Celebrating the grads on the 2021 Honour Roll
The School of Accounting and Finance would like to congratulate our 8 alumni on their achievement in earning a place on the 2021 Common Final Examination (CFE) Honour Roll.
We may not have had the opportunity to celebrate with our Honour roll recipients in person as we usually would, nevertheless, SAF would like to commend our alumni for their hard work and wants to extend our sincere congratulations on this incredible accomplishment! We are proud to celebrate the success of our graduates and we are looking forward to seeing what all of our alumni do next!
2021 CFE Honour Roll recipients:
Daniyal Ahmed (MAcc '21)
Daniyal Ahmed currently works at PwC Toronto as a Senior Associate in the Assurance practice. At PwC, he primarily works with mining and technology clients. Looking forward, Daniyal is interested to see the role CPAs will play to help companies set and achieve their sustainability and ESG goals.
Daniyal recommends all upcoming CFE writers to thoroughly debrief the cases they attempt and maintain a tracker of assessment opportunities. This tracker will allow candidates to monitor their progress over time and identify key areas for improvement during their review.
Amber Yi Cheung (MAcc '21)
Amber Cheung currently works as a Financial Analyst at Capital One as part of the Controller’s Group where she is involved in the closing process and monthly BAUs. In her free time, she enjoys a wide range of crafts and DIY such as papermaking, clay, and printmaking. Amber recommends all upcoming CFE writers to debrief in a meaningful way by setting actionable items on how to improve. She also reminds writers to take enough breaks to avoid burning out and wishes you all the best of luck!
Casey Chung (MAcc '21)
Casey Chung currently works in tax at BDO Canada. In her free time, she enjoys going for walks and playing board games with friends and family. To future CFE writers, she recommends finding a good study group to learn from and lean on. The process may be overwhelming but have confidence in yourself and you’ll be surprised by how far you’ve come in the end. Good luck on the upcoming CFE!
Julee Huang (MAcc '21)
I am grateful to have been well-prepared for the CFE thanks to the courses provided during undergrad and MAcc, my co-op experiences in assurance at PwC, and support and resources provided by my mentors, professors, and friends. To future writers of the CFE, I would recommend making your own notes and frameworks to address common issues, skimming past CFE Board of Examiners’ reports, going over the CPA competency map, practice cases, and reserve time to unwind and have fun.
Meisha Lin (MAcc '21)
Meisha Lin currently works as a Senior Accountant at Deloitte, where she provides assurance engagements for clients in a wide range of sectors, including real estate, travel, and the public sector, and is continuing to work towards obtaining her CPA. Outside of work, Meisha enjoys binging true crime podcasts, trying new restaurants, and amateur film photography. Meisha's advice to future CFE writers is to develop your own case writing approach through trial and error rather than use someone else's approach, as what works best for everyone is different. It's also important not to overwork yourself and stress yourself out leading up to the exam - trust in the MAcc process and in your own abilities!
Wendy Liu (MAcc '21)
Wendy Liu currently works as a tax specialist at Fuller Landau LLP, where she completed three of her co-op terms. In this role, she is developing a strong foundation in several areas of personal, corporate and trust taxation with the support and encouragement of her team. Outside of work, she enjoys solving jigsaw puzzles, playing Teamfight Tactics, going for runs and eating plenty of snacks afterwards. As advice to future CFE writers, Wendy recommends forming a study group, creating a study schedule, and adhering to it as closely as possible. She believes that a study group can be a valuable resource as peers can provide impartial feedback and introduce different ways of thinking. In addition to academic support, they can offer incredible emotional support, which can help greatly through the CFE process.
Benjamin Loewen (MAcc '21)
Benjamin Loewen currently works as a tax senior at Deloitte LLP in Kitchener, where he did all of his co-op terms. At Deloitte, Benjamin prepares corporate, personal, and trust tax returns, and assists with various tax advisory and planning projects. Benjamin also works as a teaching assistant with the University of Waterloo, marking for upper-year AFM and MAcc courses, and looks forward to continued opportunities for involvement in the future. Benjamin recommends that all upcoming CFE writers practice good note-taking skills from the get-go and review their notes each week, in order to absorb all of the invaluable teaching and advice provided by the excellent professors in the MAcc program.
Tiffany Xie (BAFM '20)
Congratulations Tiffany Xie, the school is proud of you!
Congratulations to all our SAF graduates!