The Toronto CFA Society has issued a call for submissions to their 5th annual Investment Research Challenge (IRC). The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) is looking for up to 5 students to form a group and represent the University of Waterloo.

As per CFA rules, only one team is allowed per university, and thus, we are opening this application to ALL University of Waterloo students in ALL faculties.

In your application, please provide the following information:

1. Name, Program, Year in program, student ID, email address

2. Resume and transcript/unofficial grade report

3. Motivation for applying for competition(s) (maximum of 200 words)

4. Potential fellow team members you would like to recommend if you were selected

Please submit your applications electronically to Lynn Graham (l2graham@uwaterloo.ca) and Professor Craig Geoffrey (cgeoffrey@uwaterloo.ca) by Thursday, October 3^rd 11:00PM with the email header: CFA – Investment Research Challenge .

Applicants will be screened by a selection committee of SAF faculty. Selected applicants will be invited to participate in an interview.

More information on the Challenge is available at www.cfatoronto.ca>Students and CFA Candidates>Research Challenge.

About The Challenge is an equity research competition among student teams from the world’s top university business and finance programs. Students write an equity research report on a publicly traded company, and present their findings to an expert panel. The teams are judged on their written reports and the presentations and a winner is selected. Throughout the competition, leading investment professionals volunteer as mentors and judges and teach these students best practices in equity research and corporate analysis.

Prizes $1,000 (CAD) cash prize to each winning team member, complete CFA curriculum to the winning team’s school and an all expenses paid trip for the students to take part in the Americas Regional Finals in April 2013.

Judging Criteria

Assessment will be based on the written reports and an oral presentation to a panel, both judged according to predetermined criteria. Student teams will be given these criteria before they begin their research.
The written reports will be assessed by a team of graders selected by Toronto CFA Society. Grading will consist of a blind process in which the identities of the universities are unknown to the graders. The teams that receive the top 4 scores will be selected as finalists.
The finalist teams will make an oral presentation of their research to a panel of well known industry experts in downtown Toronto.
A winner will be selected from the finalists based on the combined scores received for the written reports and the oral presentations. The scores will be weighted 50% for the written report and 50% for the oral presentation.
Assessment will be based on the written reports and an oral presentation to a panel, both judged according to predetermined criteria. Student teams will be given these criteria before they begin their research.
The written reports will be assessed by a team of graders selected by Toronto CFA Society. Grading will consist of a blind process in which the identities of the universities are unknown to the graders. The teams that receive the top 4scores will be selected as finalists.
The finalist teams will make an oral presentation of their research to a panel of well known industry experts in downtown Toronto.
A winner will be selected from the finalists based on the combined scores received for the written reports and the oral presentations. The scores will be weighted 50% for the written report and 50% for the oral presentation.

Eligibility

Teams consist of 3-5 members, and may include graduate and/or undergraduate students. Each team must have one faculty advisor from their school submit a completed application form.
Students must be enrolled in the current term at the university they represent at the time of the local Challenge final.
If the regional or global final is scheduled for a time after the student has graduated, that student can still participate.
Only one entry per school will qualify for this competition, please note that applications are considered on a first come- first-serve basis.
Students may not have been or currently be employed in a role whose primary duty involves fundamental company analysis; with the exception of students who have had an internship in that function for six months or less.
CFA charterholders are not eligible to participate on Investment Research Challenge teams.

PLEASE NOTE: ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS ARE IMPORTANT SELECTION CRITERIA. WE PREFER STUDENTS WHO HAVE TAKEN AFM271/AFM272/AFM 273 (Corp. Finance 1/ Managerial Finance 1), AFM 274/AFM371/AFM372 (Corp. Finance 2/ Managerial Finance 2) OR EQUIVALENT COURSES. FURTHER, AFM472 (Investments) OR AN EQUIVALENT IS CONSIDERED AN ASSET.

Strong Performance at the CFA–IRC by UW teams

UW student teams have had a strong showing in the last four consecutive years at the CFA Institute Research Challenge, having won the Toronto Competition (provincial level) in 2012 and 2013 to compete at the Americas Regional Competition (North America level). In 2012, the team made it to the Final Four at the Americas Regional Final in New York (http://saf.uwaterloo.ca/SAF/SAFNews/Winter/CFAInstituteResearchChallenge2013.html).