Head of Management Accounting at the Nelson Mandela University
George Sarpong is the current division head of Management Accounting and Finance at Nelson Mandela University. He also assists with managing the Management Accounting division at Rhodes University. Through his empathetic approach to leadership and mentoring he has been able to successfully lead his two teams through a turbulent time in the Eastern Cape higher education space, which has struggled to attract and retain qualified experienced accounting educators.
George holds a master’s degree in information technology governance from Nelson Mandela University’s School of Information Communication Technology. He uses this as well as his accounting qualifications to serve on various internal and external boards. Currently he serves as an audit committee member at Kouga Local Municipality. He has also previously served as a finance committee member at the Eastern Cape Midlands College. In 2017 George was elected as a trustee to the Nelson Mandela University retirement fund, and in 2019 he served on the university’s institutional forum, which is a body of council mandated to assist counsel with various governance-related matters.
Having spent over eight years in accounting education, George has displayed a passion for educating young and old minds both inside and outside of the classroom. His passion for education and belief that all are capable means that he always participates in initiatives that are geared towards financial education. Over the years he has participated in various activities which he is passionate about, including facilitating basic financial principles to unemployed aspiring entrepreneurs in the Eastern Cape, lecturing accounting to high school learners as part of his School of Accounting’s winter school events, as well as providing accounting training sessions for non-accountants in business and leading accounting supportive courses for postgraduate accounting students in business. He is also currently his university’s postgraduate Thuthuka co-ordinator − a role which requires him to direct and co-ordinate activities geared towards ensuring student success in the programme.
As a senior lecturer in management accounting, George always tries to be innovative in helping shape his discipline in such a way as to mirror the working environment. This has led to him co-authoring a textbook in management accounting as well as contributing real-world case studies to an internationally used textbook in business finance. George also assists with the supervision and co-supervision of master’s students, both in his school of accounting and in the school of ICT.
During his time in practice, George received numerous awards, including the KPMG business unit managing partner award for outstanding commitment to clients and his community.
