QE1 CHANGES SAICA and its education committee (EDCO), after consulting with its various stakeholders and after careful deliberation, have decided to change the timing of the Part 1 of the Qualifying Examination (QE). As from 2010, the exams will be written at the end of January with the results being released in April each year.…
MIB: MEMBERS IN BUSINESS More than 70% of chartered accountants [CAs(SA)] registered with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) practise in commerce and industry – the largest constituency of SAICA’s total membership. With the aim of addressing the constituency’s needs, SAICA recently hosted the inaugural SAICA Captains of Industry Gala Dinner and official…
FROM THE PEN The Change Issue A few weeks ago I attended a presentation by JP Landman, a self-employed political and trend analyst, Harvard graduate, and author of the article “Is the bad mood justified?”. Landman introduced his presentation with a story about a South African hedge fund manager he knew, who had taken a…
IFRS or GAAP The Accounting Practices Board agreed to issue IFRSs (International Financial Reporting Standards) as Statements of GAAP in late 2003. The JSE Limited required listed companies to comply with IFRSs from 2005. Effectively IFRSs apply to all forms of companies registered in South Africa. The debate around the continued and increasing complexity of…
FROM THE PEN The woman’s issue Believe it or not, the image on our cover this month has caused some consternation in our office. I’ve had to endure a barrage of opinions raging from the lucidly candid: “Are you mad?”, to the: “How can you portray such an old image of women?”; “Surely you don’t…
Roughly 25% of CAs(SA) are women. The percentage of employed women CAs(SA) is even lower. Statistics from universities, institutes and the ‘Big Four’ accounting firms can attest that the relative dearth of employed women CAs(SA) is not a question of inferior intellect; in fact, in some cases women pass exams easier and make better accountants…
When I qualified as a CA(SA) nearly 13 years ago, I found that there was a dearth of African women in this particular profession, and I quickly realised that in order to change that, we would need to grow a strong support mechanism for aspirant and newly qualified women CAs(SA). My impression at the time…
Qualified: 1996 after studying at the University of Durban-Westville (now University of KwaZulu-Natal) Current position: National Human Capital Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Nitasha has been with PwC for 13 years. Career profile I started my career with the firm as a trainee accountant and was admitted as a partner in 2001 at the age of thirty.…
Career highlights I started at Deloitte in 1988 and became the first black female partner and subsequently Chairman at Deloitte Southern Africa. I am also a former first woman president of the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (ABASA), a body dedicated to nurturing emerging black accountants. Academic involvement My commitment…
When I enrolled at the University of Cape Town in the 70s I was undecided about the direction I wished to pursue and registered for a science degree. At that stage it was uncommon for young women to do accounting. Approximately 5% of my CTA class was female, a far cry from the current 45…