Accounting students urged to be better ‘controllers’
Published:Thursday | December 28, 2023 | 12:09 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson, chief executive officer (CEO) of Continental Baking Company Limited, on Wednesday implored two university accounting students to become not only an excellent accountant, but an even better ‘controller’.
Delivering the keynote address at the fourth annual Kenneth Chung memorial accounting scholarship held at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica (ICAJ) in Kingston, Hendrickson noted that to keep a company viable ‘in the present’, accountants must not only complete their duties but to also take initiative in identifying errors early on, preventing them from going any further.
They must essentially display a proactive mindset in wanting to aid in the company’s operational success as this will in turn become beneficial to the individual who is seeking job security.
“Be your company’s gatekeeper, don’t just sit there and shuffle numbers around and create good reports. If you’re not being your company’s gatekeeper [and] a controller of things that matter, you’re never gonna be what you could be,” he said.
“I will say this without any fear at all, right now we need more controllership in accounting ... we need people who look at numbers and say this is not right,” Hendrickson added, noting that it was better to “catch” things within a week than to “chase it down a month later”.
A financial controller is an individual who has the responsibility of overseeing all accounting-related activities within a company.
He further encouraged the youngsters “not to look at the world the way people say it is”, nor should they “tie” themselves down to one particular facet of accounting.
Instead, Hendrickson advised them to “open” themselves to various opportunities within the profession, and noted that if they desired to be the person who “wants to do a real and serious drill down, not [an] audit ... but you want to be in the here and now”, then it was equally important to not only worry about the numbers that made up the reports but to know the decisions and actions taken to arrive at the numbers presented.
“The better you know your numbers is the better able you’ll be to hit the root cause problem and when you hit the root cause problems then you have magic,” he said.
The CEO further cautioned the youngsters to not “let nobody tell you say it can’t be done. ‘I can’t’ is the same as ‘I won’t’... and why won’t I? Because me cyah bother, I can’t be bothered because it’s not required. Don’t let people set standards for you, set your own standards and set them high and every time you think you reach it move the bar. Be unfair to yourself because jackass say the road nuh level and trust me, it nuh level and in Jamaica, we have potholes.”
The scholarship, valued at $250,000, was awarded to Debra-Kaye Brown, a second-year student at The University of the West Indies, Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM).
This year, a second individual was awarded.
Shaneica Spence, who is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Accounting, also received a scholarship, but from the personal funds of the Chung family.
Representative of the donor family, Dennis Chung, remarked that his family intended to continue this scholarship programme for as long as it can be done.
“There’s a lot of talk in society and not enough people are actually doing something to help,” he said.
Chung continued about the importance of “levelling the playing field” by not only awarding individuals because of their academic performance, but to look also at the financial needs of the individual, their community involvement, and professionalism, among other aspects of who they are.
He expressed that he wished that the contribution could have been “a lot more” and therefore, used the opportunity to encourage people “to do their part”, adding that if everyone gave a contribution of $10,000 a year, many lives could be impacted.
With teary eyes Brown, who offered a response upon receiving the scholarship, reflected how “deeply” she was struggling and would often call on God for his help.
She recounted that as she “prayed and pressed through going to school”, while also going to work, she had enquired about any available scholarships that she could apply for so as to ease her financial constraints. After receiving the relevant information, she shared it in her class’ WhatsApp group and encouraged others to sign up.
“I was there and wondering if I should apply because I was saying maybe someone else was in the class struggling more than me, but I was going through and the Lord said I should apply... and when I sent it in, I just said ‘Lord, have your way’ and then I got the call for the interview and oh my God, I was so happy,” she recounted of her initial doubt.
She further explained her academic journey was an inspirational one for others within her family, particularly those of the younger generation; and that she was collecting the scholarship not only for herself, but for her sisters, cousins and other relatives who looked up to her and saw her as a source of hope.
Similarly, Spence expressed how humbled she was at being selected for the scholarship and for the “trust and confidence” that the family has placed in her to deliver well on their investment in her academic pursuits.
“I am deeply honoured to be a recipient of this award that carries the legacy of a visionary individual like Kenneth Chung,” she said.