ACCA is delighted to announce the names of the 2011 recipients of the Simpson Scholarship. This year’s winners come from China, Malta, Nigeria, Russia, and the UK.

As ever, our winners will have their exam fees, annual student or affiliate fees, and membership admission fees paid for them by the scholarship fund for up to five years, or until ACCA membership is achieved, whichever happens sooner. BPP Learning Media, our Platinum Approved Learning Partner (content), are also kindly providing scholarship winners with study materials for every ACCA paper they are studying.

‘The quality of this year’s entrants was truly higher than ever,’ says Lucy Taylor, ACCA’s head of student support. ‘Our winners have been picked from a very tough field, so they should feel very proud of their achievement; it wasn’t easy for our judges. On behalf of ACCA, I’d like to thank everyone that did take the time to apply for the scholarships, even if they weren’t successful. The judges were really impressed by the overall quality of the submissions, and they enjoyed the challenge of picking out winners.’

This year’s winning entrants were variously described by ACCA’s judging panel as ‘inspirational’ and ‘high quality’. One winner was described as ‘an excellent role-model for ACCA’.

The recipients of this year’s scholarship are: Ms Shi Weijia of China; Mr Mark Lombardi of Malta; Ms Ojikutu Muyinat Olajumoke of Nigeria; Ms Darya Timoshina of Russia; and Mr Ian Kidd of the UK.

To be awarded the scholarship, applicants had to have achieved the highest standards in the exams they had already sat, and they had to submit a 1000-word essay on how the scholarship would help them achieve their full potential.

The Simpson Scholarship has been running in its current form since 2008 and was made possible by an endowment from ACCA Fellow, Muriel Simpson. Ms Simpson requested that ACCA run a scholarship to recognise the achievements of high-calibre students.

Last year’s winners came from Bahrain, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, and Vietnam. Since 2008, the Simpson Scholarship has helped 20 ACCA students, from 13 different countries.

More information on the scholarship can be found at www.accaglobal.com/scholarship.

For further information, please contact:

Nick Cosgrove, ACCA Newsroom
+44 (0)20 7059 5989
+44 (0)7963 496144
nick.cosgrove@accaglobal.com

Helen Thompson, ACCA Newsroom
+44 (0)20 7059 5759
+44 (0)7725 498654
helen.thompson@accaglobal.com

Notes to Editors
   1. ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the global body for professional accountants. We aim to offer business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management.

   2. We support our 147,000 members and 424,000 students in 170 countries, helping them to develop successful careers in accounting and business, with the skills required by employers. We work through a network of over 80 offices and centres and more than 8,500 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide high standards of employee learning and development. Through our public interest remit, we promote appropriate regulation of accounting and conduct relevant research to ensure accountancy continues to grow in reputation and influence.

   3. Founded in 1904, ACCA has consistently held unique core values: opportunity, diversity, innovation, integrity and accountability. We believe that accountants bring value to economies in all stages of development and seek to develop capacity in the profession and encourage the adoption of global standards. Our values are aligned to the needs of employers in all sectors and we ensure that through our qualifications, we prepare accountants for business. We seek to open up the profession to people of all backgrounds and remove artificial barriers, innovating our qualifications and delivery to meet the diverse needs of trainee professionals and their employers.

Cecile Bonino
Public Affairs and Media Relations Officer-EU ACCA
CBI business house
14 rue de la Science
BE-1040 Brussels
tel:+32 (0) 2 286 11 37
mob: +44 (0) 7809595008
http://www.accaglobal.com

Accountants for business – creating sustainable value www.accaglobal.com/accountants_business