Abstract
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) developed the Academic Traineeship Programme (ATP) to give trainee chartered accountants (CAs) the opportunity to complete one of their three training years in an academic environment. The structure and guidelines of the ATP should be reconsidered given changes in the overall CA (SA) Training Programme (e.g. increased focus on the development of the prescribed competencies, especially pervasive skills) and in the academic environment (e.g. increased emphasis on research). This article presents the findings of a study that surveyed current academic trainees and found that they spend most of their time on the presentation of tutorials, marking of assessments and student consultation. The surveyed academic trainees believe that stricter guidelines for how they spend their time would be beneficial; also, they would prefer to do more lecturing and research. Guidelines are proposed based on an inclusive stakeholder model and on SAICA’s Competency Framework, which shows increased focus on research and the setting of assessments.
Highlights
To become a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), prospective members who successfully completed a Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA) are required to enter into a three-year training contract with a registered training office
OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE PRESENTED TO ACADEMIC TRAINEES
A total of 81, 2013 academic trainees were requested to participate within this study. 47 responded, yielding a response rate of 58%
Summary
SAICA introduced the Academic Traineeship Programme (ATP) to enable academically strong students to develop their technical skills in an academic environment with the aim of attracting them to an academic career This effectively allows trainees to complete the first year of their three-year training contract with an accredited accountancy unit such as an accounting department or school at a university. SAICA requires accountancy units to expose academic trainees to all the activities listed in the HOD/Supervisor’s Report (SAICA, 2007) during the trainees’ first year of training (SAICA, 2012c). These activities include but are not limited to lecturing, tutoring, preparing course material, grading assessments and conducting research – all to prepare academic trainees for embracing the role of future educators or academics, or both
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