Accounting (Graduate Diploma)

This course focuses on the use of financial statements for decision-making. It provides you with the opportunity to combine the knowledge and skills that you have acquired in previous accounting courses to assess the financial position and performance of a firm. The first part of the course focuses on three topics: introduction to standard analytical tools (ratios); financial instruments; and business valuations.  

The second part of the course focuses specifically on financial statement analysis and includes potential manipulation of accounting information by managers; an exploration of incentives that may underlie such manipulation; and a discussion of accounting policy choices available to managers that provide latitude in determining operating performance and financial position.

This course provides an in-depth, case-based look at performance measurement and control. These are essential functions of management that ensure that the organization’s objectives and strategies are carried out effectively. Topics covered in this course include types of controls; control system costs; designing and evaluating control systems; incentive compensation; financial performance measures; and corporate governance.

This is a capstone case course that stresses both the technical and enabling competencies required for future professional accountants. More specifically, this course provides students with the opportunity to integrate the technical competencies covered in the CPA Competency Map. This course includes a survey of most of the topics included in the CPA Competency Map and an introduction to case writing techniques for use in responding to integrated accounting cases found on professional accounting examinations.

This course builds on the knowledge and skills introduced in BU477 (Auditing) and BU486 (Information Systems Development, Control and Audit), introduces advanced topics in auditing, and considers current issues in the auditing profession.

Taxation III is the third of a three-course series in Canadian federal income taxation. The course is designed to introduce students to the more complex issues of Canadian income tax law and to explore tax-planning strategies for individuals, corporations, partnerships, joint ventures and trusts. Topics include:

• owner-manager compensation strategies
• employment
• self-employment and personal services businesses
• the decision to incorporate a business
• integration of corporate and personal income
• income-splitting strategies
• specific and general anti-avoidance rules
• estate planning
• corporate reorganizations
• business acquisitions
• divestitures

• Admission to the graduate diploma in accounting is normally* restricted to graduates of undergraduate programs in the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics;
• Completion of all prerequisites for courses in the graduate diploma (completed or in the final stages of completion with a minimum grade of C- in each course); and
• A minimum required average in business-related courses of B-.​​

*Applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis from candidates with a Canadian undergraduate degree in Business or Economics, with a concentration in Accounting (completed or nearing completion). Ensure you have taken the necessary courses approved by your provincial CPA body. Click on the pre-application consultation button below to upload your unofficial transcripts and resume as part of the pre-assessment process. We will contact you once we have reviewed your transcript to let you know if you are a good fit for the program. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to us at lazaridisgradprograms@wlu.ca.

Applicants must meet the following requirements:

• A minimum average of 70% on all qualifying CPA core courses.
• A minimum grade of 60% in each individual CPA core course.
• A minimum grade of 50% in all CPA non-core courses.

Ensure you have taken the necessary courses approved by your provincial CPA order. For CPA Ontario visit CPA Ontario | Academic Prerequisites at Post-Secondary Institutions.

After you have submitted your OUAC application, paid the non-refundable application fee, and Laurier has received your application, you'll receive an email from gradadmissions@wlu.ca advising you to upload the additional required documentation to Laurier’s Online Registration and Information System (LORIS).

An application for admission to our Graduate Diploma in Accounting program must include:

• The Application Summary, which is generated after you complete your OUAC application (log back in to OUAC to retrieve it).
• Transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate work. Documents must be dated within the past six months.
• Resumé

Visit our Graduate Admissions Toolkit for more information about applying.

Proficiency in written and spoken English is essential to graduate studies at Laurier. Applicants whose language of instruction during their previous postsecondary education was not in English must submit evidence of proficiency in English. If applicable, results from accepted testing services must be uploaded to LORIS.