Three hundred accounting students from universities all over the country took part in the competition that saw students running a virtual dairy farm for twenty-two days.
The prize money, around $10,000, will be paid out monthly to Rebecca based on the cost of the gross milk income of five dairy cows for the 2016-17 milking season.
Rebecca is “absolutely thrilled” to win the competition. “We had to complete six challenges on AccountingPod’s online learning portal that simulated running a dairy farm on a day-to-day basis. They started off easy and got progressively harder.”
Rebecca and two other finalists then had 24-hours to create a concept that added value to milk. Rebecca’s concept was infusing milk with ingredients such as honey and spices to boost the health benefits of milk.
Rebecca says the competition gave her the opportunity to put skills she has learned at Victoria into practice.
“A lot of what we were doing related back to my courses, especially in tax and financial accounting. I also gained insight about the industry, the New Zealand economy and gained experience using Xero accounting software,” she says.
Competition organiser, AccountingPod director Judith Cambridge, says the competition aimed to expose students to digital business tools and learn about the New Zealand business environment.