Asian gateway to working life

Commerce

Three University of Adelaide Commerce students had a valuable early taste of working life when they won highly sought-after Asian internships through CPA Australia.

Third-year double degree commerce (accounting) and economics student Raymond Radice was one of only two Australian students awarded a three-week Japan placement through the CPA Australia International Work Experience program.

Raymond went to Phillip Financials KK in Tokyo, a member of integrated financials services group PhillipCapital, where he spent a packed three weeks learning about the company's operations and Japan's finance industry.

"Working for a retail foreign exchange firm gave me a great insight into the Japanese economy and how it interacts with the global economy, the foreign exchange and commodity markets," said Raymond.

"I gained so much more from the experience than I can just list off. The people were fantastic and I especially appreciate the efforts the Chief Executive Officer, Chellapa Panickar, put into my time there."

Two other commerce students, Sylvester Kong and Shin Yin Pang, both won two-month Malaysian placements through the CPA Australia Asian Internship Program.

Double degree commerce (accounting) and law student Sylvester was assigned to audit firm Moores Rowland Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur as a trainee auditor.

"This internship program not only opened up my first gate to the real working world but also provided a platform for me to evaluate my ability to work with professional auditors," said Sylvester.

During his internship, Sylvester was put in charge of a dormant company's account and he was involved in the audit of five different companies as well as stocktaking company inventories.

Final-year commerce (accounting and corporate finance) student Shin Yin won a trainee placement with PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia where she assisted professional auditors in various aspects of company audits.

"I enjoyed working with different team members, travelling around and changing working environments while attached to six different clients," Shin Yin said.

"I have discovered that I am really interested in assurance and this is the kind of job that I wish to have in the future. I would not have known this without experiencing it."

Story by Robyn Mills