Over seventeen hundred finance professionals have taken the final step towards their qualifications for business leadership with the latest round of ICAEW Advanced Stage examinations.
Among ICAEW’s annual prize winners, Alexander Hird, from Garbutt & Elliott in York, achieved outstanding success with two top awards.
Alexander received Joint First Place and the Walton prize for his result in the Business Change paper and also Joint First Place and the Peat prize in the Advanced Stage Annual International Order of Merit. (The full list of prize winners is given below.)
Alexander comments: “Having been tentatively hopeful of passing, I was astounded when I got the email telling me that I was a double prize winner. It’s not something that is often heard of, either in this region or outside the larger firms, so I certainly hadn’t expected it! I feel that, given I come from a regional firm, the award is all the more special for both myself and for Garbutt & Elliott. They have been very supportive throughout my training, and I’m very grateful for the opportunities that they have given me.
“I was with my father when I received the results; he was very excited then and continues to be now - I think he has told just about everyone that I’ve ever met to date! I got the results only by text message first and commented that they could be amongst the highest, but I still had a complete feeling of disbelief when I read the email. I think I now have an idea of how it must feel to discover that you’ve won the lottery!
“I grew up in Scarborough and completed a degree in Mathematics at the University of Nottingham, which meant that on day one at Garbutt & Elliott I had no accountancy experience at all. I know that a lot of the students at Kaplan Leeds, where I studied for the ACA exams, had accountancy degrees or were AAT qualified before starting the course, therefore to come at the top of this group alone seems very unlikely. I can’t believe that I have come top for one award, let alone two.
“At present, I am looking forward to continuing my training at Garbutt & Elliott, but I’m as yet undecided as to where my long term future lies. I like life in Yorkshire and expect that I will stay in this region, having only recently moved to York. I enjoy the daily challenges that you face in practice, but can never rule out the change to industry.”
Overall, 3,654 students undertook their Advanced Stage examinations in November 2011, sitting a total of 6,298 papers. 1,754 students completed the Advanced Stage this session and 2,508 passed all the papers they sat.
Craig Manson, Partner, Garbutt & Elliott, York, with student Alexander Hird, who won the Business Change Joint First Place and the Walton prize, ICAEW Advanced Stage Subject Order of Merit and Joint First Place and the Peat prize, ICAEW Advanced Stage International Orders of Merit (Nov 2011 sitting)