Accounting for the benefits

Having strong connections to local industry is a source of pride for kaiako at WITT Te Pūkenga, and if they don’t come straight from the workplace into a teaching role, they actively make connections with relevant local businesses.

“The relationship is twofold, both to keep a line of sight on what industry needs from our graduates to help shape our teaching and to develop pathways for our graduates into employment,” says WITT Te Pūkenga Director Māori Enterprise, Business and Technology Jan Lockett-Kay.

The WITT Business School recently hosted a Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand (CAANZ) event showing pathways from training through to employment and the designations that CAANZ offers for members.

The 35-strong crowd heard from speakers Maja Murray, CAANZ Careers Engagement Manager  and Jamie Edington, CAANZ Account Manager who outlined the pathways into the Accounting Technician (AT) and Chartered Accountant (CA) designations that CAANZ offer. Lisa Potter, HR & Learning and Development Manager of BDO, and Chris Taylor, CFO of Powerco, shared examples of how they have implemented the AT and CA programmes into their people development plans within each of their industries.

People interested in a career in accounting can study a New Zealand Diploma in Business (Level 5) with strands in Accounting, a Bachelor of Accounting and a Graduate Diploma in Accounting (Level 7) at WITT.

“Our priority is to ensure ākonga are well equipped to actively contribute to dynamic transformative business environments when they graduate. Working with CAANZ provides us with the assurance that our programmes reflect current and future demands of professional accounting practice,” says Jan.