Relationship pays dividends

When Silks Audit wanted to set up a base in New Plymouth to better serve their local clients they knocked on the door of the business school at WITT Te Pūkenga to help staff the office.

The relationship began with a presentation from Silks Audit Director Talia Tiori Anderson-Town (pictured with fellow director Cameron Town) to WITT accounting and business ākonga (learners) in early 2022.

“I shared our history, growth and ambitions and invited students to complete their internships with us, which has also led to many of them gaining full-time jobs over the course of our relationship,” says Talia.

In addition to regularly hosting interns, Silks Audit has gone on to hire and train three Bachelor of Applied Management graduates, one of whom has already been promoted to Team Leader.

Many ākonga (learners) have discovered they love the specialised field of audit.

Talia says WITT interns often say auditing is way more fun when you do it than when you study it.

“At WITT we pride ourselves on our hands-on, real world-learning and we are grateful to have such a strong relationship with Talia and the team at Silks Audit to create pathways for our interns and graduates,” says WITT Te Pūkenga Maori Enterprise Business and Technology School Director Dr Jan Lockett-Kay.

A key requirement of the Bachelor of Accounting is an industry internship so ākonga can apply the theory and skills they learn in the classroom to real-world situations.

“The industry project is an advantage to WITT students – they have a chance to work on a real client project and get insight into how things really happen,” says Talia.

Often internships turn into jobs.

The advantage for Silks of hiring graduates fresh out of WITT is the ability to train people the way they want.

“We say it is easier for us to train someone who doesn’t know than retrain someone – most graduates are very open to learning and they pick up our way of working quickly, which sets a good foundation,” says Talia.

“We’re very happy with the quality of students coming out of WITT with the accounting degree – what really counts is their attitude and willingness to learn,” says Talia.

“We’re fond of the relationship with WITT and the pathway we have created for students that in turn allows us to capture the people we need and to train them for a career in auditing,” says Talia.

Jan adds that it’s a real win-win relationship.

Silks Audit offers a wide range of audit and assurance services and is one of the largest audit teams in the central and west coast of the North Island predominately in the Whanganui, Manawatū, Taranaki and Taupō regions.