Creative cocktail of accounting students and professionals
More than 90 people attended an inaugural Corporate Cocktail Evening at the University of New England hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.
The Corporate Cocktail Evening, supported and promoted by academics and careers advisers from the University, was designed to introduce students to the Chartered Accountants in their local area and to increase awareness of the Chartered Accountants Program.
Students of first, second, and third-year business/accounting subjects at UNE attended the event last month, along with UNE academics – including the University’s Professor of Accounting, Brian Gibson – and the local Chartered Accountants. Professor Gibson said it had been “a wonderful event” that had “helped to cement the relationship between the University and the accounting profession”.
Lisette Cochineas, NSW General Manager for the Institute, said the evening had been “a resounding success, and an excellent opportunity for students to network with local firms”.
The Institute’s Regional Chair for the North West region, Mark Smith, opened the evening, at which six regional Chartered Accounting firms were represented: Forsyths, Roberts & Morrow, Smith Sharpe & Abbott, Sutherland Reid & Farrar, WHK Camerons, and Boyce Chartered Accountants.
Regina Davidson, a Partner at Smith Sharpe & Abbott and a UNE graduate, spoke to the group about her career since leaving university, and the opportunities that being a Chartered Accountant had provided. The students were also addressed by a panel of young Chartered Accountants. Each panellist discussed the benefits of working for a regional accounting firm.
Members of UNE’s SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team helped with preparations for the event and, during the evening, gave a brief presentation on the role of SIFE (an international student leadership program) in the University.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia will continue to reinforce its commitment to regional members through a series of similar events in regional NSW.
THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here, taken at the Corporate Cocktail Evening, shows the President of SIFE UNE, Samantha Harris (right), with fellow student Melissa Whitehead. It expands to include another student, Juanita Lucas.