Top honours for accountancy whizz
Graduate Sam White scooped six of the 15 School of Accountancy awards at a ceremony recognising the top students in the College of Business.
The 21-year-old graduated in Palmerston North with a Bachelor of Business Studies majoring in accountancy, and was awarded six prizes at the Academic Excellence Awards 2012 as well as securing his place on the Dean’s List.
“It was a night to remember,” Mr White said of his award haul.
He always planned to study at Massey in his hometown of Palmerston North, but never dreamed of being an accountant. “My dad is an accountant and I said I’d never do it. But in my first year of business studies, accountancy really stood out. It was interesting and I was all right at it. Out of all the topics, it came up trumps.”
In his third year of study Mr White did an internship at Arohanui Hospice and said it provided practical experience to the theoretical business degree. Mr White also did an 11-week internship at Deloitte over summer. “It definitely helped you get an idea of the real world, and how to use the study in a practical sense.”
It was a view shared by other students of the internship paper, with three of the 15 now working for the company where they interned, and many more securing jobs.
Mr White is currently honing his piano talents at EXCEL School of Performing Arts in Auckland before starting his accountancy career at Deloitte early 2013.
He won: Deloitte (Wellington) prize for most outstanding student in professional financial accounting and auditing; Chartered Institute of Management Accountants 300-level prize in management accounting (Manawatu/Wellington campus); KPMG prize in advanced auditing; Chartered Institute of Management Accountants – R Wijeyesekera Memorial Prize in Accountancy; School of Accountancy distinguished prize in advanced auditing – 110.379 and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants third year accountancy prize – Manawatu campus.
The Academic Excellence Awards held this month at the Regent Theatre included the prizegiving and a Dean’s List presentation to recognise the top College of Business students.
Of the 302 students on the Dean’s List across all campuses, 22 are receiving their third award and six are receiving their fourth for achieving an average grade of A-minus. Seven will be named Dean’s Scholars, meaning they achieved straight A-plus grades for the year. The Manawatu event was the second of three ceremonies to celebrate academic achievement over the past year, and the final presentation will take place in Wellington at the end of the month.
Aviation students securing their place on the Dean’s List met Air New Zealand’s chief pilot Captain David Morgan, who has recently joined the College of Business Advisory Board.
Prizes were sponsored by BDO, Bennetts University Book Centre, CCJ, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, CIMA, Cooper Rapley, CPA Australia, Deloitte, KPMG, New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants, PJC Farron and Thomson Reuters.