Four decades of giving, one shared purpose
Erik Einsiedel - 18 November 2025
Accounting students at the Alberta School of Business gain real-world insight thanks to ongoing support from the CPA Education Foundation. (Photo: Getty Images)
A new $181,000 gift from the Chartered Professional Accountants Education Foundation (CPAEF) is deepening a 40-year partnership with the U of A’s Alberta School of Business — investing in classroom innovation, research and real-world connections so more accounting students can thrive as future professionals and leaders.
For Karim Jamal, chair of the Department of Accounting and Business Analytics, the impact shows up where it matters most: with students. “Most of it is directed towards the classroom — curriculum development, enhancing teaching, bringing in speakers, helping us run boot camps,” he says. “As we bring AI and more data analytics into the curriculum, [CPAEF] is intimately involved on the funding side.”
This latest commitment supports innovations in accounting education — from teaching enhancements in soft skills, IT and data analytics to accounting and AI boot camps — and helps sustain events like the CPA Research Speaker Series, which brings experts from around the world to engage with students. It also expands student opportunities to participate in research, sharpening the data-driven decision-making that employers expect. Its momentum is reflected in enrolment: U of A students declaring an accounting major rose from 25 to 28 per cent of the students in the Business school this year.
CPAEF’s mandate is province wide, but its relationship with the U of A is distinctly two-way.
“We’re the charitable arm of the profession in Alberta, and the foundation has existed for over 40 years,” says Gord Beal, senior vice-president of outreach at CPA Alberta. “Education is an ecosystem — students, teachers, universities and the profession. We support the U of A, and the U of A supports us. The research and teaching there benefit others across the province as well.”
That breadth shows up beyond the classroom. CPAEF backs faculty recruitment and retention, convenes an annual Conference for Accounting Educators (covering costs so instructors can attend), and recognizes outstanding teaching. It also sponsors the Business Challenge case competition — where U of A teams historically “do really, really well,” notes Erin Schwartz, director of the foundation — and runs Sparking Great Careers, paid internships that remove barriers for promising students who lack professional networks. “The students are paid very well for their time,” says Schwartz. “Employers come out of it absolutely thrilled.”
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The partnership has also helped create vibrant student spaces on campus and funded student clubs that connect learners with CPAs in practice — including lab sections staffed by downtown professionals and coffee meet-and-greets that demystify career paths.
Jamal sees even more potential ahead. “The financial links are great,” he says. “The next level is to be more personally connected — co-creating cases with firms, building material from real problems companies had.”
CPAEF leaders emphasize they “operate pretty quietly,” as Beal puts it. The U of A is honoured to make that quiet work visible — and to say thank you. Donors like CPAEF are helping the Alberta School of Business realize its vision — empowering students with the skills, insight and confidence to lead, collaborate and shape the future of Alberta’s economy.