MBA students in the Professional Accounting Specialization program at the Odette School of Business received some welcome news Friday; they had passed the Common Final Examination (CFE).

The CFE is a challenging 15-hour national licencing exam that all accounting students must successfully complete to qualify for the Chartered Professional Accountant designation. Odette students achieved a pass rate of 86 per cent, a significant improvement over the Canadian average of 73.5 per cent over the last three years.

Program director Peter Savoni calls it an impressive accomplishment for these hard-working students.

“All of us at Odette are extremely proud of our 2023 MBA-PAS graduates,” he says. “This was a collective effort by accounting faculty, MBA-PAS alumni, and the leadership team at Odette to ensure these students were well prepared to write the CFE.”

Veronica Mijatovic, a successful 2023 CFE writer and MBA-PAS graduate, speaks highly of her experience in the program.

“The collaborative and participatory nature of the coursework, coaching style of instructors, small cohort size, and accessibility of the professors and director of our program all culminated to create a graduate experience that was personally enriching,” she says. “And most importantly, led to passing the CFE with an MBA in tow!”

—Sienna Ducharme