News

by Alyana Versolatto

The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) is pleased to share that professor Efrim Boritz was inducted this year into the Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame for his extraordinary contributions to the accounting profession. During Boritz’s illustrious 40-year career at the University of Waterloo, he has been a prolific writer and researcher with 24 books and monographs to his credit and over 40 articles in refereed journals. His research involves investigating areas of professional practice in external auditing and internal auditing which rely on the exercise of professional judgment.

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 School of Accounting and Finance is thrilled to congratulate the winning team for the 2023 TMU Expand Your Empire (EYE) Development Conference, the ninth annual edition of this highly competitive event. The winning team took home both the first-place prize of $10,000 and The Most Feasible Design Award of $1,250.

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.

As workplace practices continue to shift, organizations are finding inventive ways to keep their employees motivated and committed to reaching their goals.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.