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Auditors pleased with transformation rate
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Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
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Transformation is blooming in the auditing profession in the wake of the public practice examination results, which were released at the weekend by the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (Irba).
The results show that 78% of the 1094 black candidates who wrote the public practice exam last year were successful.
Bernard Agulhas, CE of Irba, said: “Transformation of the auditing profession remains a high priority for Irba, and what is particularly gratifying about these results is that this is the highest number of black candidates to pass in the history of the examination.
“We are elated by these superb results and congratulate all the candidates on a job more than well done.”
The public practice exam, written last year on November 18, is the final test of professional competence for qualification as a registered auditor and chartered accountant.
Of the 2798 candidates who wrote the examination, 2320 passed — a pass rate of 83%. Of the 1849 candidates who wrote for the first time, 1596 passed — a first-time pass rate of 86%.
Agulhas said the excellent results were due to a host of reasons. “They are a consequence of the many professional initiatives which have been running for some time. These include the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants’ (Saica) Thuthuka programme, the audit firms’ internal training programmes supported by Saica’s training assessment programme and the Irba’s repeat support programme.”
He said business, investors and the public could be confident in the knowledge that this rigorous and comprehensive process was delivering on the need for auditors and accountants, whose competence was highly valued globally.
Five trainees from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were in the top 10, also taking first and second place. Suresh Kana, CEO of PwC, said: “SA is struggling with a severe skills shortage, especially in the field of accountancy and actuarial sciences, and PwC, together with the auditing and accountancy profession is committed to playing a leading role in addressing this.”
Kana said the development of trainee accountants was central to the company’s development plan.
Candidates from Deloitte achieved a 90% overall pass rate. Geoff Pinnock, national audit leader at Deloitte, said: “We continue to punch above our weight. This is profoundly illustrated by the fact that Deloitte has produced 23% of all newly qualified black African chartered accountants this year.
“We are continuing to reap the rewards of our transformation, talent recruitment and development strategies, which focus on building on the personal strengths of each individual.”
Deloitte was able to post a significant improvement in the pass rate of its black candidates, which rocketed from 60% in 2008 to 82% last year.
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