​In its attempt to ensure that there is a constant flow of suitably qualified accounting professionals who represent the race and gender composition of the country, theSouth African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) says significant progress has been made in both of these areas. This comes after reviewing the Initial Test of Competence (ITC) January 2018 exam results.

In March 2018, SAICA announced that out of more than 3 000 aspiring Chartered Accountants CAs(SA) who wrote the ITC exam, 2 220 of them passed. With an overall pass rate of 74%, the results revealed interesting information such as an increase in African and Coloured candidates, as well as female and first-time candidates. This has been one of the organisation's ongoing transformation goals.

In an article, Mandi Olivier, Senior Executive: Professional Development at SAICA, stated that for the first time the number of African first-time candidates presenting themselves to write the ITC exceeds the number of white candidates. When looking at the proportion of black first-time candidates entering the exam, we also see significant progress, as 60% of candidates attempting this exam for the first time are African, Coloured and Indian.

Olivier also added that the body's current membership statistics reveal that one in three qualified CAs(SA) are women, and just over half (54%) of the ITC January 2018 exam population was female. Since women make up just over half of the country's total ITC population, this means that the profession is getting closer to reflecting the country's true gender demographics.

SAICA's Thuthuka Bursary Fund (TBF) saw over 1 500 of their candidates of colour achieve a pass rate of 76%. This is slightly higher than the national average. "This illustrates just how successful the substantial amount of time, effort and funding the profession directs into the TBF have been in yielding positive results and creating a growing pipeline of African and Coloured students coming through the CA(SA) qualification process," Olivier explains.

Although the organisation has admitted that they still have a long way to go with transforming the overall membership of the body, the statistics illustrate a positive outcome from the various initiatives that are already set in place.

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