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…
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…
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…
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…
Starting out From a very young age my dream was to become a teacher. Then, in high school I wanted to become a medical doctor. My career guidance teacher at Sand du Plessis Hoërskool in Bloemfontein, Mr Naude, suggested at the time that I should keep my options open by taking accounting as my fourth…
The accounting profession has long been perceived as a profession for men in grey suits. But this is a professional stereotype that is fast changing, and rightly so. Women CAN make it in this “cut-throat” profession. The beauty about it all is that we do not have to be replicas of men; we just have…
Zarina was the first black woman in SA to hold the position of a partner at Ernst & Young, and the first black woman to be executive director of Absa Private Bank, in this country. She is currently Vice-chairman of Absa Retail Bank. he sub-prime lending crisis is having a ripple effect all over the…