On December 1, 2016 a celebration ceremony was held at the premises of P.A. College, in light of recognizing and highlighting the successful collaboration between the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales - ICAEW), Grant Thornton (Cyprus) Ltd and P.A. College in relevance to the hybrid programme 'Grant Thornton Route to ACA'.

At the celebration ceremony, the Director of P.A. College, Dr. Andreas Patsalides, the Head of Qualifications at the ICAEW, Mr. Shaun Robertson and theInternational Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) partner at Grant Thornton (Cyprus) Ltd, Mr. Loyides reflected their enthusiasm about and great satisfaction with the fruitful tri-party strategic collaboration.

Μr. Patsalides proudly denoted the extremely successful strategic collaboration and was happy to inform the audience that “all students who participated in the “Grant Thronton Route to ACA” have been employed by leading Accounting and Auditing organisations in Cyprus.”

Mr. Shawn Robertson referred to the programme as a “Massive achievement offering an academic degree with a great standing in the community, a job offer in a tough job market and a professional qualification that is not just the passing of an exam, but professional development, ethics training and practical experience”

Μr. Antonis Loyides extended his sincere congratulations to “the graduates of 2015 who made Grant Thornton proud for their commitment and ethos, to the current participants for their loyalty and hard work, as well as to P.A. College and ICAEW for their smooth collaboration.  And lastly to our people for supporting and helping the students.”

In addition, two students, Mikaela Skordou, first cohort graduate and Andreas Konnaris, second cohort participant shared their personal experiences and numerous benefits received during their training programme through the “Grant Thornton Route to ACA”,  affirming gratitude to the three parties of the strategic collaboration.

This hybrid programme aims at preparing undergraduate students for an outstanding professional career in the field of Accounting/Auditing.  Alongside their academic studies and securing of 12 exemptions out of 15 ACA papers, students participate in a unique training programme at Grant Thornton (Cyprus) Ltd obtaining 190 days of technical work experience out of the 450 days required for the ACA professional qualification.  The first graduates of the “Grant Thornton Route to ACA” completed the programme in February 2016 and they have all been employed in reputable auditing firms.  The second cohort will be completing the programme in February 2017 and the third cohort is joining the programme this coming January.

The ceremony ended with a reception hosted by P.A. College.  Representatives of ICAEW, Grant Thornton (Cyprus) Ltd, as well as graduates and participants of the programme had the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences.