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Professional designations

Professional designations demonstrate expertise in specialized areas and signal that you have acquired skills and knowledge to a particular industry standard. At Rotman Commerce, students commonly consider the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) designations. 

If you are considering a career in professional accounting, we highly recommend that you pursue a CPA designation. CPA Ontario is the governing body in Ontario for individuals who have completed the intensive CPA certification program. Consult the following resources to find out more about the steps to obtain your CPA designation and the benefits of a CPA.   

For any specific CPA related questions, contact Sean Mullin, CPA Student Recruiter.

As a CFA program partner, Rotman Commerce is part of a distinguished list of 128 institutions from around the world. Each institution has demonstrated that its curriculum covers a significant portion of the Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK) and that it embraces the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct. The partnership signals to potential students, current students and the marketplace that Rotman Commerce’s curriculum is closely tied to professional practice and is well suited to preparing students to write the CFA exams.  

The partnership is with the program and not a specific specialist; it’s possible for students to cover the curricular knowledge by completing any of the three specialists, although the Finance & Economics specialist or Management specialist with a Finance focus aligns most closely to the CBOK.

More information on the CFA: 

If you’re in your final year of academic studies and planning to write the CFA Level I Exam, you can participate in the Rotman Commerce CFA Level I Exam Prep Workshop, which is offered twice a year – in Fall and Spring. This session includes:  

  • A CFA Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct Workshop
    The CFA Institute’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct is a key component of its mission to lead the global investment profession and is critical to maintaining capital market integrity and the public’s trust in the financial market. This workshop examines several investment scenarios based on real cases where you’ll be challenged to consider various courses of action to address complex issues based on the CFA Code of Ethics and Standards.  
  • CFA Level I Exam Prep  
    The second half of this session is dedicated to an exam review with practical exercises to help you prepare for the exam. Event information and registration will be available on the RC Portal and published in the weekly RC Ready newsletter.  

The BMO Financial Group Finance Group Finance Research and Trading Lab is pleased to introduce the Ethics Learning Lab offered by CFA Institute available to Rotman Commerce students free of charge.

What is the Ethics Learning Lab?
It is an active digital learning community for CFA Institute members, prospective members, students, and financial industry professionals. The Learning Lab offers world-class learning programs, a library of resources, and a community all focused on building and promoting ethics and professionalism in the financial industry.

Programs 
Trading and Analysis, Ethical Decision Making, Professionalism, Transparency and Disclosure, Interactions with Clients, Giving Voice to Values (GVV) for Investment Professionals.

For more details and registration, click here

Rotman Commerce has two dedicated CFA faculty advisors who are CFA charterholders and professors who teach both graduate and undergraduate finance courses. They possess a wealth of industry knowledge and teaching experience and are dedicated to helping students learn more about the CFA program.  

  • Maureen Stapleton, Associate Professor of Finance, Teaching Stream 
    Professor Stapleton teaches courses in financial markets and investments. Her interests include asset allocation, pension funds, mutual funds and ETFs. She has 25 years of industry experience in investment analysis and institutional portfolio management and holds the CFA designation and is a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute. She is a former Director of the Toronto CFA Society and a past President of Women in Capital Markets.  
  • Craig Geoffrey, Assistant Professor of Finance, Teaching Stream 
    Professor Geoffrey is a CFA charterholder who teaches courses in corporate finance and capital markets theory and is active with student competition teams. His interests include market microstructure, asset pricing and behavioural finance. Prior to his teaching career, he spent over 10 years working as a proprietary equity trader. 
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