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When Pratik Shah (MAcc ’09) came across the CFO role for the neo-biotech company Cyclica on a MaRS job board, it took him right back to his undergrad at the University of Waterloo. As a Biotech/CPA student, his long-term career goal was to work for high-growth startups making a social impact. Better yet, Shah wanted to leverage his scientific background, which aligned well with Cyclica’s bold mission to build the biotech pipeline of the future.

University of Waterloo students are known to be an ambitious bunch, always looking for ways to advance their experiences and knowledge to gain a step ahead in the real world. The same can be said for School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) students, who can meet their ambitious goals by getting involved with the Student Venture Fund (SVF).

Waterloo alum, Carmen Chung (MAcc ’10, CPA – Hong Kong, Illinois, Ontario) leveraged the international exposure she’s gained from having worked in Toronto, New York and Hong Kong to build a career that has led to an exciting and unique career in investments, accounting, finance, and beyond. The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) caught up with Chung to learn more about her career vision and how she’s navigated a dynamic global journey.

The Women in Accounting and Finance: Global Summit is an event that celebrates our female leaders and showcases their accomplishments in the field of accounting and finance. This year, though virtual, was a great opportunity to hear the unique and empowering stories of the panelists from around the globe.

Millions of investors and countless fund managers direct their investments to companies that are highly-rated on the basis of their environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) activities in an attempt to do good. The claim by ESG advocates, pundits, and many academics that highly-rated ESG companies and funds also deliver superior returns bolsters this move: Doing better by doing good. The best of all worlds.

But do ESG ratings really deliver on the promise? Are highly-ranked ESG businesses really more caring of the environment, more selective of the societies in which they operate, and more focused on countries with good corporate governance? In short, is ESG really good? The answer is no.

Like International Women’s Day, the Women in Accounting and Finance Global Summit events serve to inspire current students and young alums in amplifying the importance of female leadership and perspectives in business. The 2021 Global Summit event for the Women in Accounting & Finance panel discussion brought together three School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) alums to share their career stories and answer questions from event attendees.

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #BreakTheBias, calling people to imagine a gender-equal world free of stereotypes, bias and discrimination. This is also a day to recognize and celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

Corporate taxes can be good for shareholders: Why some actually want their companies to pay tax

As one of the panelists of the 2021 Women in Accounting & Finance: Global Summit event, Carmen Chung (MAcc ’10) shared stories of her co-op experiences in accounting and early career opportunities in finance.

It doesn’t take long to realize that for alum, Jonathan Yu (MAcc ’07, CPA), people and talent are the most important assets for his work with RBC. The innovative nature and authentic work in equity, diversity and inclusion at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) have made the last 12 years for Yu exciting and fresh. Yu returned to the Waterloo campus to chat with SAF about his career path and passion for helping RBC further its diversity and inclusion goals.