When it comes to addressing South Africa’s scarce-skills shortage, SAICA prides itself on accrediting programmes which enable students access to SAICA’s membership via various qualification routes.
The accounting body recently added another point of entry into its diverse offerings when it confirmed that the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ’s) BCom Accounting and BCom Accounting (Extended Programme) degrees have been accredited to offer graduates the opportunity to become AGAs(SA).
Says Chantyl Mulder, SAICA’s Executive Director: Nation Building: ‘This is career-boosting news for those who studied accountancy at UJ, as it means that they now have the opportunity to become associated with one of the world’s leading accounting institutes.’
‘Professional bodies exist with the mandate of representing, promoting and enhancing their respective profession. As South Africa’s pre-eminent accountancy membership body, SAICA strives to maintain and strengthen the overall status of the accountancy profession and to ensure that its members and associates are highly regarded by society at large thanks to their ability to demonstrate the highest level of professionalism, discipline and performance as sought after by employers and recruiters alike. When you present yourself into the market as a SAICA member or associate, it means that you have qualified through a trusted, well-regulated, rigorous education and assessment process,’ Mulder continues.
‘In order to gain SAICA accreditation, higher education providers undergo a rigorous and extensive process to ensure that their programme has the necessary resources in place to deliver a high-quality programme leading to an AGA(SA) designation. These quality assurance processes are undertaken in addition to the formal regulatory accreditation requirements of the DHET, CHE and SAQA which need to be in place before getting the SAICA stamp of approval. Having undergone the formal accreditation process, we are confident that the UJ’s newly accredited degrees are backed by the necessary resources to meet the standards set by SAICA. On behalf of the institution, we congratulate the UJ team on this achievement,’ explains Mulder.
The accreditation is effective for all students who enrolled for UJ’s BCom Accounting or BCom Accounting (Extended Programme) programmes from January 2015 or later. This means that both UJ alumni and current students of these two accredited AGA(SA)undergraduate degrees can qualify to become AGAs(SA) by either having successfully completed a SAICA training contract or having four years of relevant work experience and successfully completing SAICA’s Training Equivalence Assessment.
Professor Ben Marx, Head of Department of UJ’s Department of Accountancy, adds that ‘UJ is truly delighted about the AGA(SA) accreditation and the renewed association with a professional accountancy institute, such as SAICA. The AGA(SA) accreditation opens up another pathway for UJ students towards professional education and aligns with the Accountancy@UJ goal of producing ethical, critical thinking accountants for the 4th Industrial Revolution.’
