Accounting: The world of possibilities

On Wednesday 17 August, the Business School hosted Accounting: The world of possibilities, run in partnership with Chartered Accountants ANZ and MYOB.

Targeted at high school students Year 10 and above, and first-year University of Auckland students, the event provided information about the future of accounting, and highlighted the possibilities of a future career path within the industry.

The four speakers talked about their different career paths and the benefits that studying accounting had brought them. Those speakers were: Jeten Parboo, Entrepreneur; Kjirsti Marundan, Chartered Accounting Student Representative; Brittany Fitzpatrick, Business Advisory Accountant at Findex; and Kayur Patel, Senior Manager Transformation at PwC.

Kjirsti shared her story of being both a University of Auckland student and working part time teaching people about accounting software. Brittany discussed her more traditional accountancy career path working within a firm and studying towards her CA. Jeten and Kayur, who both have non-traditional accounting roles, focused on entrepreneurship and technology respectively. This allowed the students to learn about the wide range of career paths that involve accounting.

Shailan Patel, Education Manager at MYOB said that “it was amazing to see the level of engagement from high school students, and very importantly their parents, to learn what many of us already know, that studying accounting can lead to many career opportunities on top of being an actual accountant."

“With all the changes not only affecting the accounting industry, but business in general, it is important to highlight the many opportunities that studying accounting can lead to for young Kiwis. As well as becoming an accountant, the discipline can lead to careers in other industries such as tech, and also give aspiring entrepreneurs a great foundation to set up their own business!"

A special thank you to Chartered Accountants ANZ and MYOB for sponsoring this event.