Profiles
SACL provides a dynamic and inclusive learning environment for its students and staff. Some recent student and staff profiles are given below.
On this page:
Bill Huckstep
BCA Honours student
Bill Huckstep completed a BCA Hons, 1st class in Accounting and Commercial Law in 2008 and is now a Senior Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Wellington in the Tax Line of Service. His work involves providing tax compliance and consulting services to a range of local and international corporate clients.
Bill says the highlight of his time at Victoria was graduating with First Class Honours in Accounting after an “intensive but incredibly rewarding” year of study. Bill also tutored in first- and third-year accounting papers during his Honours year.
“The honours programme was fantastic for challenging my existing opinions and beliefs, and I also developed strong communication, writing and time management skills,” he says.
Bill won a PwC scholarship when he was a student at St Patrick’s College in Wellington and it was always his plan to do a BCA. He was offered a graduate position after completing two summer internships in Tax.
“I enjoyed accounting and economics at school and Victoria’s Faculty of Commerce and Administration had a really good reputation. A commerce degree has direct application to career opportunities and provides a solid grounding in a range of business areas.”
Bill has recently completed a six month internal secondment to the Risk and Controls Solutions team where he was involved with reviewing IT and business processes for corporate clients.
He will complete his chartered accounting qualifications in October.
Emma Wong
BCA Honours student
Accounting is no 'dull numbers-based programme'. "The real story is that I've enjoyed it so much," says Emma Wong. "It's opened my eyes to more than just the traditional view of accounting as bookkeeping, and surpassed my expectations," she says.
"I began my BCA at Victoria studying International Business," Emma says. "I took the compulsory BCA courses in first year and found that I really enjoyed parts of the Accounting course (ACCY 111), especially the management accounting section. I continued with this by taking Management Accounting (ACCY 223) in second year."
Emma enjoyed this course so much she was prompted to switch to an Accounting major and says she 'hasn't looked back since'. "Although I had a bit to do to catch up, the Accounting staff really helped me to make sure I could still finish my degree on time."
Emma's future is looking bright: "Last summer I worked as an intern at KPMG. Following that, I'll be beginning as a tax consultant at KPMG, starting in 2010. I look forward to working towards my chartered accountancy qualifications with the firm."
Richard Wang
PhD student
I am studying a PhD in Accounting. My research is on the economics and measures of accounting conservatism. This topic is currently of considerable interests in the accounting literature internationally, and has wide-ranging practical implications for the finance industry and those who set accounting standards.
I was drawn to Victoria as a place to do my PhD because of the intellectual rigour of the staff, the supportive research environment, and the prospect of publishing my work in international journals.
While working on my PhD I have been tutoring in several undergraduate Accounting courses. I enjoy interacting with students and helping them understand difficult concepts and techniques. Tutoring is a thoroughly rewarding experience for me, so I plan to go on to a lecturer or assistant professor role after the completion of my PhD. I also plan to explore some new research ideas that I formed during my study, but which cannot be fitted into my PhD.
Dr Carolyn Cordery
Lecturer
I teach accounting information systems at 200- and 300-level, and auditing at Honours level.
Our accounting information systems classes introduce students to popular accounting software through practical exercises that help them ground theories they learn in their other classes in the 'real world', and students generally enjoy putting these into practice.
Those who go on to Honours will have the benefit of smaller class sizes and more individual attention from the School's staff. Our audit students interact with practitioners as well as the literature to ask what keeps auditors awake at night.
The School has close contacts within both government and the business world, which means that students are able to get a good understanding of where the studies are taking them.
Within these fields, I am passionate about the not-for-profit sector and research specific accounting and accountability issues in this sector. I have projects analysing governance in the sport sector and how public agencies assess risk when they contract with the not-for-profit sector. My most recent major project was around accountability issues in primary health care.
Read more about Carolyn on her staff profile page.
Lorna Sandila
MPA Student
Lorna Sandila missed her opportunity to study accounting during her undergraduate degree so the Masters in Professional Accounting (MPA) became the perfect choice for her post graduate study.
She reflects that a major bonus of studying the MPA is that it allows students to study a higher level qualification within a relatively short amount of time.
"I enjoy the small class numbers which gives more opportunity for one on one time with lecturing staff and lively classroom discussions."
Lorna also enjoys the flexibility to build her life around the course. "Lectures take place on two days of the week which means you can work part-time as well."
Originally from the Hawkes Bay, Lorna came to Wellington for undergraduate study and hasn't looked back.
"It makes sense to study commerce subjects in Wellington," she says. "I find it inspiring to look out of the window and see Parliament and it feels good to be in a place where a lot of the national business news generated daily is happening.
"I'm planning to finish up the course during the middle of 2011 and hope that being one of a small number of MPA graduates will help me stand out from the crowd enough to gain employment in one of 'the big four', accounting companies."