Invercargill born-and-raised Donald Thomson, found it a straightforward choice to complete his degree in his home town: it came with a job and the Zero Fees Scheme.
Donald said his Accounting teacher in high school had a friend at the local office of accounting firm Findex, so when they sent out an email looking for secondary school graduates for positions as Trainee Accountants, Donald applied, “and I got the job... with that, came the pathway to study through SIT,” he said. “I’m so grateful I got the job at Findex - it was the best place to start and offered a wide variety of clients and experiences. I had loads of support, it’s been fantastic.”
Even without the significant advantage of starting with Findex, Donald said he still would’ve chosen to study at SIT because he had a list of reasons to stay in the south. “I’m from a big family and I didn’t want to leave that behind, I didn’t find it necessary to experience the university lifestyle,” and last but not least, “Zero Fees is pretty fantastic – it didn’t make any sense to rack up a student debt when you’ve got this option.”
Donald wanted learning which was practical, “so you’re directly applying what you’re learning as you go”. He headed into his studies with an open mind and discovered he enjoyed quite a few things about his programme.
“It’s a business degree and we’re given a broad overview of the sector, covering marketing, HR, law, workplace relationships, and management accounting, amongst other things. It was really helpful gain experience in those different areas.”
“The course highlighted the importance of applying what you’ve learnt. What I appreciated was that practical application.” He mentions one paper in particular – Accounting Information Systems. “We completed assignments on different accounting systems, like Xero, MYOB, Reckon and Excel.” It gave Donald a practical knowledge of the different software available to clients, and he has the ability to advise clients on what might be most suitable for their needs. “It also helps me to be adaptable in my career – I could’ve just gone into the workforce and learned one or two systems, but the training has broadened my horizons.”
It was the practical, applied nature of SIT’s programme which Donald valued the most. “It was really good that we had tutors who worked in the accounting industry.” He remembers one tutor in particular who imparted her current knowledge to the students. “Hearing her stories and passion for her career helped shape the way I think, and influenced me to go in the direction I’m headed now,” he said.
Donald said the highlight of his SIT programme was definitely the tutors. “There are so many decent tutors there, I don’t know how you could get better quality teaching at university.” He thinks over the course of the degree he’s grown as a result of the learning, as well as from the overall experience.
While working full-time, Donald completed his degree in three-and-a-half years by doing extra papers each semester. “I was able to complete summer school papers and distance papers through SIT2LRN – SIT had those options - they were very flexible in allowing me to do that, which was really good.”
As with other students who chose to achieve their degrees in less time, Donald said working full-time and doing SIT as well, does present time management issues, but it was achievable, “as long as you manage your time well”. It did mean that there wasn’t much downtime; he was only on campus for his classes, and he would head straight back to work after going to class.
Aside from gaining the appropriate qualification for his career choice, Donald said another aspect of SIT he found really good, was how well the tutors are aligned with the industry. “They knew how to advise us on what papers to take for the next steps in our career,” referring to the Chartered Accountancy qualification. “SIT know what papers are prerequisites, and they make sure we have these papers under our belt.” He’d noticed it because he had worked with university graduates.
“Some university graduates don’t have these papers completed and sometimes have to spend months catching up – it’s a good example of how switched-on SIT is. They made sure we were well-prepared.”
After four-and-a-half years at Findex, Donald recently moved to a new role in commercial accounting and feels he may have found his niche. Now working for Blue Sky Meats in the finance department, he described the difference between working with an individual company in comparison to public accounting, where there are a large variety of clients. “In a commercial role, you’re better aligned with the business and its operations.” It’s like being at the coalface and closer to the action. “I feel my personality is better suited to this environment, I guess it’s more about specialising in one industry, than being a jack of all trades.”
Donald said at present, his career focus is on expanding his capabilities and roles with his current employer to support business growth. There were places to go and a ladder to climb in terms of role progression if he wanted to go down that path. “There’s financial controller then there’s CFO (Chief Financial Officer). But for now, “I like working for one business and giving it my all. It’s about finding my strengths and weaknesses and finding a role that fits me.”