Accounting grads make national honor roll

Two graduates from Vancouver Island University’s Bachelor of Business Administration program have earned national recognition.

Sarah Flood and Melody Nikleva placed among the top 50 graduates in Canada who successfully passed the Uniform Final Evaluation of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA). The graduates received prizes of $1,000 each.

“This is a phenomenal achievement in the accounting world,” said Mike Mann, Dean of VIU’s Faculty of Management.

“To put their achievement into context, a total of 3,767 accounting graduates from institutions across Canada wrote the UFE exam, of which 2,701 (71.7%) were successful.  We’re very proud of Sarah and Melody.”

The difficult three-day exam is one of the final steps leading to qualification as a chartered accountant.

Richard Rees, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC, agreed making the national honor roll is a fantastic achievement.

“Sarah and Melody are two of nine BC students to make the national honor roll,” he said. “Their success is a great testament to the quality of VIU’s faculty and the Bachelor of Business Administration degree program. To have two graduates make the national honor roll is quite remarkable.”

Flood and Nikleva both graduated from VIU’s BBA program in the accounting concentration. Flood is currently articling with KPMG Chartered Accountants in Victoria, while Nikleva is articling with Deloitte & Touche in Calgary.

Flood works primarily with small owner-managed business, but also with a few larger audit clients. She previously interned with McGorman MacLean in Parksville while attending VIU, before graduating in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts (with distinction), majoring in business and accounting. She now looks forward to the possibility of teaching in the accounting profession.

Flood said writing the UFE was a grueling process. “I had a few months off over the summer to study for it. I was happy but surprised to have placed so well. I was very relieved, excited and glad that step of the journey is over.

“VIU’s BBA program (accounting concentration) gave me a good solid base of skills and knowledge that was very useful both in the work place and in helping me pursue further education,” she said. “The internship component of the degree program is also of great benefit to students.”

Students in the accounting concentration at VIU graduate with the full slate of pre-requisite courses required to enrol in the Chartered Accountant School of Business (CASB). Graduates must article with an accounting firm for three years after graduation, and during that time they pursue additional education through the CASB. Once course requirements are completed, they are eligible to write the UFE national exam.

Six other VIU accounting graduates successfully passed the UFE this year, and all are employed at major accounting firms on Vancouver Island: Leanne Abbott (McGorman Maclean – Parksville); Myriah Erickson (Meyers Norris Penny – Campbell River); Mike Furnell (Meyers Norris Penny – Nanaimo);  Ryan Park (KPMG – Victoria); Andrew Smith (Hayes Stewart Little & Co – Duncan); Sarah Zubkowski (Church Pickard – Nanaimo).

VIU Accounting instructor Chris Burnley said graduates from the BBA accounting program are in demand and most secure employment locally, provincially or nationally.

“Our graduates receive terrific support from many of the chartered accountant firms on the Island,” he said. “Whether it’s providing internship placements during their studies, coming to campus to meet with our students or hiring them on graduation, the support has been great,” he said. “Firms like Meyers Norris Penny, Church Pickard, Hayes Stewart Little & Co and McGorman Maclean and many others have been wonderful supporters of our program and students for many years. 

“Our students have also benefited from the support of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia who have recognized the strength of VIU’s (formerly Malaspina) accounting graduates.

“The achievement of Sarah and Melody is fantastic,” Burnley added. “To have two of our graduates finish in the top two percent of UFE writers on what is widely recognized as a very difficult national examination is wonderful.  It’s a real tribute to the two of them and a great example of the calibre of students coming out of VIU.”

To find out more about the BBA accounting stream program and other courses offered in the Business faculty, call Accounting Chair, Gordon Holyer at 250-753-3245 (local 2539) or visit the website at http://viu.ca/business.