The move is important to the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) because growth into the rest of Africa would lead to economic growth for the region, said Saica education project director Mandi Olivier last week. Commerce graduates who want to become CAs in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Swaziland already write the Saica accredited board exams.
The African countries are keen to gain the South African qualification because of its high international standing, and because it is more suited to the particular conditions under which African CAs work, said Saica's transformation and growth project director Tonia Jackson.
The World Economic Forum's 2008-09 Global Competitiveness Report recently ranked SA fourth in the world for auditing and financial reporting standards. The forum ranked SA's auditing systems as better than those of economic heavyweights such as the US and UK. Hong Kong, Austria and Australia took the top three positions.
Having a Saica-accredited BCom or Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA) gives access to Saica's board examinations, which have to be passed in order to attain the designation of chartered accountant (CA) in SA. Saica is working with universities in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Swaziland so that their postgraduate programmes will meet Saica requirements. This will mean that their students will no longer have to come to a South African university for their postgraduate study, nor will they have to complete the two-year CTA programme, as graduates from universities can do a one-year CTA programme, Olivier said.
The issues dealt with in Saica accredited courses were “customised” to the African environment and attempted to address Africa's specific market needs, such as a relatively resource-poor environment, and African tax regimes and legislation said Jackson and Olivier. Saica was also either in discussion or hoping to start discussions between accredited South African universities and universities in other African countries so that ideas on skills development could be shared.
Saica had spent the past two years developing a new “competency framework” for CAs that listed what skills they should have once they finished their articles, said Olivier.
Source: Business Day
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