Education
Degree Partnerships
CGA-Canada’s innovative degree partnerships offer customized learning opportunites for both members and students.
FROM: JUL-AUG 2005 ISSUE | BY JOHANNA WARD
CGA-Canada has always placed great value on education, and the Association has remained at the forefront of the accounting profession by maintaining the highest standards. In 1998, the Association adopted a bachelor degree requirement in order to provide a solid foundation for the core professional CGA competencies.
While students may attain the degree from any recognized institution, CGA-Canada offers integrated degree opportunities through partnerships with three major Canadian degree-granting institutions. These innovative programs have been carefully crafted to allow students a range of choices and areas of specialization.
In 2002, CGA-Canada entered into a partnership with Laurentian University in Ontario to offer CGA members and students access to two innovative degree programs — an online honours bachelor of commerce (H.B.Com) and an online MBA. The curricula incorporate teamwork and the benefits of learning with a group of like-minded professionals, while allowing students to develop a network of peers in management across Canada and internationally.
Advanced online technologies give students the advantage of both independent study and interactive learning. Courses are delivered through CGA-Canada's online learning management system, edNET, making the programs flexible, portable, and ideal for busy professionals.
The two Laurentian degree programs form part of the Association's broader degree partnership scheme. The Association has also joined forces with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Athabasca University to offer online degrees that can be earned concurrently with the CGA designation.
"CGA-Canada has always had a strong relationship with the academic community," says Lynda Carson, FCGA, CGA-Canada's vice-president of Education and Operational Affairs. "We worked closely with them to craft cutting-edge degree programs that ensure continued open access to the CGA program of professional studies, and offer CGAs an unparalleled opportunity."
Following an extensive consultative process, the Association in 2001 inked a deal with SAIT to offer a four-year online applied bachelor of accounting and information technology (IT) management. The same year, it partnered with one of the world's premiere providers of online MBAs, Athabasca University, to offer an executive online MBA. The Laurentian partnership followed in 2002. The four degree programs are designed to complement the CGA program of professional studies, which is competency based and strongly rooted in ethics and IT.
Laurentian H.B.Com
The H.B.Com degree is designed for students interested in broadening their business and management skills while earning their designation. Accessible admission and flexible program delivery make it an ideal fit for those seeking to earn an honours degree, and the program can be completed concurrently with CGA studies in an additional five terms of part-time study.
The first group of graduates completed the program in June 2005. Among them is Peggy Ashbourne, who hails from Newfoundland-Labrador, and who completed her H.B.Com concurrently with the CGA program. Ashbourne says she found it a bit challenging to manage both programs of study while working full-time, but says it was worth it, as she feels the H.B.Com degree adds great breadth to her skill set.
"The courses offer value from a broad business perspective and enable you to focus on aspects such as marketing, strategy formulation, and organizational behaviour," says Ashbourne, adding that the internship component allowed her to complete a project that was both personally interesting and beneficial to her company. For the past two years, she has worked as a financial accountant in the St. John's office of G J Cahill & Company, an electrical and instrumentation contracting company.
Ashbourne researched other options before enrolling in the Laurentian program, and discovered that the H.B.Com was competitively priced and, being Web-based, would not interfere with her work schedule. "Before doing the program, I was a strong advocate of in-class learning," says Ashbourne. "This experience has shown me that online learning can be just as effective and is much more convenient than the traditional classroom setting."
Laurentian MBA
Designed for CGAs and students, this online MBA is ideal for people looking for a high-quality, flexible, and challenging master's degree program. CGAs receive advanced standing, and the curriculum builds on business concepts studied in the CGA program, with an emphasis on developing additional skills for career advancement. The Laurentian MBA promotes a broader understanding of operations, marketing, research, and strategy — all necessary for making effective decisions at the senior management level. Participants also develop a network of peers in management across Canada and internationally.
The first class of MBA students began their studies in June 2004. Among them is Captain Eleanor Haevens, CGA, the comptroller of 39 Canadian Brigade Group in Vancouver, responsible for assisting the Commander of the Brigade in managing all financial resources for the army in British Columbia. She recently completed the CGA program, even doing two of her courses while serving in Bosnia, and is now earning her MBA through Laurentian University.
Haevens, who also holds a degree in business administration from the Royal Military College of Canada, initially decided to pursue her CGA in part to get ahead in the military, which provided her with financial assistance for the CGA program and her MBA studies.
"The combination of my CGA designation and MBA degree will help me both professionally and personally. Post-graduate studies and professional development are highly respected in the military, and, while not a prerequisite for promotion as an officer, they are highly encouraged. I also feel it is important to develop and maintain my skills in accounting and business administration for the future or for a second career if I ever decide to leave the military," says Haevens.
SAIT
For members and students seeking a solid foundation in IT management, SAIT's integrated, four-year degree is a unique opportunity to earn a combination of skills training in both accounting and IT. The accounting courses emphasize technology issues, and the IT courses focus on accounting and business information systems, with the integration of the two subject areas leading to a unique and highly marketable skill set. About half of the students currently enrolled in the program are members, and half are students in the CGA program. SAIT conferred degrees on the first graduates of the program in March 2004.
"Everything we do in accounting is underpinned by technology," says Lou Richards, SAIT's coordinator of the SAIT-CGA partnership. "Graduates of this program have the ability to bridge between IT and accounting in large corporations, and act as a knowledgeable resource in small-medium sized enterprises and public practice, where often the controller or principal will be the IT go-to person for their client."
To keep pace with rapidly changing technology, three of the eight degree courses are rewritten each year, while the other five are updated on an ongoing basis. SAIT used a collaborative process in developing the curriculum with CGA-Canada, using focus groups of CGAs in industry, public practice, and government.
"It is important for accountants to have an IT skill set that complements their rigorous CGA training," says Richards. "A key component of the program is the inclusion of a financial perspective in each subject area to augment the technology components. We identified competencies in each area and hired subject matter experts to write the material."
Richards cites the Directed Field Studies component as a differentiating factor in this degree program. Unlike a co-op program or practicum, students are required to fulfill academic requirements while concurrently managing a work related project as part of their studies in their work environment. "Testimonials tell us that the integration of accounting and technology courses in Directed Field Studies has been a truly value-added experience. As a coordinator, success like this speaks for itself," she concludes.
David Lubi graduated from SAIT in 1981 with a major in accounting, and received his CGA designation in 1984. After working in accounting for 16 years, he switched to the IT field eight years ago. Lubi enrolled in the SAIT degree program in the fall of 2002, and completed his degree in December 2004.
"I felt that I needed more formal IT qualifications when I made a career change into the IT department," he says of his decision. "The IT field is constantly changing, and it can be difficult to stay current. SAIT's program is tailor-made for financial professionals who need to understand IT, and how it gives organizations a competitive advantage."
Lubi is the manager of Customer Service and Support with Anadarko Canada Corporation, one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the world, with assets of $20 billion. He found the degree's IT courses provided him with a much broader knowledge base on topics such as database management, networking, project management, and e-commerce. "I've already applied many of the concepts and techniques that I learned in my day-to-day work," he says. "I really enjoyed the distance learning program at SAIT, especially working with my online tutors, who provided timely assistance when I needed help in understanding a concept," Lubi continues.
"I would highly recommend SAIT's degree program to any accounting or finance professionals who are interested in the IT field," he adds. "The academic curriculum is outstanding, and it provides a great learning experience."
Athabasca University
Athabasca University's Centre for Innovative Management, located just outside Edmonton, is a well-known and internationally respected provider of online MBA programs, ranked by the Financial Times of London as one of the "Top 75 EMBAs in the World" in 2003 and 2004. CGA-Canada has joined with the Centre for Innovative Management to offer CGAs an executive MBA program designed to complement their knowledge and skills.
Dr. Lindsay Redpath is the executive director of the Centre for Innovative Management, the unit of Athabasca University responsible for the MBA and all other graduate programs in business. "The Athabasca MBA builds on the strong accounting and financial knowledge that each CGA brings to the program, and complements these professional skills with a broader understanding of the key tasks of management-managing strategy, information, people, resources, markets, and operations," says Redpath.
The executive MBA is a flexible and practical graduate-level program designed to augment a CGA's financial and accounting knowledge through an in-depth examination of the key competencies of successful management strategies. According to Redpath, "there is an exceptionally good ‘fit' in terms of the skill sets and knowledge that CGAs bring to the MBA program, and it's not surprising that they do so well."
Elizabeth Lindsay, CGA, MBA, graduated from the program in December 2004. For the past three years, Lindsay has served as vice-president, Finance, for the Merchant Banking line of business at BMO Nesbitt Burns in Toronto. She is a mother of two almost-grown children, and says she was drawn to the program because of its flexibility and practical application.
Lindsay completed the course in less than three years, spending about three hours a day studying during the week — mostly on the train during her hour-long commute into Toronto — and then another six or seven hours in the evenings and over the weekends. "In my home office, I could sit in my track suit, do my work, and walk down the hall and go to bed. The last thing I wanted after working all day was to sit in a classroom, so this was perfect."
Lindsay felt the distance education model was a great way to learn. "You know, in a university lecture hall with 500 people, there's limited participation. With the MBA online discussion boards, the participation level is huge, so even if you're shy, you are still interacting extensively with your peers and instructors," she says.
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Johanna Ward is CGA Magazine's production coordinator and a Vancouver-based freelance writer.