Excel At Work

Heading off to co-op? Make sure you brush up on those Excel skills! Learn from the pros at Excel at Work, a workshop led by Anqi Wang and Michael Wang. It'll be taking place on Friday, November 29th at 2pm, in HH1102. Please note that due to the advanced nature of the workshop, priority will be given to students in 2A and above. Spots are limited so register before Tuesday, November 26th at:http://goo.gl/rxOInd

Application for Project Manager of Winter 2014 Tax Clinic

Hi SAF! Are you interested in a great leadership opportunity? Sign up to be a Project Manager for the Winter 2014 Tax Clinic! Applications are due Wednesday November 13th and are open to SAF students in 2B and above, on campus during Winter 2014. The link can be found at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-qu3gzdS2mjpUHO3fVwVaGW8b4Se_pTMiYHh-NUixBI/viewform! Questions can be directed to w.cai@uwafsa.ca

Winners of the AFSA Community Leadership Award

Deliberation has been completed, and the first annual AFSA Community Leadership Award has its winners! We would like to thank all of the nominators who spent their time nominating their deserving peers for this award. We received many great applications all highlighting great achievements by students in the School of Accounting and Finance, but unfortunately, we could only award three individuals this honour. In no particular order, here are our winners!

Shubham Datta (Class of 2013), Raymond Lu (Class of 2013) and Arnold Hang (Class of 2014)

Thank you so much for your hard work in making the School of Accounting and Finance and the generally community better this past year and the course of your community career.

The winners will receive:

1. A dedicated page on the AFSA website featuring your contributions and congratulating you on this achievement 2. Names engraved on the AFSA Community Leadership Awards Plaque in the SAF lounge

3. Invitation to the Annual SAF Awards Diner 4. A small gift from AFSA

Please view below for full candidate profiles of the winners, describing their community leadership work over this past year.

Special thanks to the members of the Selection Committee that scrutinized the nominations received. The Selection Committee was comprised of Andrew Ecclestone (Professor, SAF), Julie Robson (Professor, SAF), Quinntin Fong (AFSA President ’12-’13), Vithushan Jeyakumaran (AFSA Chair of the Board of Directors’12-’13), Jonathan Chan (AFSA Director ’12-’13), Daniel Zhang (SAF Student), and Alan Cheung (SAF Student)

Shubham Datta, Class of 2013 Nominator: Nitish Sharma, Class of 2014 Generally, what beneficial activity is the candidate involved in on campus and/or in their community? Why is this activity of benefit? Shubham has served as the VP Finance and the  President of the Accounting and Finance Student Association in the past. He devoted well over 1000 hours in these capacities to the betterment of our school. In these roles, I personally saw how he brought accountability of executives to the table in every meeting and would not back down from escalating issues to faculty. What is the one defining moment or event that best encapsulates the achievements of the candidate? If there is no such moment, what is the one involvement of the candidate that would showcase their achievements or growth as a leader? There are several defining moments that best display Shubham's ability as a leader throughout his time in SAF. However, the one that stands out the most to me is his continual involvement in the betterment of our school, even when he no longer is on campus. Just these past few months, Shubham was an active participant on the AFSA election forums, asking candidates the difficult questions many other individuals would shy away from asking. Shubham also is a regular attender (via Livestream or otherwise) of AFSA General Meetings and will frequently follow up with executives and other key personnel to ensure that promises are being kept. What else should we know about the candidate? Shubham is a great SAF student and does not often get the recognition that he deserves. I personally feel that his contributions to the school have been overlooked as he has never really obtained any hardware for his time on AFSA and otherwise.

Raymond Lu, Class of 2013 Nominator: Jean Wu, Class of 2017 Generally, what beneficial activity is the candidate involved in on campus and/or in their community? Why is this activity of benefit? As one of the founders of ACE Consulting Group, Raymond has brought to SAF an amazing organization that has helped well over 50+ clients including on-campus clubs, start-up companies through consulting work while collaborating with programs such as VeloCity, MBET, E Co-op, and so much more. The practicality of ACE speaks for itself but Raymond’s dedication and leadership since its inception has allowed it to thrive as an organization every SAF student wants to be a part of. As one of the Board of Directors this year, Raymond (along with CEO May Zhang) led the rebranding of ACE Financial Services to become what it is today – ACE Consulting Group.  The smooth transition that Raymond led and encouragement that Raymond gave are reasons for the organization’s successes in the last year. In the past, I understand that Raymond was also on the DECA Waterloo team for several years. From several testimonials and my impression of him, I have no doubt that he was an outstanding DECA Executive. All in all, I nominate Raymond for the AFSA Community Leadership Award due to his complete support for the SAF community and his outstanding character. What is the one defining moment or event that best encapsulates the achievements of the candidate? If there is no such moment, what is the one involvement of the candidate that would showcase their achievements or growth as a leader? Raymond’s involvement in extracurriculars began in his first year and never stopped. Being one of the co-founders of ACE Consulting Group and a DECA Waterloo Executive was just the beginning of his contribution to the SAF community. Awarding him with the AFSA Community Leadership award would be the perfect way to say thank-you for everything he’s done during the past five years as he graduates from the Masters of Accounting program. What else should we know about the candidate? As one of my mentors through first year, Raymond has been an incredible person who is always so easy to talk to and offers great advice.

Arnold Hang, Class of 2014 Nominator: Ash Goel, Class of 2013 and Jeffrey Wong, Class of 2015 Generally, what beneficial activity is the candidate involved in on campus and/or in their community? Why is this activity of benefit? Ash Goel: Arnold has been a Residence Life Don for four terms while continuing to balance his academics and other extracurricular commitments. He is also the Managing Director for the hEDGE finance conference organized by the SAF. He has also been a TA and led tutorials for AFM 101, in addition to being involved with UWDECA and AFSA in prior years. These contributions highlight Arnold's commitment to enriching the student experience for other SAF students as well as in the wider UW community. Jeffrey Wong: Arnold is involved in various activities in the SAF. During the fall of 2012, he was a research assistant for Professor Jee Hae Lim. I was able to witness Arnold’s dedication as I was also in the same role. Aside from being a RA, Arnold has been a tutorial leader for AFM101 for two terms. In this capacity, he has experienced how a professor teaches a lecture, but most importantly, he has made the accounting content interesting and presentable to his students and incoming first years.  He has also given me the push and inspiration to become an AFM101 tutorial leader role for this spring term. Arnold has also been a residence don and has fostered a great sense of community in his quads while being active in SAF and keeping up with his schoolwork. What is the one defining moment or event that best encapsulates the achievements of the candidate? If there is no such moment, what is the one involvement of the candidate that would showcase their achievements or growth as a leader? Ash Goel: As a first-time Don, Arnold faced the unique challenge of having an upper-year community. As a fellow Don, I know how difficult it is to engage upper-year students who are generally more independent and busy than first-year students. In spite of this challenge, Arnold is one of very few Dons who was able to achieve a 100% completion rate on his Don evaluations with a community of over 40 students. Jeffrey Wong: In my opinion, there is not really one defining moment or event that best encapsulated the achievements of Arnold. Arnold’s strength lies in his versatility and his diversity of experiences, ranging from hEDGE, SAF positions, UW Residence Don, and DECA. In his roles as a tutorial leader and Don, he has empowered others around him to succeed by providing his own insights and experiences. As well, hEDGE is helping establish a finance reputation of SAF and he is currently part of the movement by managing the logistics of the event. Personally, he has shared his experiences and reasons as to why he became an AFM101 tutorial leader and this has motivated me to do the same.