Date of Session 1: Tuesday, November 11, 2025 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.ET Date of Session 2: Tuesday, November 18, 2025 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.ET Date of Session 3: Tuesday, November 25, 2025 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.ET Location: Virtual: Zoom platform - The link will be shared with you closer to the event. Registration Deadline: November 10, 2025 Please note that in order to register for these sessions you need to log into your CIC Account. CIC Member PDP Points: 10 professional development points for attending each session. Fee: $119.97 + tax
Presenter Bio:
Brad MacMaster is an experienced educator, researcher, and financial executive.
As the past CFO of six entrepreneurial ventures, perceived problems with the effectiveness of entrepreneurial teams led Brad to embark on a research career in search of solutions. He submitted his PhD dissertation at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strathclyde Business School (Glasgow, UK) in July 2022 and successfully defended it in September 2022. He is now working on sharing his findings with the venture capital community in Canada.
Additionally, Brad teaches a variety of business subjects—including accounting, finance, and entrepreneurship—at both graduate and undergraduate levels at Ontario universities, mostly through courses he has developed. His most recent appointment is at the Ted Rogers School of Business Management, Toronto Metropolitan (formerly Ryerson) University. Of particular interest to our ECCP program are Brad’s hands-on experience and his teaching in financial management and financial statement analysis—the latter geared toward preparing CPA candidates for professional careers.
The early stage of Brad’s career spanned 10 years as a financial services professional—Chartered Accountant (CPA, CA) and Certified Management Consultant (CMC)—a significant portion of which involved advising entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial enterprises on planning for, growing, developing, and financing their business ventures.
In 2015, Brad developed and introduced an innovative and unique approach to financial statement analysis (FSA) at both undergraduate and graduate university levels, as well as in industry and professional training. His educational approach combines a focus on adding professional value for clients with critical thinking to develop and communicate insights for decision-making. This approach has contributed to 90% (on average over 8 cohorts) of his students passing their CPA exams—compared to Canada’s national average of 70–77%. In addition, his students achieved finance competence scores 9% higher than the national average.
Brad is the developer of CIC ECCP’s challenging course in Advanced Finance and has successfully delivered it to over 30 students across two cohorts.
These three Connect sessions offer insights into that course content.
Topics: Session 1: Building Context – A Framework for for Meaningful Perspectives & an Objectives-based Approach to FSA / FSAIR - This session will be mostly informative … to get everyone on the same page. - What is FSA? FSAIR? Why is it important, to whom, and in what ways? - Who cares? We’ll focus on 4 Key Stakeholder (‘KS’) groups (You are one). They fundamentally make the same decision, use the same process & informational inputs, but have different objectives and emphasize different criteria. - All KS need high-level assessments of an entity’s financial performance & financial position: We will clarify what these concepts mean practically. - These overarching assessments are based mid-level assessments of 10 specific criteria: 5 primary criteria used by all KS + a selection from 5 secondary criteria that are KS & situation-specific. - Discover how 10 (Mac)blocks within an entity’s FS yield data specific to analyzing the 5 primary criteria. - Learn some critical questioning techniques for guiding your thinking. - A qualitative review should precede quantitative analysis. Provide insights about 3 analytical approaches you know; introduce the 2 most powerful approaches not previously addressed in Connect sessions. - Armed with this Framework, you will be in a position to choose your ‘weapon’ – ideally a rifle (focused approach) rather than a shotgun (aimless approach to generating an overwhelming inventory of ratios). Hint: FSAIR is not about the ratios or their calculations! - Homework! Review the recorded version of the presentation twice – first, within 24 hours of attending this session; second within 24 hours before Session 2. Aim: Internalize this framework. Session 2: Revisiting the FSA(IR) of Amazon Inc. – 1: Financial Performance - The presenter will supply extracts of Amazon’s FS data in an Excel file for participants who wish to follow along during some work-together demonstrations; this data can also be used subsequently on the participants own time by following the recorded version of the Connect session. - Assessing Financial Performance using the Framework – Approach, Analysis, Insights. - Statements of Income & Cash Flows are the source data, not the objects of analysis. - Most appropriate forms of analysis are identified & applied. - Demonstration (recorded so participants can revisit this professional analysis and reperform desired components at their own pace). Session 3: Revisiting the FSA(IR) of Amazon Inc. – 2: Financial Position - The presenter will supply extracts of Amazon’s FS data in an Excel file for participants who wish to follow along during some work-together demonstrations; this data can also be used subsequently on the participants own time by following the recorded version of the Connect session. - Assessing Financial Position using the Framework – Approach, Analysis, Insights - Statements of Financial Position (Balance Sheets) are the source data, not the objects of analysis. - Most appropriate forms of analysis are identified & applied. - Demonstration (recorded so participants can revisit this professional analysis and reperform desired components at their own pace).
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CCP and ACI members earn 10 Professional Development Points for attending this event.