How Dr. Audrey Legodi touches lives through academia

From humble beginnings to esteemed academic, Dr. Audrey Legodi shares how she overcame personal hurdles to influence the lives of the next generation of accounting professionals.

Dr. Audrey Legodi recently joined CIBA’s Education Committee (EDCOM). Audrey,  a registered government auditor, has won numerous awards at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) for her research into public sector governance and finding ways to help more accounting students succeed. But this success was hard won. 

The struggles behind the success 

“I did not have the best education. I did primary school in my village, and I went to a catholic boarding school for high school. I thought my school was good enough, but when I got to university, I realised that I was not prepared well. It was difficult for me. Instead of three years, it took me four years.” 

Ironically, as she is now an auditing lecturer, this was her biggest challenge. “Auditing was one of the most difficult subjects, and I failed it in my second year,” she says.

The importance of educators who care

“I did not know what I wanted to be at school,” she says. Like many A-students, in Grade 10 Audrey chose science subjects believing she’d study medicine. “In matric, I realised I had a phobia of hospitals. I approached my favourite teacher, the accounting teacher Ms Ouma Mahlase (Phala), to change subjects and she let me join her class. This teacher had everything to do with it, she had so much confidence in me. She believed in me, so it was my favourite subject along with math. 

For university, what I did was just apply for anything that said ‘BCom Accounting’ because that was a subject I was familiar with,” she says. “Even when I was at university I did not know about possible careers after BCom.” 

“That’s why I’m so passionate about career counselling,” says Audrey. “I never had an opportunity to understand different careers in high school. I did some research in 2013/14 and saw that there is still not enough information shared with learners and decided it was something I was going to start doing. Every year, I make sure we go to various schools. We work with individual schools or districts where we can get all the Grade 9s and 12s together. We invite professionals and experts, even professional bodies to come and talk about their careers. This is most impactful.” 

Touching lives through teaching

Audrey found auditing while walking past a PwC booth on the University of Pretoria campus. “I didn’t know anything, but I asked a few questions and they gave me an application form. I completed it, and the rest is history. PWC gave me a bursary, and I was recruited to be a trainee accountant.” 

Audrey also started tutoring at UNISA. “I enjoyed it. I loved it so much. I told myself, ‘One day when I’m older I’ll lecture because it is something I’m passionate about. I have never enjoyed work like that.” However, she wanted to gain industry experience first and also thought academia was not well paid. A few years later, Audrey’s husband had an accident. “It was a big scare for us. I realised even my life might be short and if there is one thing I want to do, it’s lecturing. I applied to Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and was accepted. They could not match my salary but I decided it is better to take a lower salary and do what I love. I don’t regret it.” 

“For me, work is not just on a laptop, I want to touch lives. Lecturing gives you that opportunity. I have met thousands of students over the past 13 years. When I meet them at conferences now, they tell me stories I don’t remember about the impact they say I’ve had on them. It is very fulfilling for me. I’m satisfied with what I’ve achieved, not just financially but in the lives I had the opportunity to touch.” 

Audrey also places a high value on studying. “If you’re in academia, it’s important for promotions. In the industry, even a master’s degree is not required,” she says, “but that satisfaction of having the highest qualification and the depths of knowledge you get, it changes you. Having this degree has changed me in the sense that I know I am equipped for research. I have the confidence to say, ‘Give me any topic and I am able to investigate it further.’

I have a resilient spirit in me. A Ph.D. takes long and is emotionally draining, so it builds character. You become patient and you get to know that life is a journey. This helps me in other aspects of my life, I know that I don’t have to get it right today, I will get it right another day.”