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Northern Chartered Accountant Students' Society

Supporting northern ACA students

Newcastle students through to national final of business competition 12 March 2015

Business-aware students from Newcastle High School beat off competition from 8 other local teams to win the Newcastle heat of ICAEW’s National Business and Accounting competition, BASE on 11 March 2015.

Newcastle High School impressed the judges in the heat held at Northumbria University and will go on to represent the north east at the national final which takes place in Birmingham in June.  This was one of 46 heats attracting over 3,000 students in more than 46 competing teams nationwide.

BASE links schools, students and employers to develop employability skills and provide an insight into what a career in accountancy, business and finance might be like. Assuming the role of ICAEW Chartered Accountants, the students had 2 hours to analyse a business situation, before presenting their ideas to a panel of top business professionals. The students completed the competition under their own direction but each team was also supported by a member of Northern Society of Chartered Accountants who acted as their mentor.

Keith Proudfoot, ICAEW Regional Director Northern & Scotland, said: “We were really impressed with the team’s performance and shrewd thinking. These budding business advisers looked beyond the numbers, and demonstrated an excellent instinct for business and, importantly ethics, to give well-rounded advice. I suspect I’ll be seeing more of these young people in leading roles in the future.”

Head Judge Peter Longmore from Northern Society of Chartered Accountants (NorSCA) said: “In the presentations we looked for the ethical and financial data to support the decisions. Newcastle High School showed excellent teamwork and role allocation in delivering a very comprehensive recommendation. The team from Durham School were the runners up and all teams can be rightly proud of their achievements in dealing with a very challenging business challenge.”

Winning team Newcastle High School with head judge Peter Longmore and mentor Nicola Hendry

Winning team Newcastle High School with head judge Peter Longmore and mentor Nicola Hendry

Mentor of the winning team Nicola Hendry of Clive Owen said: “I really enjoyed being a mentor at the Newcastle heat. The team was organised and worked well together, they quickly identified the key issues of the challenge to deliver an extreamly confident presentation.”

The BASE competition was supported by local firms including National Audit Office, KPMG, Kaplan Financial, Bell Anderson Limited, Baker Tilley, Clive Owen, Clarke’s Chartered Accountants,  RMT and Ryecroft Glenton who provided professional mentors and judges.

For further information about BASE and how to participate please visit icaew.com/base

The Northern Society of Chartered Accountants (NorSCA) represents ICAEW members working in business and the finance profession across the North East of England, Teesside, Northern Yorkshire and Cumbria. We have been assisting businesses in the north of England and producing chartered accountants for over 130 years.

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