Three young lecturers at the School of Accounting at the University of Johannesburg have recently been named as finalists in the 2017 national Top-35-Under-35 competition. The event is organised by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).
They are among the 35 finalists, aged 35 or younger, selected out of hundreds of entries. The finalists will be judged by a panel of high-profile business leaders, after which category winners and the overall winner will be announced.
Mr Jonathan Streng, Senior Lecturer
Mr Streng currently lectures Financial Accounting to CTA students.
As a young student, he finished top in his class in Accounting and Finance during his Honours studies, was placed in the Top 10 in the first Board exam and holds a Master’s (cum laude) in International Accounting.
Mr Streng contributes significantly to the profession and academia through carefully selected projects that are grounded in practice. “The work I do as a reviewer on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) proactive monitoring panel ranks amongst the highlights of my career. This truly exceptional process is making a phenomenal contribution to South Africa’s global dominance in the quality of financial reporting,” he says.
Most recently, he has been involved in a research project on black economic ownership in South Africa that he believes will have a massive impact on South Africa’s BEE reporting requirements and behaviors. He has contributed to three textbooks in the field of Financial Management, Management and Environmental Accounting.
Mr Streng has served as a judge for the prestigious CSSA Integrated Reporting Awards since 2016. He also serves the profession through his involvement as an academic reviewer for SAICA’s university accreditation process, as well as serving as a member on the Accounting Practices Committee of SAICA, which is SAICA’s accounting technical committee.
His passion for innovation in education is evidenced by him being recently involved in an edu-tech start-up in the accounting education space during 2017.
Ms Monique Keevy, Senior Lecturer
After completing her articles at a Big Four accounting firm, Ms Keevy joined the University of Johannesburg to pursue her passion for teaching. This gave her the opportunity to combine her CA(SA) skill set with education by completing a master’s (cum laude) on the benefits of teaching methods in transferring SAICA’s pervasive skills.
Spending two years on her master’s instilled a passion in her to better prepare graduates for a changing business world. Subsequently, she has been able to apply this knowledge in both the academic and the training environments.
Ms Keevy jointly developed a case study with a financial institution to provide students with a real-life simulation of the work environment, which has also been made available to the University of Venda.
She has published several accredited articles on the development of pervasive skills. Monique is also using her knowledge to build a successful business assisting trainees in developing learning portfolios.
Mr Husain Coovadia, Senior Lecturer
Mr Coovadia has played a leading role in integrating technology into the teaching and learning process. To this end, he co-developed a technology education solution called e-NACT. This was selected out of more than 500 applications worldwide to be showcased at a Wharton – QS Reimagine Conference held at Wharton University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution.
He was the winner of a 2016 Vice-Chancellor’s Award at the University of Johannesburg. He was also selected as a judge for the annual global Reimagine Education competition, dubbed the Oscars of higher education.
Through his engagement with companies like Google, Mr Coovadia identified available software and created an APT application. The application facilitates online marking and allows students to view their results online. Pre academia, he successfully listed products at a major South African retail store. Through innovative solutions, he managed and implemented processes required for the business to be a success.
See the original article on the SAICA website here.
