MSCA Legacy Limited, in partnership with the Chartered Accountants’ Livery Charity (CALC), has announced its latest round of awards for students at Greater Manchester’s three key universities.
Now in its fifth year, the David Illingworth Prize recognises excellence among students of accounting and related subjects at Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Manchester’s Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) and the University of Salford.
The David Illingworth Prize was named in memory of the former ICAEW Manchester and ICAEW national president, and previous Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (WCCAEW), who passed away in 2022.
The number of awards made to students has more than doubled this year. This expansion of the programme was enabled by a partnership entered into last autumn between MSCA Legacy Limited and CALC, the charity linked to the WCCAEW, with additional support from David Illingworth’s widow, Annie.
The recipients of this year’s awards are: Rehan Ahmed and Laiba Waheed (Manchester Metropolitan University); Hui Xu, Zack Murphy and Panayiota Nayia Rossou (AMBS); and Shekinah Arafiena and Kiera Gray (University of Salford).
The scholarship is made in recognition of excellent dissertations that engage meaningfully with topics that will have a major impact on the future of the chartered accountancy profession.
This year’s subjects included the impact of corporate governance and ESG, detecting fraud, the impact of working from home on junior auditors, the ongoing effect of COVID, sustainability reporting in the UK energy industry, the impact of corporation tax changes on business investment decisions, and developments in AI.
Rod Sellers OBE, director of MSCA Legacy, said, “Once again the directors of MSCA Legacy have been hugely impressed by the quality and range of subjects laid before us. I am hugely gratefully to CALC and Annie Illingworth for helping ensure we can recognise more students than ever before, investing in the future of our profession, as it faces and adapts to a rapidly changing world.
“I would like to thank the staff at all three universities who helped identify this year’s recipients. The standard, once again, has been incredibly high and is testament to the superb quality of teaching at Greater Manchester’s outstanding educational institutions.”
The 2025 David Illingworth Prize winners were announced in July at an event that took place at AMBS. This was attended by directors of MSCA Legacy Limited, Rod Sellers OBE, Richard Dyson and Anna Hardy-Watmough, as well as Jonathan Grosvenor, Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Four of the recipients of this year’s awards were also in attendance, along with university staff. Other prize winners took part online
Jonathan Grosvenor, Master of WCCAEW, said, “The Livery Charity is very proud to support these excellent young people, both in memory of Past Master David Illingworth – an outstanding member of our profession – and because financial educational excellence should always be supported. It is a vital cornerstone of our future economy.”
In addition to announcing the recipients of this year’s awards, the event also heard from Matt Johnson, North England manager at the financial education charity Money Ready. MSCA Legacy has, with the support of CALC, increased its support for Money Ready (which was formerly known as MyBnk) to £5,000 this year.
Attendees heard how the award will enable Money Ready to expand the delivery of its “Uni Ready” programme to a larger number of further education providers across Greater Manchester.
Matt Johnson said, “The funding from MSCA Legacy has added huge value to Money Ready’s work providing financial education to support a financially fluent population. This funding has enabled us to provide courses to inform young people considering their options when it comes to higher education to make informed financial choices about their futures.”
