become Chartered Accountants.

Nine Bermudians and five overseas students now working in Bermuda were yesterday welcomed to the profession at a luncheon at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club.

President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda, James Hindess, applauded the group, calling their good news "tremendous''.

"The energy and effort that it takes to get here,'' he said, "it is a comprehensive process that begins after they complete their undergraduate degree.

"In order to qualify for the CA, they must complete a rigorous post graduate course work and then they take the Uniform Final Examination,'' Mr. Hindess said.

The examination was conducted over a four-day period, in four-hour sessions each day in September.

More than half of the Island's Chartered Accountants work in financial and management positions in Government and industry.

Others work for exempted companies, tourism, banking, insurance and captive management firms.

The ICA is a fully participating member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, and the local group took the exam with more than 2,000 others from across Canada.

Mark Melo, a Bermudian who took the exam in September for the first time, said he would encourage young people to consider the profession.

And he credited not only hard work but the support of Bermudian CAs and his fellow students.

"The most positive thing about the experience is the relationships that you build with people,'' the pupil at Arthur Andersen said. "It takes at least two years to do it.'' He added: "The Bermudians tend to help and support each other so much, they are like an inspiration for me.'' The students are: Ryan Bell, Annette Budge, Zilda Falcao, Dawn Hayward, Mark Herauf, Carrie Jones, Will McCallum, Mark McRonald, Mark Melo, Jason Moniez, Helen Ng, Sally Pimentel, Shena Stuart, and Tamika Welch.