Accountants without borders

Whoever said accountancy was dull? You certainly didn’t hear it from any of the students whose recent trip to Europe took them inside the greater world of global accountancy.

In January, 35 students from the University of Melbourne and RMIT took part in the International Accounting Study Program, visiting five countries and 14 host organisations in 23 days.

Newly offered as an elective subject by the University of Melbourne, the program is designed to explore aspects of international business with an experiential learning focus.

From public relations to business strategy and accounting standards, the students were given a rare experience inside some of the most high-profile businesses in the world. Companies such as Nestle, Volkswagen, Sainsburys and Deloitte all took the students under their wings providing tours, talks and demonstrations.

Catherine Rushton, a University of Melbourne undergraduate who has just completed the second year of an accounting degree says whether in boardroom meetings or tours of the Volkswagen factory the students gained real enjoyment from their learning.

“It was just amazing,” she says. “In London, Sainsbury’s was really memorable and we had people get up and do cooking demonstrations for us ... we had a lot of fun with that one.”

The students were permitted to attend International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) meetings in London and Paris, as part of a visit to the NYSE – Euronext visit (New York Stock Exchange), they were invited to open the day’s trading with the famous ‘ringing of the bell’.

“We weren’t really expecting it,” Catherine says. “We sort of snuck into the room and thought: Ooo, bell! Are we supposed to be doing this? Oh my gosh, we feel so sneaky!” But to their surprise and honour they became part of a live television broadcast and a tradition experienced by a privileged few.

But the trip is much more than ringing bells and cooking demonstrations as Warren McKeown, subject co-ordinator and Teaching Fellow in the Accounting Department of the Faculty of Business and Economics, explains.

“The program aims to provide future professionals an insight into a world that many of us take for granted, despite its increasing significance and influence on our lives,” he says. “The Global Financial Crisis has brought the world of finance under scrutiny and global accountancy is a fundamental cog in that wheel. With pressure being put on the US to adopt international accounting standards, the future of accountancy plays a big role in the global economy.

“We can tell them that here in the classroom but to actually go and hear it from the Chief Financial Officer at Tesco and to hear comments from Deloitte in Zurich … you get a different dimension of understanding of the way it’s being seen by businesses internationally. It’s making the world a smaller place.”

But all business and study aside, for some of the students it was their first trip overseas and none of the students had previously been to Europe.

For Catherine, Warsaw was a highlight. “It was the first place that it snowed. It was really exciting because a few people hadn’t actually seen snow before”.

She loved the unexpected spectacle of spending Chinese New Year in Paris and seeing live West End shows in London, but for the most part the trip opened up a world of possibilities.

“You can really do anything” she says, “It broadens your horizons about where you can go and what you can actually achieve, which I hadn’t thought of before.”

www.fbe.unimelb.edu.au