Following the release of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants’ (SAICA) January 2015 Initial Test of Competence (ITC) results, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) remains the biggest residential university contributor to successful African Chartered Accountants (CAs) in the country.
According to Prof Alex van der Watt, Head of the Department of Accountancy, UJ contributed a transformative 22% of African black passes in the 2015 ITC. UJ’s leadership position in transforming the accounting profession in South Africa is further substantiated by the fact that UJ consistently achieves the lowest difference in success rates between African black and white passes compared with other universities.
Prof van der Watt adds; “There can be no argument that performance against transformation indicators has become the most important yardstick when evaluating the performance of universities in the ITC.”
The ITC is the first of two professional examinations which candidate CAs are required to pass in order to register with SAICA as CAs, and the result tables compare the performance of all universities offering SAICA accredited degrees.
UJ uses five key performance indicators in the ITC to measure its success rate. These include:
- The number of successful candidates, in relation to other universities,
- The number of successful African black candidates, in relation to other universities,
- The pass rate of first-timers (the 2014 UJ class),
- Candidates in the Top 10 positions; and
- The difference in pass rate between white and African black students and the percentage gap in relation to other universities.
Says Prof van der Watt; “UJ’s success in the ITC is not limited to its leadership position in terms of transformation. The University continues to contribute to the growth of the accounting profession with an impressive 13 percent of first time passes.” He adds that UJ achieved excellent 2015 ITC results with an overall pass rate of 85 percent.
Concludes Prof van der Watt; “As 2015 marks UJ’s 10th Anniversary, UJ can now add the success of its students in the 2015 ITC to its celebrations. The University is proud that once again UJ is confirmed as a leader in accounting education, further bolstering its reputation as a world-class teaching and learning facility.”
Collen Maepa
