Voices

Canadian association crowns Next Top Accountant

In lieu of Tyra Banks, Talisman Energy called upon the Certified General Accountants’ Association of Alberta to help find the Canada-headquartered oil and gas company a summer intern—and Alberta’s Next Top Accountant.

Next Top Accountant contestants uploaded videos explaining their fitness for the job to Youtube, where fellow students, CGA Alberta members and the public could vote on their favorites to nab the internship.

The 17 submitted videos were narrowed down to the five contestants with the most likes, who went on to present a business case to a panel of judges last week, including CGA Alberta Chief Executive Officer John Carpenter.

"This contest was an innovative approach intended to garner interest from post-secondary students as well as the general public and educate them on what it takes to become a CGA," said Carpenter in a statement. "It was a fun, creative way for aspiring accounting students to share their skills. It generated some healthy competition among emerging talent."

With more than 73,000 CGA members and students in the country, the CGA is the fastest-growing accounting designation in Canada, according to the association.

Carpenter, along with fellow judges Gurpreet Sidhu, tax analyst for Talisman Energy, and Jamie Vadori, general manager of Wild Rose Brewery, crowned Stephanie Greve the winner for her business case presentation for Mountain Man Brewery.

“We were very impressed with the level of professionalism these students exhibited in their business case presentations," said Carpenter. "Greve's presentation was very focused and based on the economics of business. I was impressed with how she presented complex facts in a well-organized manner.”

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Greve is a second-year business administration student majoring in accounting at Calgary, Alberta-based SAIT Polytechnic.

"This opportunity is a great chance for me to enter the business world and gain even more work experience in a new and challenging environment," she said in a statement. "Being called Alberta's Next Top Accountant is something I am very proud of and it will help me to maintain my motivation toward furthering my education, and ultimately finding a personally rewarding career."

CGA Alberta’s Youtube channel, where contestant videos were displayed, received 15,000 views during the competition.

"We were pleased by the creativity of the Next Top Accountant submissions," said Roseann MacDonald, Talisman's vice president of global talent management. "This was a great way for people to showcase their talent. We look forward to welcoming our Next Top Accountant, Stephanie Greve, to Talisman this spring."

Unlike its namesake competition, runners up were not sent home empty-handed and crying.

Second place and a $2,000 scholarship for the CGA Program of Professional Studies went to Aliya Lalani, while Ahmed Bilal Abida took home the third-prize $1,000 scholarship.

The CGA Association of Alberta coordinates the education, regulation and promotion of CGAs in the province. For more information about CGA Alberta, visit www.cga-alberta.org.

 

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