in the Canadian Venture Capital Investment Competition as part of the University of Waterloo’s undergraduate team. While the event is usually held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, it was moved to a virtual setting because of the global pandemic. This presented a new set of challenges for us to face and overcome.

Anna, Kyle, and Sabrina met in their first year of university as Associates in the ACE Consulting Group. Their collaboration started three years ago working on delivering consulting engagements to start-up clients, and later on leading the ACE team. The three of them worked well together, had a passion for strategy, and enjoyed the thrill of case competitions. After a successful run at the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) Strategy Case Competition, they decided to collaborate again at the International Collegiate Business Competition (I.C.B.C.) hosted by Queen’s University. 

In my first term, it has already given me many opportunities to meet industry professionals and attend a variety of workshops and events.

Advice for grade 12 students who are nervous about starting university.

At first, I was scared of entering my first ever co-op because I had no real work-experience prior, however, the BETS program really came in clutch and helped me enter my first co-op placement extremely prepared.

Participating in the CFA Ethics Challenge has provided me with an amazing opportunity to learn about the CFA Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct and to apply these ethics standards to a real-life scenario. All the feedback from faculty and the time spent together as a team in preparing for the presentation led to our team winning the local competition of the CFA Ethics Challenge!

On February 18^th, three students representing the University of Waterloo’s School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) competed at the 2021 CFA Institute Research Challenge (IRC) Ontario Finals. Led by Faculty Advisor, Steve Balaban, student team members Brendan, Anna, Noah - all upper-year Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) students - competed against teams from Brock University, Carleton University, and York University and won first place!

Hi everyone, my name is Nishika and I am a part of the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) Fellowship program. As a member of the program, I was given the opportunity to be paired with a distinguished Honouree member of the SAF Alumni. My Honouree was none other than Russ Weir. Russ is an acclaimed industry professional who is currently the Office Managing Partner at BDO Canada, LLP.