Guiding the next generation: An SAF alum’s journey from student to instructor
Professor Cody Buchenauer (CPA, CA, MAcc ’14) is a School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) alum with a remarkable career journey. From a student navigating through co-op terms to an industry professional holding a role as senior manager at EY, Buchenauer is now a full-time faculty member as well as a member of SAF’s co-op and experiential learning team. Bridging academia and industry to guide current students’ career paths as a passionate educator, his journey is a testament to the impact of the co-op experience offered at SAF.
How businesses recognize employee achievement impacts engagement, motivation and performance
New research shows that team-based recognition can be effective in settings where performance is highly interdependent, and teamwork is essential to the company’s success.
Get ready for fall with the SAF Fall 2023 Bootcamp!
With the fall term fast approaching, the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) is excited to welcome the incoming Class of 2028. There is a lot of preparation involved as students get ready for their first year of university. To help with this transition, a team of faculty members at SAF have created a series of modules to get students familiar with the technology requirements for SAF, as well as basic accounting and finance concepts.
Is algorithm control a double-edged sword? Uber drivers’ positive and negative techno-stressors
How brands address getting called out on Twitter affects their bottom line, a new study finds
In the digital age, a new Twitter strategy can have implications for a healthy bottom line. How companies handle customer complaints on social media plays a critical role in their customer-focused performance management systems. However, there has been a notable lack of descriptive information related to assessing managerial performance based on the handling of online complaints.
New proxies for expected duration of competitive advantage
Based on the emerging technology, this paper proposes a new method to measure the expected duration of competitive advantage for average adopters. This method is based on public data, such as google searches, press releases, book titles, and companies’ disclosures with respect to the technology. The method is very easy to implement.
SAF PhD student receives Warren Ober Award for Outstanding Teaching
The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) is pleased to share that Jillian Adams has been awarded the Warren Ober Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student. This award is given to a University of Waterloo graduate student in the Faculty of Arts who has made significant contributions to teaching.
New SFM degree woos next generation of green financial experts
When Blake Phillips began his doctorate in finance in 2009, he was asked to declare a focus. With previous degrees in biology and forestry and an interest in conservation, he zeroed in on sustainable finance.
Waterloo professor recognized for excellence in service
Congratulations to School of Accounting and Finance professor Ranjini Jha, recipient of the 2023 Arts Award for Excellence in Service!
Established in 2012 by then-dean Doug Peers, the Arts Awards for Excellence in Service, Teaching and Research recognize exceptional contributions made by faculty, staff, and students in the Faculty of Arts. This is the 11th anniversary of the Arts Awards and more than 30 members of the Arts community were nominated by their chairs, supervisors, and colleagues.
Leveraging your passions and your skills to be a well-rounded professional and community member
The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) caught up with Andres Perez-Vilarino (MAcc ’19) to discuss his career post-graduation, and to learn how he has leveraged his education and passions to help inform his role.
Congratulations to SAF professor Ranjini Jha, recipient of a 2023 Arts Award
More than 30 nominations submitted for the 2023 Arts Awards for Excellence in Service, Teaching, and Research posed an especially tough challenge for members of the Arts Honours and Awards (AHA) committee this spring. So many outstanding members of the Arts community inspired their chairs, supervisors, and colleagues to put names forward as nominees to recognize their contributions and achievements. Today, Dean Sheila Ager and the AHA committee are happy to share the results.
Waterloo professor recognized for best paper by the Canadian Academic Accounting Association
Wenqian Hu’s paper Trust Versus Rewards: Revisiting Managerial Discretion in Incomplete Contracts was awarded the Lazaridis Institute Prize for the best paper on accounting issues relevant to technology firms. The paper finds that an algorithm-generated bonus allocation scheme improves employee productivity, compared with human managers’ bonus allocation.
2022 Outstanding Performance Award recipients named
Recipients of the 2022 Outstanding Performance Award have been named and include three School of Accounting and Finance faculty members: David Ha, Deborah Kraft and Daniel Rogozynski.
Employers should think twice before implementing peer recognition programs
In fast-paced and often rapidly changing work environments, employers continue to seek new and improved ways to recognize employees in the workplace. However, new research from the University of Waterloo suggests that public peer recognition may backfire by enabling comparisons among employees, and these comparisons may make some employees feel unfairly treated.
Waterloo professor distills responsibility of accountants faced with suspected regulation non-compliance
Krista Fiolleau, associate professor in the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) has recently published a chapter titled “The professional responsibility of accountants as re-defined by the inclusion of the NOCLAR standard in the Code of Ethics” within the Research Handbook on Accounting Ethics alongside co-authors Pier-Luc Nappert from Université Laval and Linda Thorne from the Schulich School of Business. NOCLAR, an acronym meaning non-compliance with laws and regulations is discussed extensively throughout the chapter.
Meet the 2023 Immigration Women of Inspiration recipients
From becoming the first member of her family to graduate from university, Ranjini Jha now educates other students as a professor of finance at the University of Waterloo.
Building and applying an investor mindset
Currently, Ho works as an associate in private equity at Brookfield Asset Management and he attributes the start of building his investor mindset to his experience at the University of Waterloo with the Student Investment Fund (SIF). SIF gave him and other SAF students the unique opportunity to invest with real money and get hands-on-training in equity valuation and portfolio management with guidance from industry experts and faculty mentors. This taught him about value investing that he then applied to his co-op role as private equity analyst at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and when competing in the CFA Institute Research Challenge.
Mingyue Zhang - Assistant Professor
Mingyue Zhang is an assistant professor of accounting at the School of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waterloo.
She earned her PhD in Accounting from the University of Toronto (Rotman School of Management) and Master of Professional Accounting from Singapore Management University. She is also an affiliate of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.(ACCA)
Waterloo professor inducted to the Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame
by Alyana Versolatto
Safeguarding against phishing emails
Cyber-attacks and data breaches are of great concern for data-sensitive organizations. These organizations are adept at safeguarding data but fail in safeguarding against cyber-attacks. Phishing is a semantic attack that deceives email users into clicking on the embedded link or attachment in an email. The goal could be to induce the email users to subsequently give away sensitive information, enable malware that can steal passwords, or install a backdoor into the user’s system and encrypt the users’ data. Phishing imposes a great risk on these organizations for two reasons. First, even a non-vital position in which employees likely perceive little cyber risk, if being attacked, could cause significant economic loss and litigations. Second, phishing emails could simultaneously reach most employees within an organization. Thus, strengthening the frontier of safeguarding against phishing is of vital importance.
The journey to a career in internal audit
On a bright sunny day at the TD Centre in Toronto, professor Adam Vitalis interviewed four SAF alums about their careers in the internal audit field. Internal audit is a critical component of effective corporate governance and risk management and plays an important role in helping organizations achieve their objectives while safeguarding their assets and reputation.
Higher employee performance with charitable donation rewards instead of cash rewards
As workplace practices continue to shift, organizations are finding inventive ways to keep their employees motivated and committed to reaching their goals.
Sustainable innovations shine at the Velocity $5K finals
The University of Waterloo community came together to cheer on eight finalist teams as they pitched to a panel of judges and a chock-full room of attendees at the Velocity $5K finals on March 30th in the Black and Gold Room at the University’s Student Life Centre.
Q and A with the experts: The banking crisis and Canada
The recent collapse of banks in the United States and this week's intervention by the Swiss government to facilitate the takeover of banking giant Credit Suisse might have some worried about a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.
Dr. James R. Thompson, associate professor in the School of Accounting and Finance and co-director of the University of Waterloo's Computing and Financial Management program, sheds light on what's causing the instability in the banking system and how it might affect Canadian financial institutions.
Banking crisis echoes 2008 but with ‘marked differences’
Many fear a repeat of 2008 given the recent collapse of banks in the United States and the intervention that happened this week by the Swiss government to facilitate the takeover of banking giant Credit Suisse.
Be genuine and honest - to yourself and others
The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) caught up with Laura Fong (MAcc '20) to chat about her career since graduation and her path to pursuing a career in tax. Fong, a Master of Accounting (MAcc) graduate, worked with Deloitte for all her co-op terms as a student. With the support and encouragement of her colleagues, she has happily stayed at Deloitte post-graduation. She continues to thrive in this positive environment as she grows her skills to become a great tax practitioner.
Celebrating International Women's Day 2023
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #EmbraceEquity, calling people to imagine a world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where differences are valued and celebrated. Today and every day, the School of Accounting and Finance is proud to celebrate the contributions and achievements of women in our community.
Muhammad Azim, Assistant Professor
Muhammad Azim is an Assistant Professor at the School of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waterloo.
He acquired his Bachelor of Commerce from Queen's University, Masters in Finance from Queen's University, and a PhD in Accounting from the University of Toronto. He has previously worked at Deloitte's Assurance and Advisory Services, and during that time he also obtained his CPA and CA degrees.
Empowering 2SLGBTQIA+ students to bring their authentic selves to school and to the workplace
The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) caught up with Alba Navarro (MAcc '21) to discuss her career since graduation and the gap in support for 2SLGBTQIA+ students that she experienced in university.
Alba, a Master of Accounting graduate, is energized by the work that she does as a Consultant in Deloitte Canada’s Finance and Performance team. Alba helps companies bridge technology-enabled transformation with leading practice business processes for their finance functions.
Tisha King, Assistant Professor
Tisha King is a professional accountant and earned her Ph.D. from Wilfrid Laurier University. Professor King specializes in behavioral research that largely focuses on ethical judgments and decision-making within the context of taxpayers and tax professionals. Her recent studies investigate how advances in technology, penalties, and fairness influence tax compliance. In her free time, Professor King enjoys running, biking, and hiking with her family.
It was written in the stars
This Valentine’s Day, we are sharing the story of Candy and Francis Lanois (MAcc '12), two graduates of the Master of Accounting program who may not agree on the story of their first date but agree that they saw something special in one another from the start. After fatefully meeting in their fourth year of studies, their love was sparked with romantic star gazing dates in St. Jacobs, and many bubble tea and ice cream outings. Now happily married, their advice is to never stop dating.
Twins by chance, classmates by choice
Sisters Stephanie Nguyen and Jessica Nguyen celebrate graduating from the Master of Accounting (MAcc) program and passing the CPA Common Final Examination (CFE) together. During their time at the University of Waterloo they had in each other a built-in best friend, study partner and cheerleader.
New year, new taxes: how taxation changes in 2023 could affect you
The federal government has introduced several changes to taxation and tax benefits for this year — and experts tell CBC News the tax changes related to housing are the ones to watch.
The federal government indexes personal income tax brackets and many tax benefits to inflation. They'll increase by 6.3 per cent this year, says the Canada Revenue Agency.
Agility at the intersection of computer science and finance for FinTech
What do robo-investors, cryptocurrency, and your bank app have in common? These, plus dozens of other technology-based financial management software platforms all fall under the category and growing industry of FinTech.
Congratulations to the winning teams of the second Annual CFM 101 Team Competition
The Second Annual CFM 101 Team Competition was held in December. Teams were again required to choose from a basket of stocks to include in their portfolios to meet pre-set goals.
Students showcase passion to solve problems at Velocity $5K Finals
Fall 2022 Velocity $5K winners share desire to innovate
Excitement permeated the packed room as eight finalist teams made their last effort to convince a panel of judges that their business idea was deserving of one of four $5,000 awards at Velocity’s $5K pitch competition.
Preparing future generations to live financially healthy lives
Philip Mayers (MAcc '86) brings over 25 years of finance and general management experience in financial services businesses to his role as senior vice president and chief financial officer at Sagen - Canada's largest private default mortgage insurance provider. The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) caught up with Mayers to discuss his career, the importance of building confidence and competence to make financial decisions for a healthy financial future and why it’s important to him to give back to Waterloo and SAF.
Grow through what you go through – a mantra that has led to success for MAcc 2019 grads, Jacqueline and Jasper
Jacqueline Sue and fellow 2019 Master of Accounting (MAcc) graduate, Jasper Lam are both working in social-focused organizations. In building their careers, both attribute the co- and extra-curricular opportunities they’ve had in leading them into careers with an objective to solve social problems and provide social benefits. The School of Accounting and Finance caught up with Jacqueline and Jasper to learn more about their experiences and their motivations to do good for their community, Canada, and potentially the world.
Waterloo alum, Annu Puri (MAcc '19), discusses his passion for creating and chasing opportunities
Young alum Annu Puri (MAcc ’19), attributes his current success to Waterloo’s entrepreneurial spirit and the experiences and mentors he’s had throughout his academic career. Calling Waterloo Region home, Puri returned to the University to see how it has changed across campus, chat about his career path, and highlight his passion project, &Vision, with the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF).
From audit to asset management, alum Erica La (MAcc '10, CPA) adds ESG as a common denominator
Erica La’s (MAcc ’10, CPA) career journey started quite traditionally from an accounting perspective. As an Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) student, La completed her co-op work terms and began her career after graduation with PwC. After exploring and taking on diverse roles within audit, La left PwC as a senior associate, to work for Borealis Infrastructure, now known as OMERS Infrastructure. La’s next career move brought her to RealStar, a past audit client from
SAF Director's message
Blake Phillips is the Director of the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF, September 1, 2022 - ), the ninth director since the School was established in 1980. From 2018 – 2022, Blake served as the Deputy Director for the SAF.
Daily movie theatre ticket sales can predict stock market returns
Daily box office earnings can accurately predict stock market returns, according to a new study.
Traditionally quarterly and monthly consumption data is used to predict stock market performance. But using box office earnings – a measure that captures consumption on a more frequent basis – offers more timely and relevant data for decision-makers in the financial markets.
The generosity of SAF alum, Lana Paton inspires others to follow suit
Sheilaah Guthrie, associate director of advancement at the School of Accounting and Finance had the chance to sit down with alum Lana Paton (BMath ’93) whose generous donation established the Lana Paton Women in Finance Scholarship in 2020. Lana is vice-chair and managing partner of the Greater Toronto Area and South Western Ontario Region at PwC Canada and a member of their Extended Leadership Team. The Lana Paton Women in Finance Scholarship was created to encourage and support aspiring undergraduate women to strive for leadership roles. Historically, leadership roles in the finance industry have been dominated by men. The School hopes the scholarship will act as encouragement to bridge the gender gap in leadership roles within finance, accounting, and business in general. Amazingly, Lana’s scholarship has already inspired other alumni to establish similar undergraduate scholarships that will further break down gender disparity and inclusivity barriers.
SAF alum cooks up a gourmet startup alongside a Michelin-trained chef
Seasoned entrepreneur Ian Weng (MAcc ’13) began his career at KPMG in audit and advisory services after graduating from the Master of Accounting program. While at KPMG he gained a breadth of knowledge and obtained his CPA, CA designation. Like many University of Waterloo alums, however, he caught the entrepreneurship bug and wanted to create something—so he ended up leaving KPMG to start his first tech startup called ChopChop.
Welcoming New Faculty
Welcome to Fall 2022 and with the beginning of the semester, SAF will be welcoming five new faculty members. We’re excited to have them with us and look forward to being inspired by their energy, research and expertise. Please join SAF in welcoming them to the School of Accounting and Finance.
Muhammad Azim, Assistant Professor
When every second counts
A medical technology company launched by two Waterloo Engineering graduates is making news this week with the announcement that a device it developed has been successfully used to treat stroke victims.
Cash may not be the most effective way to motivate employees
Tangible rewards motivate employees when they’re easy to use, pleasurable, unexpected, and distinct from salary, a new study found.
A recent survey of firms in the United States revealed that 84 per cent spent more than $90 billion annually on tangible employee rewards, such as gift cards, recreation trips and merchandise, in hopes of increasing productivity.
Motivating Employees with Goal-Based Prosocial Rewards
A recent trend in organizations is to motivate employees with goal-based prosocial rewards, whereby employees must donate their rewards to charities upon goal attainment. We examine the motivational effects of goal-based prosocial rewards versus cash rewards under different levels of goal difficulty. We develop our hypotheses based on affective valuation theory, which posits that when valuing uncertain outcomes by affect rather than calculation, individuals are largely insensitive to changes in probability of the outcomes, including probability of goal attainment.