Guernsey accountant achieves global success

Wednesday 09 June 2010

An accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers CI firm has achieved the highest score globally in an advanced level accountancy exam.

As well as receiving 96% in the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Advanced Tax exam - the highest mark in the world out of everyone who took that paper - Colin Jeffreys, a Senior Associate based in the Guernsey office, has also been awarded the Bronze Medal for placing third globally in terms of his overall score in his five final qualification exams.

Steve Le Page, Senior Partner at PwC CI, believes Colin’s results are a fantastic personal achievement, but also demonstrate a number of strengths of the firm and the Island as a whole:

“Colin’s achievement is of course clearly the result of his own natural aptitude, discipline and determination. We are very pleased to celebrate his personal success with him. We also believe Colin’s success story demonstrates the ability of our Channel Island firm to attract, support and retain the very brightest. His outstanding achievement is also an indicator that Guernsey is a great place to build a career, offering great opportunities to work with world class organisations to the business leaders of tomorrow.”

Colin has been at PwC in Guernsey since September 2008 and works across a range of accountancy areas, with particular expertise in private equity. Commenting on the support PwC offers staff in helping them balance training and work simultaneously, he added:

”The ongoing support PwC offers definitely influenced my decision to work for them – ranging from study buddies to paid study leave, I got all the help, coaching and guidance I needed to help me perform well in these exams. Deciding to work in Guernsey involved more factors than just study packages though. PwC in the Channel Islands has a world class client base and I wanted to be in a location that could offer the quality of experience I’d need to make a good start to my career. I believe Guernsey genuinely compares very favourably in terms of career development to most other financial centres around the world.”

PwC offers a range of professional qualifications options, allowing staff to choose the study route that best suits their learning style. PwC globally invests heavily in providing learning and development tools, which all staff in the Channel Islands firm have access to.