The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants is whooping with joy after a record number of black students passed their exams.
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants is whooping with joy after a record number of black students passed their exams.
Black students for once outnumbered others when sitting for the final qualifying examination towards becoming chartered accountants.
They passed with flying colours in record numbers. Of the 200 candidates, 142 were black, of which 107 were African.
"Given the chronic shortage of CAs in SA - recent research has revealed that South Africa needs more than 22000 accountants, of which 5300 are at chartered accountant level - the results are hugely encouraging," Ignatius Sehoole, the executive president of Saica, said.
Chantyl Mulder, a Saica senior executive, said: "Particularly pleasing is the 53 percent increase in the number of Africans who wrote the exams. Equally so is the steep increase in the pass rate of black candidates - from 41 percent in 2007 to 73 percent in 2008."
She ascribed the 2008 results to a combination of factors, including the higher percentage of first-time candidates writing the exams.