Abstract
M.Comm.
Part 1 of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (“SAICA”) qualifying exam (“QE1”) is a major hurdle and barrier to entry to the profession for prospective Chartered Accountants (“CA”). The statistics of the QE1 show that not only are the pass rates for African, Coloured and Indian candidates (“ACI”) historically low, but pass rates decline even further for candidates who have to repeat the examination. SAICA runs various transformation programs to improve the throughput and pass rates of ACI individuals to qualify as CA’s. One such program is the Thuthuka repeat program which supports ACI candidates who failed QE1 in their preparation to re-write the exam.
The objective of this minor dissertation is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Thuthuka QE1 repeat program in positively contributing to the success of prospective ACI CA’s in their repeat attempt at QE1. The dissertation also investigates to what extent the program assisted candidates to develop the competencies as per SAICA’s Competency Framework. The research methodology applied followed a structured approach, comprising, a literature review and, an empirical study. The empirical study included the use of a questionnaire and a statistical evaluation of the QE1 statistics of the candidates attending on the Thuthuka QE1 repeat program. The results indicated that the Thuthuka QE1 repeat program was effective in contributing positively to the candidates’ ability in their repeat attempt in the QE1. The candidates’ feedback of their perception regarding how the programme assisted them in attaining the required competencies as per SAICA’s competency framework was also positive.