Designations — CPA, CFA, CBV
◈ 7 cardsBody, route and purpose for the three designations an SAF graduate is most likely to pursue — the CPA route in force in 2026 with the January 2027 change flagged, the CFA’s three levels, the CBV’s programme and examination — and the confusions the US shape imports.
Three letters, three bodies
A designation is a body that admits you, a route you travel to be admitted, and a kind of work it licenses or signals. Three matter for an SAF graduate, and the table is the recall target. Everything here is as the bodies' own sites stated it on 17 September 2026; routes change, and the callout says how.
CPA — Chartered Professional Accountant
Body. CPA Canada sets the national programme; the provincial bodies admit and regulate members. For a Waterloo graduate that is CPA Ontario. Route, as in force today. A recognised degree with the prerequisite courses (the SAF Professional Accountant path covers them) → the CPA Professional Education Program (PEP) — two core modules, two electives and a capstone, each ending in an examination → the Common Final Examination (CFE), a multi-day case examination → a period of verified practical experience in an approved role. Certification has three components — education, the final examination, experience — and all three must be complete. What changes. CPA Ontario has announced a new CPA Professional Program launching January 2027 with renamed modules, a differently named final examination and a shorter experience requirement; students already in the current programme finish it under a transition plan. So learn the shape — education, final examination, experience — not this year's module names or month count, which is why no number appears in the questions. For: accounting, assurance, tax and management — the designation for Amara, Ben and Gabriel from L12.1.
CFA — Chartered Financial Analyst
Body. The CFA Institute, a global body — there is no provincial layer. Route. Three examination levels, taken in order, plus a work-experience requirement and references; then regular membership. For: investment analysis and portfolio management — asset management, banking and consulting careers. Dana's designation.
CBV — Chartered Business Valuator
Body. The CBV Institute, Canadian. Route. A programme of study (core courses and electives, online), the Membership Qualification Examination — a case examination offered annually — and a period of business-valuation experience. For: valuing businesses and intangible assets, transactions, and expert work in litigation. Farah's designation, and the one most students have never heard of.
The confusions the US shape imports
The OpenStax business texts describe the US CPA: an examination administered by state boards, licensed state by state. Canada's is a national programme delivered provincially — there is no "CPA exam by state". Second: CFA levels and CPA modules are different things in different routes; a student who says "CFA level 2 of the CPA" has fused them. Third: the CFE is the CPA route's final examination, not a CFA level or a CBV exam. Fourth: all three designations demand experience as well as examinations — none is examination-only, which is why a co-op record matters from year two.
Fill the table, then recite it
Cover the figure's route column and fill it from memory: body, route, purpose for each of the three. Then the recall items ask for the same cold.