FOREWORD
SAICA ACCREDITATION SELF-EVALUATION REPORT 2011
VICE CHANCELLOR AND PRINCIPAL PROFESSOR NM MOKGALONG
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An analysis of the National Learners’ Database (NLRD) of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) shows that the majority of African accountancy graduates obtain their qualifications from Historically Disadvantaged Universities (HDUs). Currently, most HDUs do not have South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) accredited programmes. This means that the majority of African graduates who majored in accountancy are excluded from the Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA) or the equivalent Honours Degree programme which is a pre-requisite for writing the SAICA qualifying examinations. Although black accountancy graduates are relatively fewer in number, compared with the total number of graduates, they are further disadvantaged by unaccredited SAICA programmes offered by the HDUs where over 52% of black accountancy graduates earn their degrees. In view of this, most black accountancy graduates cannot directly proceed to register for SAICA examinations. Flowing from this disadvantage is the negative stigma suffered by black graduates especially in the labour market where they become less competitive because they have earned qualifications from non-SAICA accredited Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Furthermore, prospective and current students who apply for external financial assistance are negatively affected by the fact that typical sponsors are not willing to provide financial assistance to students who pursue their studies in non-SAICA accredited HDUs. As a result of the above legacies, the number of Chartered Accountants in the country is racially skewed. For example, a cursory review of the February 2011 SAICA report, on the racial composition of registered Chartered Accountants (CAs) in the country, indicates that black CAs constitute less than 6% of registered CAs in South Africa. The above background has also contributed to disempowering and restricting the majority of South Africans from meaningfully participating in the economy that has massive economic imbalances and a scarcity of skills. In order to create an enabling environment in which economic growth may continue while allowing effective transformation (including the CA profession) to take place, the skills profile of the South African population needs to change and move towards reflecting the demographics of the country while still meeting growth needs and maintaining standards. In cognisance of this, the CA Charter envisions ‘to grow the number of Black people in the CA profession to reflect the country’s population demographics, to empower and enable them to meaningfully participate in and sustain the growth of the economy, thereby advancing equal opportunity and equitable income distribution’. It is therefore imperative that any successful transformation of the CA profession requires assisting HDUs to gain and sustain SAICA accreditation. In response to the above challenge and the SAICA’s transformation and growth vision, SAICA and the University of Limpopo (UL), an HDU, entered into an agreement in 2004 (the UL Thuthuka Project) to develop and to sustain accredited undergraduate and ‘subsequently postgraduate’ degree programmes at UL. The same agreement aims to identify and to nurture talent from the rural areas of