Curriculum

The Graduate Diploma in Accounting program consists of five courses and has been specifically designed to build upon Laurier undergraduate courses to ensure comprehensive coverage of the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) competency map. Integrated within the graduate courses is coverage of the CPA Way.

Upon completion of these five courses and the required courses from your Laurier undergraduate program in accounting, you'll enter the CPA Professional Education Program (PEP) at Capstone 1, thereby bypassing the first four modules of the PEP. These courses have been designed to help you further develop the technical and enabling skills required to complete the Common Final Examination (CFE) and become a CPA.

In order to successfully complete the program and gain advanced standing in the first four modules of the CPA PEP, you must attain a minimum grade of 70% in each of the five graduate diploma courses (see below).

Faculty Team

The graduate diploma courses are designed and delivered by a combination of research faculty and experienced industry professionals. Instructors and course developers are professional accountants with CPA designations, with strong ties with CPA Ontario including both sessions leading and facilitating CPA PEP modules including Capstone 1 and 2.

Courses

BU517: Financial Statement Analysis

This course focuses on the use of financial statements for decision-making. It provides you with the opportunity to combine the knowledge and skills that you have acquired in previous accounting courses to assess the financial position and performance of a firm. The first part of the course focuses on three topics: introduction to standard analytical tools (ratios); financial instruments; and business valuations.  

The second part of the course focuses specifically on financial statement analysis and includes potential manipulation of accounting information by managers; an exploration of incentives that may underlie such manipulation; and a discussion of accounting policy choices available to managers that provide latitude in determining operating performance and financial position. 

BU527: Management Controls

This course provides an in-depth, case-based look at performance measurement and control. These are essential functions of management that ensure that the organization’s objectives and strategies are carried out effectively. Topics covered in this course include types of controls; control system costs; designing and evaluating control systems; incentive compensation; financial performance measures; and corporate governance.  

BU537: Integrated Cases in Accounting

This is a capstone case course that stresses both the technical and enabling competencies required for future professional accountants. More specifically, this course provides students with the opportunity to integrate the technical competencies covered in the CPA Competency Map. This course includes a survey of most of the topics included in the CPA Competency Map and an introduction to case writing techniques for use in responding to integrated accounting cases found on professional accounting examinations.

BU547: Advanced Auditing

This course builds on the knowledge and skills introduced in BU477 (Auditing) and BU486 (Information Systems Development, Control and Audit), introduces advanced topics in auditing, and considers current issues in the auditing profession.

BU557: Taxation III

Taxation III is the third of a three-course series in Canadian federal income taxation. The course is designed to introduce students to the more complex issues of Canadian income tax law and to explore tax-planning strategies for individuals, corporations, partnerships, joint ventures and trusts. Topics include:

• owner-manager compensation strategies
• employment
• self-employment and personal services businesses
• the decision to incorporate a business
• integration of corporate and personal income
• income-splitting strategies
• specific and general anti-avoidance rules
• estate planning
• corporate reorganizations
• business acquisitions
• divestitures