Applications for our Sir Henare Ngata Scholarship for Māori accountant students close this Friday! To celebrate the scholarship and give you an understanding of what it’s like to work in BDO’s Māori Business team, we thought we’d share the stories of some of our Māori Business people.
Today, we hear from Anqush Kumar, Senior Accountant at BDO Tauranga, about how he brings a different perspective when working in the Māori Business Team.
Remember scholarship applications close this Friday November 26, and there are three up for grabs! Apply here now.
Anqush Kumar, Business Advisory Services, BDO Tauranga
Ko ruapehu te maunga
Ko whanganui te awa
Ko tamahaki te iwi
Ko ngati kurawhatia te hapu
Ko paraweka te marae
In my final year of uni I gave my CV to one of my mates who worked at BDO, they gave me an interview the following week and then I was hired. When I first started there were so many people around to support me, I never felt afraid to ask a question and they were really helpful when I started my CA as well.
I’m into my fourth year now and have lots of variety in my work. My biggest client is a Māori business, and this week I’ve been doing monthly management reports to present to their board. I also have a lot of horticulture clients which is great because my parents are in horticulture, so I really know the business. There’s also a lot of property development companies and mum and dad businesses – there’s never really any monotony in my work!
Building relationships
Everything is really relationship-focussed which I love, it’s all about going out to see clients and building connections rather than sitting at a desk. I’m a mentor for others at work so I regularly check up on them – I love doing this because I had a mentor when I first started and I don’t think I’d be where I am today without them. They taught me the fundamentals of everything, even just basic stuff like good comms etiquette when emailing clients and how to use Xero, all that stuff that you don’t necessarily know when you first come out of uni.
I find at BDO what you put in is what you get out, there’s a real reciprocal relationship here. If you express an interest in something the Partners here will make it happen. For me, my interest is Māori business, so BDO sent me to the Māori accountants network national hui. When I came back I prepared a presentation to the board down here on what I’d learnt and how to apply it.
A team led by Māori for Māori
It’s amazing to work for a team that’s led by Māori for Māori – when we have discussions everyone can feel that genuine intent to help Māori and it really uplifts all our interactions. It’s really exciting to work for Māori clients, when you’re Māori you bring a different perspective to business, it’s about what can be done for future generations and that’s a great view to support in business.
That’s why the scholarship is so good. If rangatahi can learn valuable skills through working for a company like BDO, they can bring those back to their iwi and hapū – this is one of the main reasons I became an accountant, and for the last four years I’ve been the treasurer of my Māori trust because I can provide good advice to them to help make sure intergenerational goals are met.
If you’re thinking about applying to the Sir Henare Ngata scholarship and would like to learn more about what it’s like to work at BDO, our Māori Business Team are happy to kōrero with you. Either drop into your local BDO office or contact us.