A Rhodes University accounting graduate, Amar Naik, has made history by becoming Rhodes’ first top ten and one of two black candidates to pass Part One of the Qualifying Examination (QE1), a critical milestone on the path to becoming a Chartered Accountant (SA).
Mr Naik who studied at Rhodes, the smallest of South African universities, from 2005 And 2008 for a BCom Accounting Honours degree, came 6th out of a total of 3 373 candidates who sat for the 2009 board examination. The results were released on Friday, June 26, by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
In congratulating Naik, Dr Saleem Badat, Rhodes University Vice Chancellor said yesterday, "Rhodes while being the country’s smallest university, is big in the quality of graduates that it produces and big in performance related to pass and graduation rates. Mr Naik's achievement is testimony to the quality of Accountancy at Rhodes and we take great pride in his outstanding performance".
Professor John Williams, Head of the Department of Accountancy at Rhodes and a lecturer of Naik who described the achievement as incredible, said he was extremely proud of his student and the other Rhodes graduates that had passed the examination.
“Mr Naik, currently serving his articles at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Johannesburg, was one of the most humble students he had ever taught which made his achievement even more pleasing,” Prof. Williams commented.
Rhodes had an overall pass rate of 76% compared to a national average of 58%, and 27 first time passers - 84% compared to the national first time average of 79% - which is the highest accountancy throughput the University has achieved.?
Prof. Williams, who also congratulated the staff in Rhodes’ Department of Accounting for the significant role that they played in preparing their graduates for the examination, said he looked forward to Rhodes University playing an even more significant role in addressing the acute shortage of Chartered Accountants in South Africa.
Issued by Rhodes University Communications