Accounting Students Engage with Prospective Employers at the Accounting Professions Day

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The School of Accounting, Economics and Finance hosted Accounting Professions Day to provide a platform for students to engage with prospective employers. The virtual event attracted representatives from 18 accounting and auditing firms. It aimed to expose students to the Accounting profession, enable them to engage with industry experts, and gain insights into the profession. The program was facilitated by Accounting academics Mr Alastair Marais and Mrs Kerry Lee-Gurr.

Accounting Programmes co-ordinator Professor Surendran Pillay assured the firms that the School is committed to producing graduates that will add value to the work place.

‘We have made on-going improvements to our programmes through self-reflection and reviewing our process to ensure that we meet the standards set by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), the University and firms,’ said Pillay.

He highlighted that the School has improved its output, achieving more than 80% in the Initial Test of Competence (ITC) throughput while the Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting pass rate has improved rapidly.

‘We are constantly reviewing our curriculum and working to prepare our graduates to be ready to be more fit for the audit trainee programme when they enter traineeship. We have highly competent and experienced staff. We maintain level 1 accreditation with SAICA. To our students, you are blessed to have firms that are interested in you; do your research, listen carefully to the presentations and make a decision,’ said Pillay.

Firms present included A2A Kopano Incorporated; the Auditor-General South Africa; Baker Tilly Morrison Murray; BDO South Africa; Colenbrander Inc.; DNKA Inc.; EY; Investec; KPMG; Mazars; Moore Durban; Moore Midlands; PKF South Africa; PwC; SAIPA; SNG Grant Thornton; SAICA; Standard Bank and VHA Accounting Solutions Inc.

Great prizes were also up for grabs as a reward for students answering questions about the presentations. Most students were interested in the firms’ vacation work experience and graduate recruitment programmes.

Commenting on the event, BDO South Africa’s Partner Audit and UKZN graduate Mr Peter Galliver said, ‘As a UKZN alumnus, I feel it’s important to recruit our home grown talent and to provide real opportunities to the people from our immediate communities. In the past, UKZN has produced amazing graduates who have, with BDO’s training and support, gone on to be highly successful chartered accountants and business leaders.’

Words: Thandiwe Jumo

Image: Supplied