RHODES University has scooped top honours in final assessments to qualify students as chartered accountants after achieving a 100% pass rate for the second straight year.

Although 2 050 students from 13 South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) institutions sat for the exam, Rhodes University was the only one to achieve 100% when all 31 candidates passed.

Rhodes University accountancy department head professor Jackie Arendse yesterday said she was extremely proud of the graduates for all passing their initial test of competence (ITC) in 2013 and the new assessment of professional competence (APC) last year.

"These graduates have proceeded from our post-graduate diploma in accounting straight through both sets of professional exams: a phenomenal achievement."

The APC is the final assessment in the years-long process of qualifying as a chartered accountant (CA (SA) and is written towards the end of the second year of the three-year training contract.

It assesses professional competence with a specific focus on the assessment of the strategic and managerial aspects of the broader accountancy discipline.

The APC in contrast focuses on the candidate's ability to demonstrate real-life professional application of the knowledge and skills they have acquired.

"The success of our graduates shows that the pervasive skills that we try to inculcate in our students, including lifelong learning, the ability to self-manage both their time and learning, communication, the ability to conduct research and to analyse and interpret data critically is producing dividends in the form of qualified chartered accountants who are able to take their place as leaders of business and society," Arendse said.

By David Macgregor

Source: Daily Dispatch