Laurier accounting Professor Robert Mathieu named prestigious fellow of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario

Jan. 15, 2020

Wilfrid Laurier University Professor Robert Mathieu has been recognized by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA Ontario) as a fellow (FCPA, FCA, FCMA), the highest honour bestowed upon chartered professional accountants in the province. Mathieu was one of three faculty members in Ontario to receive the honour in 2019.

“Professor Mathieu exemplifies this award in his dedication to outstanding teaching standards, his leadership and service within our faculty and his continued engagement in building a strong community of accounting alumni,” said Micheál J. Kelly, dean of Laurier’s Lazaridis School of Business and Economics. “We are extremely proud of Robert’s recognition and his commitment to advancing our accounting and business programs.”

Mathieu began teaching at the Lazaridis School in 1998 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 2003 and professor in 2009. Perhaps his most notable achievement at Laurier has been creating Ontario’s first MBA-CPA program. Mathieu was involved in the design of the program, in addition to mapping the program with CPA competencies.

The four-year, part-time Lazaridis MBA-CPA program operates in downtown Toronto and prepares students for the challenging Common Final Exam (CFE) upon graduation. Students in the direct-entry program take accredited accounting courses during their MBA studies to help prepare for the CFE, including Capstone I, CFE Prep I and CFE Prep II. When students graduate, they go on to complete Capstone II with CPA and then the CFE.

In addition to the MBA, Mathieu has taught courses in financial accounting in the Bachelor of Business Administration and doctoral programs. He previously developed courses for the chartered accountant and certified management accountant professions. He has held the role of area coordinator in the accounting area for a total of nine years and currently serves as associate dean of business, faculty development and research and holds the Linamar Fellow in Accounting at Laurier.

“It is a highlight of my career to receive this incredible honour from my peers,” said Mathieu. “I have worked hard during my career to ensure I would deliver the best possible education to my students through my own service, curriculum-development and research. It is rewarding and humbling to be recognized for advancing my students and the accounting profession in this way.”

In 2012-13, Mathieu was named a Canada academic fellow of the former Chartered Management Accountants (CMA) and from 2011 to 2016 held the position of CMA Ontario Professor of Accounting at Laurier. He has received awards for his teaching, including the Glenn Carroll Teaching Fellowship.

Mathieu earned his PhD in accounting from the University of Waterloo. His research explores the informativeness of bank credit agreements, the value-relevance of disclosure of financial instruments and the impact of earnings disclosure on market liquidity. He has published 26 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals including in the Journal of Banking and Finance, Contemporary Accounting Research and the Journal of Accounting and Public Policies. He has shared his research at 37 conferences around the world. Mathieu’s research has obtained more than $530,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, in addition to grants from other agencies.

Recently, Mathieu and co-authors have prepared white papers for CPA Ontario about emerging and important issues for the accounting profession including the use of pro-forma earnings per share (non-GAAP measures) by high-tech companies in Canada.

In 2018, Mathieu served as chair of the sub-committee for the Canadian Academic Accounting Association’s special education research grant competition.

Nominated and selected by a committee of peers, Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario fellows exemplify the values that the designation embodies, including integrity, high ethical standards, leadership and community engagement. The fellows were honoured during a presentation ceremony and dinner in Toronto on Dec. 3. The 2019 fellows join a group of 1,423 FCPAs in Ontario.