Solo dad wins accounting award
An annual award offered by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) and Nga¯ Kaitatau Ma¯ ori o Aotearoa (NKMoA) has been won by a Whanganui 40-something solo father.
CA ANZ Ma¯ ori Sector Manager Kateriina Selwyn says the $5000 Nga¯ Raumanako Ma¯ ori Scholarship, worth $2500 a year over two years, is aimed at students of Ma¯ ori descent studying towards a qualification in accounting.
“To win, they must be able to demonstrate how the scholarship will help achieve their aspirations in accounting and contribute to Ma¯ ori economic and financial wellbeing, something this year’s winner, Aaron McGregor (Nga¯ Rauru, Ngati Raukawa ki te Tonga) has done.”
Solo father to three teenagers, Aaron became a fulltime student in 2016 after taking redundancy after several years in managerial roles.
He says he looked on redundancy as a chance for a career reset, and after working with his iwi as a researcher, enrolled in Whanganui UCOL’s New Zealand Diploma in Business (Management and Accounting pathways).
He says it was a move that made sense for someone who has always loved maths.
“I’d also always been interested in financial literacy, even as a youngster at school, but I’d drifted into a managerial career.”
Maintaining an A+ average throughout the two years of the Diploma, he says he’ll use the scholarship for further study. He’s also pleased the scholarship includes the opportunity of an internship with one of the Nga¯ Kaitatau Ma¯ ori o Aotearoa network partners.
Aaron says he is seeing more Ma¯ ori consider accounting as a career.
“My advice is it’s not as scary as you might think — it’s an evolving profession and an exciting time to get on board, so I say to them, go for it.”
Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and Nga¯ Kaitatau Ma¯ ori o Aotearoa offer two Ma¯ ori accounting students annually: the $5000 Nga¯ Raumanako Ma¯ ori Scholarship and the $6000 Suzanne Spencer Memorial Ma¯ ori Scholarship.
■ Applications for these scholarships will open mid-2019, and be advertised at the YouUnlimited website www.youunlimitedanz.com and NKMoA website www.nkmoa.co.nz/