The Discipline of Accounting and Finance in the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics at NUI Galway has recently launched Accounting Nuggets, a series of online tutorials for Leaving Certificate Accounting students.

The EXPLORE funded project is a student-staff collaboration where a series of step-by-step guided online tutorials have been created to support students with bite-sized chunks of the Leaving Certificate Accounting syllabus. Team members consist of: Lecturers Mary Barrett and Riona Lyons; Bachelor of Commerce students Rita Breen and Sarah Kelly; Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) students Patric Evason, Natasha Caulfield, Michael Loftus and Kelley Hession; and Masters of Accounting student Owen Wyer.  The project team consulted with Leaving Certificate students and secondary school teachers to select topics that students found most difficult at Leaving Certificate level.

Accounting Nuggets team member and final year student on the Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) degree at NUI Galway, Michael Loftus, said: “It was a fantastic experience to work alongside our lecturers and give something back to the university and wider community. I have been able to improve my teaching and presentation skills no end but most importantly I think this project will benefit Leaving Certificate students with their accounting studies.”

Attending the launch of Accounting Nuggets, was secondary school student Declan McGoldrick from Summerhill College, Sligo. “I am currently a fourth year student and I am studying Accounting for my Leaving Cert. I believe that the Accounting Nuggets developed by NUI Galway is a fantastic resource to have as a student. It offers top quality online tutorials in Accounting and it will be a great revision aid for me when revising for my Leaving Cert next year.” 

Mary Barrett, Programme Director for Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) is keen to encourage the study of accounting at leaving cert and emphasise the benefits of pursuing an accounting career. “Students pursuing accounting careers continue to successfully find employment even during the recession, with 41% of all graduate jobs in 2012 in the area of accountancy, banking and finance (GradIreland 2013). We have long standing relationships with employers at NUI Galway and they return year on year, competing with one another to recruit our graduates from the Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) degrees.  Many of our students choose to pursue a professional accounting qualification from CAI, ACCA, CIMA or CPA. Our programmes provide significant exemptions from these professional body exams which means that our graduates are well on the way to qualifying as a professional accountant on completion of their studies at NUI Galway.”

The online tutorials are an ideal support for anyone studying accounting for their Leaving Certificate and can be accessed at www.nuigalway.ie/cairnes/leavingcert. The website also provides information on the career paths of many of our accounting graduates.

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