PMB accounting student graduates summa cum laude

KYRAN Otto is counting his blessings as the first person in his family or even extended family to become a chartered accountant after graduating summa cum laude.

The Pietermaritzburg resident’s outstanding results have netted him two UKZN scholarships; the Malegapuru W Makgoba Scholarship in 2023 and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship in 2024. Otto who just completed his Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting and will soon commence his articles with Deloitte. He achieved 27 distinctions in the 28 modules he completed for his degree. He describes his photographic memory as “a God-given ability”.

The church youth leader, he says his parents made huge sacrifices to ensure that he could study further and give him a headstart in life, something they were never privileged to do.

"Seeing me graduate summa cum laude is a full circle moment because that hard work and all those sacrifices are finally paying off.” 

He started his school journey at Athlone Park Primary and then got an academic scholarship to attend St Charles College in Pietermaritzburg. Otto says has always enjoyed numbers and it was a toss up between actuarial science and accounting. He finds Excel spreadsheets exciting because  if you understand them, then you will appreciate the stories that they tell. 

“People often say accountants are just bean counters and they do nothing else and they're just into Excel spreadsheets but that’s a generalisation. In my matric year I acted in a film series that our high school put together, which was something spontaneous, but at the same time so enriching.  I had one of the co-lead roles in that film series,” he said.