Katelyn began her career journey at BDO as a third-year, Wilfrid Laurier student on her second co-op term.
"I wanted to explore different areas of business that would help me gain valuable experience while fulfilling the requirements for my CPA designation. I joined BDO on my second co-op term and enjoyed my experience in M&A and Due Diligence so much that I returned for my third and final co-op term."
After graduating with her business degree from Laurier, Katelyn completed Laurier’s graduate diploma in accounting program. Katelyn then began working with the Transaction Advisory Services group on a full-time basis.

Her long-term goal was to get her designation as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA); since BDO offers a pre-approved program, Katelyn could get the 30-month requisite of practical experience in her role with FAS.
Katelyn wrote the Common Final Exam (CFE) in 2018, the then-new CPA designation program was well underway―and she only needed mentorship.

To better dedicate time to her education and progress, Katlyn took some time off, during which she completed Capstone 2 and an external CFE prep course. "My team was really supportive of the time I took off," she says.
Katelyn successfully passed the CFE in 2018.


Within our CPA program, those testing to earn their CPA designation have access to more consistent firm-wide support―in-house under BDO's enabling performance structure. CFE writers now have:
Katelyn suggests that opportunities at BDO tend to be much more flexible than might be expected and offers this advice to both co-op students and CFE writers: