A new Bachelor of Accounting on offer at Toi Ohomai | Te Pūkenga aims to fill the industry shortage and will make learning seamless for students.

The Bachelor of Accounting on offer at Toi Ohomai as well as other Te Pūkenga subsidiaries is a brand new qualification and is the first unified business degree to be offered across 16 tertiary institutes, including the Toi Ohomai campuses in Tauranga and Rotorua.

Toi Ohomai Principal Academic Staff Member and chartered accountant Mark Wilson says one of the many benefits of this unified course is that students can study it anywhere and transfer to another campus if needed.

Mark says there is currently a shortage of accountants across the country and this could continue for years to come unless new accountants are trained.

The course is accredited with Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand (CAANZ) and Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) Australia, meeting their educational requirements for entry into full membership.

'The degree approval application has been incredibly robust and has required substantial input from iwi, industry, external education providers, stakeholders across New Zealand and both accounting institutes (CAANZ and CPA) over the past 12 months to ensure graduates are leaving with everything they need to be an effective member of the modern accounting community," says Mark.

During this degree, students gain industry experience and connections which Mark says is valuable for understanding the industry and its needs.

'The Bachelor of Accounting is really exciting for us,” says Mark.

'We need more grads to fill the needs of our industry. All our grads are getting jobs and our industry contacts are still wanting more. As tutors, it is so rewarding for us.”

Mark says this degree will produce work-ready graduates.

'Industry love our grads as they already have relevant experience from throughout their degree. It's not just theoretical accounting – it's real-life accounting education.”

He says the benefits of the unified offering mean it is a combination of the best teaching practices from across the country.

'Effectively we have 16 experts nationwide developing each and every paper. The synergy created by combining all of our experience and expertise delivers a programme with best practices and up-to-date outcomes delivered in each course undertaken.”

Mark says students at Toi Ohomai receive not only knowledge but exceptional pastoral care.

'Our job as academic staff is to help the students learn and succeed. That is our number one priority, and we love doing it.

'You have one tutor for each paper, we know all the students and spend time ensuring that all students stay on track as much is a possible. That means we, along with our amazing academic support team, have the ability and resources to help students get through their individual barriers, gain a qualification and create a career.”

The first year of the Bachelor of Accounting is taken up completing the Level 5 NZ Diploma in Business in Accounting, before moving on to the final two years for the degree.

'The benefit to students is that, if they find accounting is not their thing or they have learnt what they came for, they can leave with a Level 5 accounting qualification, sufficient for CAANZ Accounting Technician status,” says Mark.

'It's just a win/win.”