SFU Beedie’s Anne Macdonald honoured with Fellowship designation by CPABC

Anne Macdonald, SFU Beedie faculty member honoured with FCPA designation by CPABC. Photo credit: Kent Kallberg Studios

Anne Macdonald, faculty member in accounting at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, has been honoured with the prestigious Fellowship of Chartered Professional Accountants (FCPA) designation by CPABC for her outstanding contributions to the accounting profession through her teaching and support of SFU Beedie students.

After over 22 years of teaching, Macdonald will be retiring this year. During her two decades at SFU Beedie, Macdonald has taught every course in the accounting concentration, including “Introduction to Financial Accounting,” a course that has inspired many students to pursue a career in accounting. She has taught more than 8,400 students over the last 22 years—two out of every three SFU Beedie students.

“Anne is someone who gives so much more than she ever, if at all, takes,” said Ujwal Kayande, Dean of SFU’s Beedie School of Business. “She has quietly but avidly served SFU Beedie and our students during her two decades here with such dedication and care. Her teaching and mentoring has had a direct and profoundly positive influence on thousands of students, particularly in preparing them for work after study.”

Macdonald is renowned for her engaging teaching style, which has earned her the highest rating of any professor at SFU and placed her on the SFU teaching honour roll no fewer than 15 times. Students describe Macdonald’s passion for accounting as contagious and speak of her approachable and uplifting teaching style as inspiring. She has successfully sparked a love of accounting in many of her students, shaping their university experiences and future career paths.

In recognition of her exceptional teaching, Macdonald was awarded the TD Canada Trust Distinguished Teaching Award in 2002. She was also awarded the SFU Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012, which is only bestowed upon three faculty members annually at SFU.

In addition to her teaching excellence, Macdonald has also shown her incredible dedication to student extracurricular activities, coaching students who participated at six different case competitions throughout the past 22 years. She has travelled with students to overseas destinations such as Singapore and Thailand to support them and provide coaching for the student competitors, helping them develop their technical skills all while inspiring a passion for the accounting profession.

“I am not aware of any other professor who has had such singular, positive quantitative or qualitative impact on students,” said Peter Tingling, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs at SFU Beedie. “Anne is a delightful colleague and one of the greats, and I can think of no one more deserving of this recognition.”