Chartered Accountants ITC pass rate reaches 87.7% high

Andriy Popov via 123RF

The ITC is written twice a year (in January and again in June) in order to give prospective chartered accountants (CAs[SA]) several opportunities to pass the first of the SAICA Qualifying Examinations. Candidates have the opportunity to sit for the exam six times over a three-year period in order to successfully complete this exam.

This is an opportunity that, says Mandi Olivier, senior executive: professional development at SAICA, this year’s candidates grabbed with both hands. "With an overall pass rate of 87.7% over both of this year’s ITC sittings, the 2017 CTA cohort has exceeded SAICA’s expectations. We are extremely proud of this fact as it illustrates just how much this year’s candidates applied themselves to the task at hand."

Olivier continues: "The 2018 ITC results also illustrate the vast strides that the chartered accountancy profession is making in achieving its ambitious transformation objectives."

SAICA’s examination process aims to be representative of the demographics of the population in terms of the numbers of candidates writing and to achieve equivalent pass rates across all race groups. "With 1 135 of the 2018 ITC passes attributed to African candidates, this is the first time in which the number of passes for African candidates has exceeded the number of passes for white candidates," explains Olivier.

Support programmes: invaluable for transformation

"This success is not SAICA’s alone," adds Gugu Makhanya, SAICA’s senior executive for transformation and growth. "Many of the African and Coloured candidates who were successful in the June ITC sitting passed thanks to the Thuthuka ITC Repeat Programme – a unique support programme SAICA runs with the help of funding from the Finance and Accounting Services Sector Education and Training Authority (FASSET)."

The Thuthuka ITC Repeat Programme, a FASSET funded initiative run for African and Coloured candidates who previously failed the ITC. Candidates participate in six weeks of full-time lectures, tutorials, and assessments in the weeks leading up to the ITC June exam.
The programme also includes a mentoring and coaching element to support these candidates during their study programme. As most of the candidates are also trainees in full-time employment, they are given time off by their employers to attend this intense programme provided by the University of Johannesburg, which ran this year’s programme nationwide.

Based on the June ITC results, it is evident that support programmes such as the Thuthuka ITC Repeat Programme are vital pieces of the puzzle that will help the profession to achieve its ambitious transformation goals – goals seeking to address the racial imbalance of its membership.

"Those who took part in the repeat programme achieved an excellent pass rate of 71%. This is 10% higher than the national average for the June 2018 ITC sitting. As a profession with such ambitious transformation goals, we are grateful to all stakeholders who collaborated with SAICA to make initiatives like this happen," concludes Olivier.