• Posted on 25 Feb 2021
  • 7-minute read

UTS Business School academic Dr Amanda White, known by accounting students the world over by her online moniker 'Amanda Loves to Audit’, has been awarded one of Australia’s top higher education accolades for teaching excellence.

Dr Amanda White
UTS Business academic Dr Amanda White.

Amanda has been named winner of the prestigious 2020 Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT) for Teaching Excellence in the category ‘Law, Economics, Business and related studies.’

The AAUT judges praised “Amanda’s dedication to improving the student learning experience – not only at UTS, but for students around the world – evidenced by her free learning resources on YouTube and open access initiatives around academic integrity.”

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Descriptive transcript

What's up audit fans, Dr Amanda White here from Amanda Loves To Audit, your home on YouTube for all things audit and accounting.

For those who are new to the channel, I've been here on YouTube for a while, since I think about 2012. It's taken me that long to get around to making a trailer for my channel, but I'm trying a new office setup so I thought it would be a great excuse to crack out the camera and get started on this clip.

I am a senior lecturer at – you can't see that very well – the University of Technology Sydney, a fantastic institution. I've been affiliated there for over two decades, but I started my career in audit at Coopers & Lybrand, then at PricewaterhouseCoopers. And then some years after being in audit, I moved into academia. I've done a PhD in audit, so I really am a fan of audit, about audit judgement and decision-making, and human behaviour and psychology. I focus on teaching and learning in accounting and also I've got a side project on academic integrity.

So why am I here on YouTube? I started making videos because students really liked the way I explain things and my drawings – if you've seen some of my clips, I do a lot of drawings – and I was essentially a bit lazy. I didn't want to have to keep explaining it over and over again, so I started making videos.

Then my university said, 'Amanda, you're taking up too much bandwidth on our servers and internet traffic – put them somewhere else.' So they found a home on YouTube and seven years later I'm still going, making content.

What sort of stuff will you find on the channel? You'll find things like instructional videos about audit concepts, and I've got a whole series on auditing standards. I talk about current affairs and events and a whole lot of material to help you study audit at both the undergraduate and the postgraduate level for professional qualifications and for university studies.

I'm really, really passionate about accounting as a tool for social mobility. Learning accounting can change your life, literally. I've seen that in emails I've received from people all around the world who have used my videos to study and gain their professional qualification and then give themselves more financial freedom, support their families and also help their communities.

So for me, I'm really passionate about accounting and audit and I hope you enjoy the channel. If you have any questions, things you'd love to see, I'm always happy to take requests. I can't say that I'll always be able to produce those requests – I do have a full-time day job which is teaching and working at the university where I'm involved in a number of different projects – but where I can, I try and make content for YouTube.

So thanks for watching. I'd love it if you click the subscribe button and make sure you click the notification bell to get all of the latest updates. I have teaching videos, I also do travel vlogs when I'm travelling around the place for university and for conferences, showing you a little bit what academic life is like.

Thanks for watching and I'll catch you later. Bye!

In her role as Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head (Education) in the Business School's Accounting Discipline Group, Amanda is well-known for creating engaging videos explaining key accounting and audit concepts and practices on her popular YouTube channel Amanda Loves to Audit, where she dishes up bite-sized lessons on why ‘Audit programs are like fried rice’ and topical advice on study and exams.

Amanda was also recognised for her creative approach to promoting academic integrity, including co-producing the video short ‘Carnival of Consequences’, as well as co-creating the Academic Integrity Board Game.

Im really, really passionate about accounting as a tool for social mobility learning about accounting can change your life. Dr Amanda White

“This award is highly competitive and is such a tribute to Amanda’s enthusiasm and dedication to ensuring the best possible outcomes for students. This is well deserved national recognition of her outstanding commitment to teaching and to her students,” said Professor Shirley Alexander, UTS Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Students).

The Sydney Morning Herald recently sat down with Amanda to chat about what drives her passion for creating outstanding student learning experiences:

SMH: Amanda, what do you do?

Amanda White: My week is built around two key activities: the classes or virtual drop-in times for my students, and the preparation for that and providing feedback to students. As deputy head I look after students and subjects in the area of accounting. Within all of that are committees, projects and research that I am involved in to help support student learning.

How long have you been doing this job and what first sparked your interest in this area?

I’ve been at UTS as a full-time academic for 18 years now. I was inspired by my honours supervisor. He saw my passion for teaching students and suggested I leave the accounting firm where I worked to pursue a career in higher education.

What do you like most about the job?

I love my students: the lightbulb moment of getting a tough concept, helping them develop new skills and new ways of thinking, and having their input on how I can help them learn and master the subject area.

What is the most unexpected thing you have had to do in your job?

I pitched the idea of a short film to help students become aware of academic integrity and academic misconduct. It was an amazing experience and the project won an Australian screen-writing award.

How transferable are your skills?

If I didn’t work at a university I could consider a career working in educational development at a professional association or a big firm.

What advice do you have for people wanting to get into this career?

You don’t need to decide about a career in academia straight away. Try out any subjects or an honours program that will allow you to have a taster of what research is like. Apply to be a peer tutor to have a taste of what teaching is like. It is a big step, but there are so many career options once you have a PhD – many outside of the walls of a university. I found that having professional work experience in accounting helped build my academic career. I could share my real life experiences and help bring the content in a textbook to life. I’ve also been able to bring my industry connections into the classroom.

The starting point for all accounting careers is a university or TAFE qualification in accounting. Then work on building experience through internships or volunteering and be sure to build your network through activities offered by the professional accounting bodies.

What should they study and what experience do they need to get into this field?

A PhD is the standard qualification for a full-time academic role in most universities these days. While you’re completing your PhD, I always recommend students try and get experience as a tutor to help build the teaching skills they’ll need in a general academic position. I also recommend undergraduate students take advantage of internships and vacation roles within practice (for example, accounting) so they can bring some real-world flavour to their research and classroom.

What personal skills do they need?

Self-direction is critical in higher education – you set your agenda in research and developing the educational offering that you teach – so you need to know what makes you curious. Compassion is also crucial as an educator, especially in pandemic times, where we help provide stability and belonging for students.

This article was first published on SMH.

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