Prospective chartered accountants offer hope to SA’s professional skills shortage
Last Updated Mar 2012
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Prospective chartered accountants offer hope to SA’s professional skills shortage

Johannesburg, Friday 30 March 2012â€" The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) is thrilled with the excellent results of Part I of the Qualifying Examination (QE I) released on Friday 30 March 2012. QE I is one of the prerequisites for prospective CAs(SA).

The highlight of the results is the growth in the number of first time candidates writing the exam which increased from 1 981 candidates in 2011 to 2 143 candidates in the current year. Pass rates among first time candidates remained relatively static this year resulting in the overall number of first time passes increasing from 1 584 to 1679, an increase of 6%. Mandi Olivier, SAICA’s Senior Executive: Professional Development says: “This growth and sustained quality can directly be attributed to the high calibre of candidates emanating from Universities which is the result of the rigorous preparation that the candidates undergo prior to writing this cornerstone exam”.

The overall pass rate remained unchanged from 2011 at 64%.

SAICA is extremely proud of the increase in the overall number of African candidates passes from 411 in 2011 to 483 passes. This is an incredible 17% increase in the number of African passes, a pleasing boost for the overall transformation of the profession.

SAICA has undertaken two specific initiatives to assist Black candidates in qualifying. These projects, the Thuthuka Bursary Fund (TBF) and the Thuthuka Repeat programme, have both shown exceptional results which contributed a total number of 185 passes to the overall number of Black passes in 2012.


Chantyl Mulder, SAICA’s Senior Executive: Transformation, Growth and Professional Development, said: “While black chartered accountants remain so much scarcer than their white counterparts, SAICA is working tirelessly to transform the profession.”
“One of SAICA’s primary goals is to strengthen the country’s economy by playing a significant and leading role in transformation and skills development,” said Mulder. “Through Thuthuka whose key objective is to transform the demographics of the profession to reflect those of the country in terms of race and gender, there is a direct link between the QE I examination results and the great work that we put into our transformation programmes”.

The TBF provides full funding and additional support for African and Coloured students from their first year at university. The TBF has been operating since 2005 and has since 2011 made a significant impact on the overall number of African and Coloured passes. The 2011 TBF CTA cohort achieved the following results compared to similar students who were not on the TBF programme.

First timers


TBF:
(African and Coloured)


Non TBF:
(African and Coloured)


TOTAL
(African and Coloured)

No. passes


83


410


493

Total first timers


103


594


697

% Pass


81%


69%


71%

A 12 percentage point difference between these groups of candidates is a remarkable achievement and shows that the additional support provided to these students by the Universities during their academic studies certainly pays off.

The Thuthuka repeat programme is a programme run for Black (African, Coloured and Indian) candidates who have previously failed the QEI. The results of repeat candidates who completed the programme can be compared to candidates who did not undertake a repeat programme as follows:



Repeat candidates


Thuthuka repeat programme (Black)


No Thuthuka repeat programme (Black)


TOTAL
(Black)

No. passes


102


83


185

Total first repeat candidates (Black)


223


409


632

% pass


46%


20%


29%

Mulder explained that the pass rate of the Black repeat candidates who undertook the FASSET funded programme exceed that of candidates not completing a programme by 26 percentage points. “This shows that such initiatives are working. 35% of the Black repeat candidates were on the Thuthuka repeat programme (2011: 25%). This programme is funded by FASSET and several businesses and is designed specifically to support repeat Black candidates.

The Top 10 successful Qualifying Examination (QE I) candidates are:

PLACE

NAME


SURNAME


UNIVERSITY


FIRM


Honours

1




Craig Ashley




Wallington


University of Witwatersrand


PricewaterhouseCoopers


Honours

2




Tamryn Rita




Tromp


University of Johannesburg


Deloitte


Honours

3




Andrea




Van Lille


University of Stellenbosch


PricewaterhouseCoopers


Honours

4




Izak Siewert Wiid




Rossouw


UNISA


Gerber Botha & Gowar


Honours

5




Ross David




Mallett


University of Pretoria


PricewaterhouseCoopers


Honours

6




Mellusca




Farnham


University of Stellenbosch


MeyerOtto Inc.


Honours

7 (joint)


Sunel




Botha


University of Pretoria


Deloitte


Honours

7 (joint)




Vidette




du Toit


University of Johannesburg


Ernst & Young


Honours

9




Eihorere Nkizire




Wesigye


University of Witwatersrand


Investec


Honours

10




Faeeza




Lorgat


University of Cape Town


PricewaterhouseCoopers


Honours

Olivier congratulates all the candidates who have passed their QE I examination. She points out that passing the QE I, which only assesses the core technical competencies of prospective CAs(SA) at a standard set by SAICA, is not the final requirement for qualifying as a CA(SA). Candidates can only qualify as CAs(SA) and become full members of SAICA once they have completed the following requirements:

Successfully passed the QE I;
Completed the training contract requirements;
Completed a specialist diploma; and
Successfully passed either the Part II Financial Management Examination (QE II) or the Public Practice Examination.

For more information on the QE I results go to SAICA website at www.saica.co.za

Ends
MEDIA CONTACTS:

Bontle Tsikwe
Communications Coordinator: Corporate
The SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA)
Tel: 011 621 6712
Email: bontlet@saica.co.za

Nkolola Halwindi
Project Director: Communications
The SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA)
Tel: 011 621 6713
Email:NkololaH@saica.co.za

ABOUT SAICA:
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), South Africa’s pre-eminent accountancy body, is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading accounting institutes. The Institute provides a wide range of support services to more than 30 000 members who are Chartered Accountants and hold positions as CEOs, MDs, board directors, business owners, chief financial officers, auditors and leaders in their spheres of business operation. Most of these members operate in commerce and industry, and play a significant role in the nation’s highly dynamic business sector and economic development.

SAICA serves the interests not only of the Chartered Accountancy profession, but also of society in general through its key objective of upholding professional standards and integrity. The pre-eminence of South African Chartered Accountants [CAs(SA)] nationally and internationally attests to the successes achieved by SAICA on a broad global canvas. SAICA’s members enjoy the privilege of using the highly regarded and prestigious CA(SA) designation. Members of SAICA are subjected to a Code of Professional Conduct, which provides guidelines for ethical and professional behaviour. Fundamental ethical principles to which CAs(SA) are expected to achieve include:

Integrity;
Objectivity;
Professional Competence and Due Care;
Confidentiality; and
Professional Behaviour.

SAICA members serve on international accounting bodies including; the Trustees of the International Financial Reporting (IFRS) Foundation, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the IFRS Interpretations Committee, the IFRS Advisory Council and the Council of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). SAICA is also a member of The Global Accounting Alliance (GAA).

For more information visit www.saica.co.za