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8
The Bottom Line January 2015
Ontario student grabs top UFE writing honours
By Grant Cameron
hen Akash Kapoor
needed some advice on
writing his Unifor m
Evaluation (UFE) exam, he turned
to his older brother, Aman.
It seemed the right thing to do,
as his brother had written the
exam a year earlier. It also didn’t
hurt that his brother was a CPA, a
CMA, and an MBA.
“My brother was always around
to give me some tips,” 23-year-old
Kapoor explains. “A lot of writing
the exam has to do with conf idence so it was good to have the
support of my brother.”
Seems the advice from the
elder sibling was right on the
mark. Kapoor of Mississauga captured the Canadian and Ontario
gold medals as the top writer of
the UFE in the country — the fifth
consecutive year that the top Canadian UFE writer has come from
Ontario.
Kapoor, who has a master’s
degree in accounting from the
University of Waterloo, Ont. is
articling and doing audit work at
Ernst & Young in Toronto. He
“It was exciting to learn that I’d
received this honour.
It was an accomplishment
for myself, my family, my university
and the employers and people
who trained me.”
W
Akash Kapoor
K apoor
placed f irst among 3,576 successful UFE writers across the
country. In addition to the top
honours, he received a cash prize
of $5,000.
Regional gold medal awards
and a cash prize of $2,500 each
went to: Anouk Laforest of PwC
in Montreal (Quebec); Geoffrey
Leonard of KPMG in Edmonton
(Western Canada); and Janell Lee
MacDonald of BDO Canada in
Charlottetown, P.E.I. (Eastern
Canada).
The UFE, written in September, is a national three-day
evaluation that assesses competencies, including essential knowledge, professional judgment,
ethics and the ability to communi-
cate. It is an important component
of the CPA qualification program,
which includes prescribed education, practical experience and
examination requirements.
Only those who complete the
entire program successfully are
entitled to use the internationally
recognized designation of Chartered Professional Accountant.
Tashia Batstone, vice-president,
education services, at Chartered
Professional Accountants of
Canada, said all those who passed
the UFE should be proud of their
impressive accomplishment.
It is a “significant milestone”
that requires a lot of hard work,
perseverence, commitment and
dedication, she said.
“Professional accountants are
highly attractive to employers and
recruiters for the solid training
and expertise they gain through
the qualif ication program and
practical experience.”
Carol Wilding, president of
CPA Ontario, congratulated the
record number of 1,389 students
from the province who successfully
See National on page 11
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The Bottom Line January 2015
11
National UFE gold goes to Ontario for fifth year
Continued from page 8
wrote the exam. She said qualifying to become a CPA is a challenging process but the career is
rich in rewards and opportunities.
“CPAs play important leadership roles in organizations of all
types and sizes, from Bay Street to
Main Street. The skills and knowledge that CPAs bring to Ontario’s
workplaces are crucial to our
province’s future success.”
Barth Bradley, president of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants
of Alberta, congratulated the
1,342 successful UFE writers in
Western Canada and said passing
the exam will prove to be one of
the most memorable achievements
in their lives.
“It is the culmination of a lot of
hard work, dedication and learning
— traits that provide the foundation for g reat success in the
future.”
Canadian and Ontario gold
medal winner Kapoor said he was
a little surprised to learn he’d
placed first.
“It was exciting to learn that I’d
received this honour,” he said. “It
wa s a n a c c o m p l i s h m e n t f o r
myself, my family, my university
and the employers and people who
trained me.”
Kapoor began preparations for
the exam last April. His strategy
was simple: work hard but take
time off to unwind.
“We started early on and over
the months we got on a schedule.
We worked for five days and then
took the weekends off.”
He was working at PwC when
he began his training. He also took
courses via the Professional
Accounting Supplementary
School, an independent training
company known as PASS that
offers courses to help students
prepare for the UFEs.
Kapoor also worked in a study
group with other students who
were training to write the UFE.
Students in the group focused on
the technical aspects of their craft
until a month before the exam. In
early August, they began working
on fine-tuning their casewriting
skills.
Kapoor said he felt confident
when it came time to write the
exam, as he’d done everything he
could to prepare.
Exam days came and went
quickly, he said. “It’s amazing
how fast time flies when you’re
writing.”
At the end of the three days,
Kapoor was certain he’d done
well. “I walked out with a positive
feeling after writing the exam,” he
said. “Fortunately, it worked out in
my favour.”
After waiting more than two
months, Kapoor finally learned
how he’d done.
“There was a lot of anticipation
before the results were announced,
that’s for sure,” he said.
When Kapoor found out he’d
passed — and received top honours, he was elated.
“I walked out with a positive feeling after writing the
exam. Fortunately, it worked out in my favour.”
Akash Kapoor
Kapoor let his parents know.
They were proud of their son.
“They were excited for me,” he
said. “There were tears of joy
from my parents, absolutely.”
When Kapoor got into
accounting, he was following a
dream. He’d always had a passion
for working with numbers so,
after high school, narrowed his
choices to accounting and computer science.
“I went into accounting to
develop a fundamental business
knowledge. With an accounting
designation it opens up a lot of
doors and opportunities. Going
forward, I still have the goal of
bridging my love for technology
and accounting.”
Kapoor said he likes
accounting because, through the
numbers, he gets a better unders t a n d i n g o f h ow a b u s i n e s s
works.
He sees a CPA designation as
a stepping stone.
“I believe that the designation
adds tangible credibility and
opens the doors to countless
experiences.”
At present Kapoor intends to
remain with Ernst & Young and
focus on his career.
“I’m going to see where things
take me in terms of future opportunities, whether it’s entrepreneurship or technology or staying
with the firm.”
Like his older brother, he also
plans to pursue an MBA.
“There’s some internal competition now,” he jokes.
And the $5,000 in prize
money?
“I have nothing specif ically
planned just now. I might add it
to the savings pool.”
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