University of Ulster student Jamie Graham is the latest recipient of a Merit Award from the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland. Jamie, who is from Dunmurry, Belfast, was awarded the prize for achieving the highest results in his second year class ‘Career Planning and Personal Skills Development’ on the Accounting degree course.

As well as winning the CPA prize, Jamie also picked up the KMPG prize for 3rd place in year two and the HD Mooney Memorial Prize for Highest Achieving student in the Financial Accounting module in second year.

Ciara Murphy from CPA Ireland congratulated Jamie on the award. “We are delighted at CPA to present Jamie with this year’s Merit Award as it is a true recognition of his excellent results and hard work. We would like to wish him every success in his future career as an accountant.”

Jamie is pictured here with Jimmy Donnelly, CPA and Gregory McGrath, Course Director of the Accounting programme. The presentation took place at the university’s Belfast campus on Friday 26th October.

Catherine Murphy from Blarney, Co. Cork, was awarded the CPA Ireland Merit Award for Best Performing student on the Bachelor of Business (Honours) in Accounting, part-time programme in  Cork Institute of Technology. Catherine received the prize of €200 from CPA Vice President Joe Aherne at CIT’s Faculty of Business and Humanities Prize Giving Awards on Thursday 18th October.

Don Crowley, Head of the Department of Continuing Education in CIT, said the award was a suitable recognition of Catherine’s dedication and excellent results. “I am delighted Catherine has won this award as it is recognises her diligence throughout her time on the programme. I would like to thank CPA Ireland for sponsoring the Merit Award for best performing student in the programme, as it is a great way to reward students for their hard work.”

Catherine works with M&P O’Sullivan Cash & Carry Cork and has gone on to sit her CPA Professional 1 exams.

18th October 2012: Three students from Waterford Institute of Technology have been awarded CPA Merit Awards from the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland for their outstanding results in their exams. Patrick O’Riordan and Diyanghuan Fan were both recognised for their excellent results in their second year accountancy exams. Liana Moynan was also a prize winner for excelling in her Bachelor of Business Studies third year paper.

The students were presented with their awards at a prizegiving ceremony at the WIT Campus on Wednesday 10th October. Paul Treacy, the course leader in the WIT BA in Accounting degree, commended the students on their results. “It is important to recognise the excellence of students like Liana, to encourage others to take inspiration from their hard work. I would like to congratulate all the students on their outstanding results and to thank the CPA Institute for recognising their efforts.”

Founded in 1943, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland (CPA) is one of the main Irish accountancy bodies, with in excess of 5,000 members and students. The CPA designation is the most commonly used designation worldwide for professional accountants and the Institute’s qualification enjoys wide international recognition. Its membership operates in public practice, industry, financial services and the public sector and CPAs work in 40 countries around the world.  For further information visit www.cpaireland.ie.

Caption: (l-r) Prizewinners Patrick O’Riordan and Liana Moynan pictured with former CPA President, Geoff Meagher at the award ceremony. Missing from photo: Diyanghuan Fan.

The latest Morgan McKinley Employment Monitor saw an increase of 18pc in the number of professional job numbers compared to the same time last year. The monitor also noted a month-on-month rise of 13pc in the number of professional job vacancies available.

Karen O'Flaherty, Chief Operations Officer of Morgan McKinley said growth experienced by a number of sectors was responsible for the rising numbers. "We can attribute this increase to a number of factors such as the uplift in start up businesses, increased foreign direct investment as well as sectors such as IT, manufacturing and life sciences which have all experienced growth throughout 2012."

You can read the full report here.