Our Year 13 Accounting students had an inspiring trip to PwC Auckland Office on 30 June. Tina Kilmister-Blue, a senior partner at PwC, and her team organised the event. PwC is the largest multinational professional services firm in the world, especially strong in accounting and finance services.
The event started with a welcome whakatau, which followed by a morning tea. Then Tina, Leo Foliaki (another senior partner), and other PwC Pacific team members introduced themselves in the PwC team panel session. They shared their life stories including cultural and family backgrounds, how they got into their roles in PwC, what they do in PwC on a daily basis, and what it’s like working for PwC. The PwC team panel are all from Maori or Pacific cultural backgrounds. Thus our students felt strongly related to these stories. In whakawhanaungatanga session, Tina and her team discussed with each student group about student’s future aspirations. They also introduced the PwC scholarship programme and possible future career pathways in the accountancy/finance profession. Students were encouraged to aim higher and work hard towards their goals. Many students are now highly interested in applying for the PwC scholarship and working for PwC or other professional service firms in the future. The event was finished by an office tour.
“On behalf of Otahuhu College Accounting Year13 students, I would like to say thank you to the PwC firm for having us and showing us how the business world works also advising and encouraging the students that hard work is key in life. Once again it has been a pleasure being there and we hope that we can have the pleasure of learning more from PWC in the future.” (Ronit Bijay)