ACADEMIC achievements among York's newest fully qualified accountants were celebrated at the annual dinner of the York Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The event, hosted by this year's presidents Nicola Ainscough, managing director of York accountancy firm Ainscough Dunlop, was held at The Hospitium in Museum Gardens.

During the evening awards were presented to two, top performing, former students accountants in York, who achieved the highest marks locally in their final ACA Exams.

The awards, sponsored by Michael Page, were handed to Dr Tom North, who works in-house for York veterinary products group Animalcare, and Nik Vogan, from Sagars Accountants in Leeds.

The black-tie event, which was attended by the president of the national Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) Andrew Ratcliffe, also featured guest speaker Sir Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, who spoke about his role in bringing the Tour de France to Yorkshire.

Fundraising on the night saw money collected for St Leonards Hospice, the York Institute's chosen charity.