Share this Twitter Digg Del.icio.us Yahoo Technorati Googlize this Facebook Hear this text Print E-mail Tags opportunities skilled education

Despite the many opportunities the new South Africa provides, black chartered accountants still face many challenges affecting their rise in the industry

The field of chartered accountancy is a highly skilled one that requires one to go through stringent academic processes in order to qualify. In the past, for a black student to acquire such a qualification was difficult as a result of political and socio-economic conditions.

However, people like Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu (first black male chartered accountant) and Nonkululeko Gobodo (first black female CA) overcame such obstacles and are now renowned and highly respected.

Unfortunately, even though black CAs are growing in numbers, this is not evidenced by a corresponding number of black chartered accountancy firms in the business fraternity. A number of variables contribute to this.

Education

In the past, if one obtained a BCom qualification in historically black institutions of higher learning, one would have to add an extra year to one’s curriculum in order to complete the BCompt degree. The BCom (Accounting) obtained in a black institution of higher learning would never be equally graded with that of a white counterpart institution.

This has also added to barriers for black students and most have not seen the difference with the mergers of most institutions of higher learning.

Another factor within education was the inability for black institutions to attract quality lecturers to further develop students who wished to study towards being CAs; these are historical ills that still contaminate the present.

There are also inadequate development programmes from university level to build or enhance this fraternity, particularly among black students.

When students from disadvantaged communities enter institutions of higher learning, they are mostly at a disadvantage, as many do not come from backgrounds that can assist them in terms of resources to further enhance their abilities to adapt to the tertiary environment.

Most are confronted with financial challenges and that is a major contributor to black students dropping out.

Organisations such as the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (Abasa) should expand its programmes to high-school level in order to build a solid programme that can deal with such shortcomings.

There are a number of auditing firms that issue bursaries for the profession, but even their requirements tend to be stringent, considering that some students do not come from well-resourced backgrounds. For example, a distinction obtained by a student in a rural area where there are no lights and no libraries, and a distinction obtained by a student from a private school that has access to all resources including the Internet and software which can enhance learners’ understanding of accounting, are completely different and carry completely different weight.

But such variables unfortunately are never taken into account when Boards of these organisations make decisions on the fate of students applying for these bursaries. The only institutions that can influence transformation are those that are specifically incorporated to deal with such disparities, such as Abasa.

Private sector

Black auditing firms still find difficulty in gaining recognition within the corporate sector, and this is predominantly due to the fact that corporate South Africa is lily white to a large extent.

Most blacks have opted to be absorbed by white auditing firms through legislations such as affirmative action and BEE. This undermines the ability of black auditing firms to stand independently and genuinely be recognised.

Gugu Ndima

Write comment

Your Contact Details:

Name:

Email: do not notifynotify

Comment:

Title:

Message:

Security

Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

---

• 24/01/2012 08:16 - Setas told to streamline
• 23/01/2012 10:25 - SA’s best employers

• 11/01/2010 13:15 - Pillow talk – the business of prostitution
• 11/01/2010 13:09 - The agenda outlined
• 11/01/2010 12:34 - South Africa’s transport: where to from here?

• 11/01/2010 10:52 - Forming strong partnerships
• 11/01/2010 08:26 - Painting his own Mona Lisa
• 27/11/2009 11:04 - Alert!

---