Media Release

 

Pass rate of prospective chartered accountants impacted by changing tertiary landscape

 

Press release issued by:

 

Johannesburg, Friday, May 28, 2010 – The results of the Part I of the Qualifying Examination (QE I) – a critical measure to becoming a Chartered Accountant [CA(SA)] – released today by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) yielded interesting information about South Africa’s tertiary landscape. The results reflect a decline in the pass rate, which now stands at 51% compared to last year’s 58%.

 

A total of 2 921 candidates sat for the QE I, which is lower than the figure of 3 373 recorded in 2009. “While the declining pass rates may seem negative, it is a reflection of a number of factors including, the significant decrease in the number of first time candidates from distance learning universities, which is offset by a slight increase in first-time candidates from full-time residential universities,” explains Mandi Olivier, SAICA Senior Executive: Professional Development.

 

Olivier says that despite the significant decrease in the number of first-time entrants from distance learning universities, the University of South Africa (UNISA) produced 291 passes, the highest number of passes overall.

 

“What we see is that 70% of the first-time candidates passing come from our five biggest full-time residential universities namely the University of Cape Town, the University of Johannesburg, the University of Pretoria, the University of Stellenbosch and the University of the Witwatersrand. Taking the main distance learning university, UNISA, into account this number increases to 80%. Overall we are seeing an increase in the number of students entering the exam from full-time residential universities – this is encouraging as there are many challenges associated with studying on a distance learning programme at the post-graduate level.”

 

The highlights of this year’s results are the continued successes achieved by African first-time candidates. While the total number of candidates who wrote the 2010 QE I examination has decreased by approximately 10%, the number of passes of African first-time candidates remained similar to that of the prior year with 258 passes in 2009 compared to 242 African candidates who passed in 2010. African passes now make up 20% of the overall number of passes, a number up from last year’s’ 17%. This can be ascribed to SAICA’s transformation initiatives including the Thuthuka Bursary Fund programme.
Thuthuka is specifically designed to enhance the pass rates of aspiring African and Coloured CAs(SA). These students, who were fully funded by the programme, achieved a remarkable 66% pass rate compared to the overall pass percentage of 51%.

 

A further Thuthuka initiative was the FASSET-funded repeat programme created for Black candidates (African, Coloured and Indian). Olivier says that this programme, run for the first time in 2007, achieved extraordinary results in the 2008 QE I and continues to be promising.

 

Only 140 Black repeat candidates passed the QE I in 2010, 60% of whom participated in the Thuthuka repeat programme, which has resulted in a higher number of Black repeat candidates passing than if they had no support at all. As Olivier points out, the pass rate for Thuthuka repeat candidates is 39% compared to a pass rate of only 10% achieved by the remaining Black repeat candidates (candidates who did not participate in the Thuthuka funded initiative).

 

“SAICA continues to look for ways to support repeat candidates through Thuthuka and other programmes,” says Olivier.

 

Olivier notes that passing QE I is not the final requirement before qualifying as a CA(SA). She says that QE I only assesses the core technical competencies of prospective CAs(SA) at a standard considered appropriate by SAICA and also provides a valuable measurement tool for universities approved by SAICA to offer the chartered accountancy degree programme.

 

“Successful candidates will still have to complete a specialist diploma, successfully pass the final examination (either the Part II Financial Management exam or the Public Practice Exam), and complete the remaining period of their practical experience or registered training contract requirement. Candidates can only qualify as CAs(SA) and become full members of SAICA once they have completed all three requirements.”

 

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