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School of Administrative Studies Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

Finance

Do you aspire to become a financial analyst or a Certified Financial Planner®? Or to manage a corporation’s finances? Choose Finance as the focus of your BCom Specialized Honours degree and gain essential skills in one of three specialized streams. You can also complete the Finance requirements with a combination of courses from across the three streams.

Learn from our 10 full-time faculty members, who are all teaching and conducting research in a wide variety of topics related to finance. Our part-time instructors include finance directors, risk managers, financial planners, investment managers and professional accountants and bring their practical experience into the classroom.

Students in Finance often decide to work towards an outside professional designation. The two most common are the CFP designation for financial planning and the CFA designation. More information on these designations can be found through the professional bodies, FP Canada and the CFA Institute. 

Quick Links

Contact

Nabil Tahani
Area Coordinator
ntahani@yorku.ca

Jodi Letkiewicz
Financial Planning (CFP) Area
jodilet@yorku.ca

Program Streams

Personal Financial Planning

The financial planning stream prepares students to become financial planners. Financial planners work directly with clients as advisors on all of their financial matters including cash flow, taxes, insurance, investments, retirement planning, and estate planning. If you are interested in becoming a financial planner, check out our guide.

Investment & Wealth Management

The investment/wealth management stream prepares students for careers managing money for individuals and institutions. Many of our courses help prepare students for the Chartered Financial Analyst exams; achieving the CFA designation is highly respected in the investment industry worldwide. 

Corporate Finance / Financial Management

Students who follow the financial management/corporate finance stream look for jobs managing the daily financial affairs of corporations and small businesses. Financial management is important as today’s capital investment decisions determine future business opportunities.

Featured Courses

The finance offers a variety of courses for students interested in personal finance, corporate finance, or investment and wealth management. We also offer a university-wide course for personal finance and are the only university in Canada accredited to offer FP Canada’s PEP program.

In addition to your BCom degree, York University is the only Canadian university to be accredited to offer the FP Canada PEP course. As part of your course selection you can complete this integral requirement and save money along the way.

Recognizing the importance of financial literacy and financial education for all university students, the finance area offers a personal finance course available to all students at York, regardless of major. The course - ADMS 2541 - covers money management basics such as cash flow and debt management, credit management, income taxes, investments, insurance, and retirement planning. It is ideal for students who want to learn more about their own financial situation and improve both their knowledge about personal finance as well as their financial behaviours. There are no prerequisites and the course is offered in both the fall and winter semesters, online and in-class.

ADMS 4506 fulfills the FP Canada Professional Education Program (PEP) requirement. Enrolment is limited to students in the financial planning stream. Students who successfully complete the course will not have completed all educational requirements to sit for the CFP exam.

Resources

Career Options

  • Financial planner (banks, financial planning firms, investment advisors, insurance brokers, credit unions)
  • Financial analyst
  • Investment advisor
  • Investment analyst/Associate analyst
  • Risk manager/Risk analyst
  • Insurance broker
  • Cash manager
  • Small business CFO/Treasurer
  • Retail banking specialist
  • Currency Trader

Student Awards & Research

Finance Student Awards

The Gold Prize in Finance will be awarded to the graduating student with the highest Major GPA in the undergraduate BCom Honours program. The prize will be awarded at the June convocation and will consider all undergraduate BCom graduates from the October, February and June convocation cycles. Must be a finance major.

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The Silver Prize in Finance will be awarded to the graduating student with the second highest Major GPA in the undergraduate BCom Honours program. The prize will be awarded at the June convocation and will consider all undergraduate BCom graduates from the October, February and June convocation cycles. Must be a finance major.

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The Chris Robinson Prize in Personal Finance will be awarded to the graduating BCom Finance student with the highest GPA in the courses which make up the required core curriculum in personal finance as certified by FP Canada: AP/ADMS3520,AP/ADMS3531, AP/ADMS3541, AP/ADMS4505,AP/ADMS 4506, AP/ADMS4507 and AP/ADMS 4508. Must be a finance major.

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Looking for more?

The Faculty of LA&PS also provides a number of scholarships, awards and bursaries. Use the award search and fill our your student financial profile today.

Dean's Award for Research Excellence (DARE)

The Dean’s Award for Research Excellence (DARE) gives undergraduates the unique opportunity to fully participate in research projects with faculty members.

Previously, students have received awards to research robo-advising and emergency management.