Mission & Structure

MMPA Mission

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Our MMPA Learning Experience combines a core MBA curriculum, plus professional-level, integrated development of knowledge and skills, reinforced by a co-op accounting experience.

 

Both are essential elements for successful careers in management, finance, consulting and professional accounting where professional accountants will be:

• financial and business professionals who enhance decision-making through professional services or positions in business, government, academe or other organizations.
• key internal business consultants, drawing on their financial and business expertise and their professional management skills to improve their organization's strategic positioning and performance.
• providers of assurance services who protect the integrity of financial and non-financial information, for our financial markets and stakeholders.

 

Quick Links

• Our Intention
• MMPA Objective

Excellence as an adviser, consultant, and provider of assurance services will depend on a number of factors. One of the most important is the professional accountant's understanding of how corporations and organizations operate and create value. Consequently, our MMPA learning experience focuses our students on understanding how business and organizations work, and on how they plan, function, identify, analyze and solve problems, and motivate employees. Only by understanding this broad business context, can a professional accountant appreciate how information can be used for decision making by investors, managers and others, and how a professional accountant might facilitate these decisions.

Our intention is to develop necessary specific qualities and competencies, including:

Our objective is to provide the qualities, understanding and competencies necessary for our MMPA graduates to mature to become:

Structure

The MMPA offers an integrated program, combining the best of a graduate education in management and professional accounting with the real-life work terms in a professional accounting environment. Together they ensure that students develop a comprehensive set of analytical and professional skills.

Management courses provide an excellent grounding in finance, marketing, organizational behaviour, economics, statistics, operations management, administrative theory, business law and ethics, and strategy. In addition, the more abstract "soft skills" are emphasized, including presentation and communication skills, team building and group dynamics, leadership and motivation.

Professional courses are designed to complement the Management courses, taking the student well beyond the levels required for the professional examinations but preparing them for the leadership positions that will follow. Financial and managerial accounting, financial reporting, management information systems, management control, taxation, auditing, valuations and insolvency, accounting theory and research, integrative cases and professional ethics are all taught with a balance of academic and practical perspectives.

The program is organized into five academic and two co-operative work terms in the sequence described in the table of courses. The 1000 series courses – providing management fundamentals – are offered in the first year. Generally speaking, the 2000 series courses offered in the second year build on the fundamental knowledge gained in the 1000 series courses. A few 2000 series courses are completed prior to the commencement of the student’s first work term as they offer important preparatory information.

Work terms are scheduled during the Winter semester when professional accounting firms are at their busiest, giving students the best opportunity to maximize their learning experience. It also offers the participating firms additional resources during their greatest period of need.

Courses which top up and integrate earlier academic and work-term learning experiences are offered in the final academic term, as well as a Professional Integrating Experience as described in the table of courses.

Students are expected to communicate clearly in both written and oral presentations, and execute quantitative analysis. Group presentations and discussions are an important part of the learning environment. Many classes require students to work together, effectively using oral and written communication skills within a group context.

Although there is no mathematics prerequisite for the MMPA program, many courses use analytical techniques that require students to be familiar with basic undergraduate level mathematical concepts. The School urges candidates to upgrade their math skill level accordingly. Students who have not been exposed to this material, or who feel that they may require a refresher course, should refer to the section that addresses admission requirements for more information.

The Orientation Program

Orientation is designed to introduce students to the business world during an intensive week-long session, held on the campus. The School invites guest speakers from the different disciplines within the accounting profession to discuss career options and opportunities with the students. Representatives from the professional accounting bodies are also invited to describe their respective programs and provide details on how to pursue a professional accounting designation.

Social activities are planned to ensure students meet their peers and faculty members. The program provides an invaluable opportunity to become involved in your new "profession" and to establish the basis for long-lasting friendships. It combines academic and social activities, ranging from social breakfast to wine-and-cheese receptions, and from computer literacy and management skills development classes to accounting seminars.

Cross Cultural Diversity Support

The Cross Cultural Diversity Support Program is designed to enhance the MMPA Program experience by assisting students from different cultural backgrounds. The program includes linguistic support, communications development, cultural acclimatization, interview skill workshops and one on one counselling.

Audit File Contest

Groups of 2-3 students are offered the opportunity to compete against their colleagues in a realistic experience designed to enhance their professional skills and judgement. Based on an audit case, students develop a set of audit working papers, and a letter of recommendations. A panel of six partners from the largest audit firms in the world review these outputs, and serve as the audit committee of the client company to question the audit teams about their work, conclusions and recommendations for improvement of the client. The six partners then judge the audit groups based on the quality of their file, recommendations, and presentation and response skills. An enjoyable learning experience, this contest affords direct feedback from partners to the participants, thus accelerating the participant’s professional development dramatically.

Integrative Case Contests

Teams of 4-6 students are given a realistic case which requires the integration of knowledge learned in two or more subjects to produce a useful solution. A presentation of the group’s findings is judged by a panel of experts, who offer instructive, practical suggestions after identifying the winning efforts. These contests provide an excellent way of linking knowledge gained in the study of individual subjects and of focusing the combined result on the practical resolution of problems facing modern management. The ability to work well in teams is enhanced.

The Leaders Speaker Series

Each term, leaders from management or the professions are invited to address the students in the Master of Management & Professional Accounting Program. Their purpose is to share experiences and perceptions that led to their success, or that of their organization.

The speakers are chosen for their special qualities and spend time answering questions from the students. Speakers have included, among others:  Barbara Stymiest, Chair, Blackberry; Alexandra Spinner, Partner Crowe Soberman LLP; Jim Osler, Prinicipal, Origin Merchant Partners; Allen Boston, Americas Director, Campus and Diversity Recruiting, E & Y; Ken Clarke, Chairman, Royal Lepage Inc.; Jim Beqaj, Vice-Chairman, Nesbitt Burns Inc.; Ken Dryden, President & General Manager, Toronto Maple Leafs; Professor David Foot, author of Boom, Bust, and Echo; Gordon Cheeseborough, President & CEO, Altamira Investment Services Inc.