Presentation-Abasa-Nkuhlu Subvention_UYF Challenge'v2

Reviewing progress and
documenting processes
used by the UFH to
implement the
ABASA/Nkuhlu Subvention
– UYF Challenge
Friday, 14 November 2008

Presentation Outline
 PROJECT OBJECTIVES
 EXPECTED DELIVERABLES
 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE
REVIEW
 METHODOLOGY
 FINDINGS
 DISCUSSIONS
 RECOMMENDATIONS

PROJECT OBJECTIVES
 Provide funds to two historically disadvantaged Universities
(University of Fort Hare and University of Limpopo) to
employ six black CAs as lecturers in the Accounting
Departments for a period of three years.
 Enable approximately 450 previously disadvantaged
accounting students per annum at UFH and 300 similar
students per annum at UL with an opportunity to access an
accredited CTA qualification.
 Deploy the six CAs who will assist the Universities to
develop a CTA programme that is accredited by SAICA.
 Place accounting professionals to serve as mentors and
role-models to students who face similar socio-economic
and cultural challenges as the CAs themselves had to
overcome.
 Support junior lecturers and/or tutorial facilitators to
develop their abilities to educate and teach students.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES
 Development of an academic programme
towards assisting UFH and UL to offer an
accredited CTA qualification.
 Teaching and training of 750 historically
disadvantaged undergraduate accounting
students per annum over a period of three
years.
 Delivering a pass rate in accounting of 60% per
annum.
 At least 50% of the final year students will be
eligible to enrol for an accredited CTA
qualification

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE
REVIEW
 Provide a comprehensive assessment of the processes used by the
institution in the development of the CAs programme;
 Provide a comprehensive method used by the institution in
development of the curriculum of the CAs in the institution;
 Provide in depth analysis of processes used by the institution in
selection of learners, support and mentorship, including assessment
of their competencies and academic progress;
 Provide a comprehensive assessment on the approach and
processes used by the institution to build its own capacities to
deliver high quality competitive CA programme in the institution;
including plans of retentions of high quality lecturers;
 Provide assessment on performance of learners enrolled in the CA
programme in the institution; and
 Obtain key lessons on how to develop an accredited CTA academic
programme and how other Universities can learn in the future.

METHODOLOGY
Developing the Capabilities
Registration of an
accredited CTA
academic programme
Curriculum development
and/or updating
Recruitment of
experienced lecturers
Development of learning
materials
Recruitment of
students
Training and
development of
students conducted
Students’
registration for CTA
examinations
University strategy or
motivation to offer an
accredited CTA qualification

Stage 1: Strategy to offer CTA
qualification
 The strategy or motivation used by the
university was scrutinised, looking at
the reasons for doing so, examining
the overall objectives, reviewing the
targets, reviewing the role and
functions of the team that put together
the strategy, funding required and how
it was raised, timeframes and how they
dealt with the lacking resources.

Stage 2: Registration of the
CTA qualification
 Mapping this stage made it possible to examine
how the University went about with putting
together a credible application form to the South
African Institute for Chartered Accountants and the
FASSET SETA. The mapping also exposed how
other universities can learn when submitting
applications of this kind. The approach followed by
the Nkuhlu Department for Accounting Studies was
unpacked in terms of the roles of staff members
who were involved in the submission of the
registration.

Stage 3: Developing the
capabilities
 This stage examined how the
University recruited the best
Accounting lecturers and other
staff members for developing a
credible curriculum and training
material in line with all the
requirements from SAICA,
FASSET SETA and SAQA.

Stage 4: Recruitment of
students
 The aim of mapping processes used
during this stage, assisted to examine
what criteria were used, determine the
importance of selecting appropriate
learners and assess the impact that it
has on the performance of the
department. The framework used by
the University to establish the needs of
the students prior to enrolment were
examined.

Stage 5: Training and
Development of students
 The processes mapped out from this
stage, were used to inform how
effective the University resources
(financial and non-financial) were
applied towards developing best
Accountants. The learner-lecturer ratio,
pass rates and other ratio’s were
analysed to determine benchmarks and
possible best practices. The methods
used to deliver the content were
scrutinised and the success level was
determined.

Stage 6: Registration for CTA
Examinations
 The processes applied in this stage
were documented to determine the
preparation of the student for the
examinations, assess what role the
University was playing in supporting
the students, and documenting any
other mechanisms of ensuring a high
success rate in the CTA examinations.

FINDINGS
 The feasibility study was completed on
6 February 2006.
 The project concept document was
approved by UYF Management
Committee on 26 April 2006.
 The Memorandum of Agreement
between UYF and ABASA was
completed on 10 January 2007.
 The Subvention Agreement between
UYF, ABASA and UFH was completed
on 5 February 2007.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 The activities imply that the implementation
started before the formal documents and
agreements could be entered into by the parties
involved.
 SAICA awarded a conditional accreditation to the
University of Fort Hare already from the
beginning of 2006. The project was supposed to
have started in January 2005, which means it
was almost two years behind schedule as the
agreements were formalised at the beginning of
2007.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 The University of Fort Hare offer the
following qualifications in the field of
accounting:
 60001= B.Com Accounting 3 year
programme
 60006= B.Com Accounting 4 year
programme
 60505= Post Graduate Diploma Preliminary
1 year programme
 60506= Post Graduate Diploma in
Accounting (Final year) 1 year programme

FINDINGS (Cont…
 There are differences in the targets
specified and interpretation in the
Concept Document and the Subvention
Agreement.
 The concept document indicated that
one of the objectives is to enable
approximately 450 previously
disadvantaged accounting students per
annum at UFH with an opportunity to
access an accredited CTA qualification.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 The subvention agreement outlined one of the
objectives being to ensure that the deployment
of the accounting lecturers will promote the
educational development of 1000 previously
disadvantaged accountancy learners for the
duration of the contract period.
 On the other hand, the feasibility study
conducted by Research Focus indicated that the
objective of the project is to Provide 5 000
previously disadvantaged learners (over three
years) with an opportunity to access an
acceptable accounting qualification in order to
improve their chances of obtaining access to the
CTA qualification.

FINDINGS (Cont…
2005
Qualification No. Reg No. Passed No. Cancelled
Did Not Sit Exam and Not
Canc.
60001 1572 984 274 106
60006 4931 3707 483 354
60505 92 27 16 12
60506 63 18 196 4
Total 6658 4736 969 476

FINDINGS (Cont…
2006
Canc.
60001 1474 1018 194 68
60006 4292 3229 315 180
60505 171 55 115 34
60506 51 16 4 1
Total 5988 4318 628 283

FINDINGS (Cont…
2007
Canc.
60001 2144 1456 237 120
60006 4163 3037 351 186
60505 266 89 100 40
60506 192 53 8 28
Total 6765 4635 696 374

FINDINGS (Cont…
 Accreditation with SAICA requires firstly that the
university provide evidence from the
Department of Education in terms of the
Programme and Qualification Mix (PQM) that
they are able to offer a specialised BCom
(Accounting) programme.
 Thereafter there are a number of criteria which
have to be met and aligned to the Higher
Education Quality Committees (HEQC’s)
programme accreditation criteria.
 It is best for SAICA to come and explain the
rigour in the process before embarking on this
extensive exercise.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 When SAICA started working on the project on 1
Jan 2002 there was not really a functioning
department of Accountancy.
 The University of Fort Hare had huge staff
shortages, the material was out-dated and in
some instances non-existent.
 They had no computer laboratory available to
students.
 SAICA had to find an alliance partner which was
the University of Johannesburg.
 SAICA signed an agreement with University of
Fort Hare where their lecturers would fly into
East London and drive for two hours to Alice and
give class each day on the required subjects.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 All the students, being University of
Johannesburg and University of Fort Hare wrote
examinations on the same day and time and all
used the same material.
 SAICA managed to obtain funding for a
computer laboratory for the students and the
tutorials were done via webcast.
 As the project progressed and UFH was in a
position to start taking over certain of the
functions, these were handed over.
 It started off with all the first year courses and
then progressed to the final year courses.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 With the merging of the Rhodes
University-East London Campus into
University of Fort Hare SAICA were
able to hand the whole programme
over.
 SAICA virtually had weekly project
management meetings wherein
specialists were brought in to assist
with reading and writing skills as well
as numeracy.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 SAICA indicated that with regard to the
conditional accreditation that was
granted to UFH, the university is able
to offer the CTA programme subject to
them continuing to address and then
meet certain criteria.
 A candidate wishing to write Part I of
the Qualifying Exam (one of the steps
towards qualifying as a CA) must have
a CTA from an accredited programme.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 The CTA programme requires
lecturers with relevant experience at
the CTA level.
 This is currently a significant problem
in SA generally as there are insufficient
people with this experience to go
around to the currently accredited 13
universities.
 Requesting this at the currently non-
accredited universities may cause an
even bigger crisis in the shortage of
accounting academics.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 The other issue is that of salary.
Accounting academics are
typically CA's who command high
salaries in commerce.
 The Nkuhlu Department of
Accounting must be given the
autonomy to pay higher salaries
to its accounting academics.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 The issue of research is also
problematic for accounting
academics.
 They do not typically perform
research due to the nature of the
work they do.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 SAICA cited that the full
accreditation will be conferred as
soon as they meet the key issues
outlined in their accreditation
report.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 SAICA pointed out that the annual
reviews submitted by UFH are
definitely of a satisfactory nature.
SAICA actually engaged with UFH
more than once a year at the
moment given the "conditional"
accreditation status.

FINDINGS (Cont…
 It was indicated that in 2007, a
total of 22 students wrote and 11
passed, leading to 50% pass rate.
 During 2006, a total of 21
students wrote and 8 passed,
leading to a 38% pass rate.

DISCUSSIONS
Positive issues:
 The university had established the
strategy to offer an accredited
Certificate in the Theory of Accounting
qualification before requesting support
from their partners.
 The University of Fort Hare took the
initiative through an empowered
champion to initiate the CTA
accreditation from SAICA even before
the agreements were concluded.

DISCUSSIONS (Cont…
Positive issues:
 When the agreements were entered
into, UFH had already achieved
progress on its own, identified the
shortfalls, developed solutions and
established necessary partnerships that
would assist them in the process.
 The relationship with SAICA was
formed and it assisted UFH to obtain
proper guidance and coaching
regarding the requirements to register
an accredited CTA qualification.

Positive issues:
 UFH achieved a conditional
accreditation to offer a CTA
qualification and some of their students
already managed to pass the SAICA
Part 1 Qualifying Exams.
 UFH established the requirements for
accreditation and built the necessary
capacity and procured the resources.

Positive issues:
 UFH forged partnerships with other
Universities to share experiences of
lecturing, development of the
curriculum, strengthen the teaching
material and continuously improve the
teaching methods of Accounting
Lecturers.
 The feasibility study to test a
framework for implementation was
conducted to inform the
implementation.

Positive issues:
 The use of appropriate partners
assisted to capacitate UFH during
the period of transition.
 The majority of the targets
agreed with UFH were surpassed.
 UFH arranged funding for
students with limited financial
difficulties.

DISCUSSIONS
Negative issues:
 The agreement should have been put
in place between the different partners
before commencement of the project.
 The project would be exposed to risks
if the implementation goes ahead
without the contractual agreements as
accountability could not be clearly
assigned.

Negative issues:
 Buy-in and commitment of
stakeholders seems to be questionable
in the beginning of the project.
 Other Universities may require
guidance and extensive support to
make sure that the essential
requirements for success are in place
before entering into contractual
agreements.

Negative issues:
 It is not clear how the steering
committee was operating and how
effective it is since no evidence has
been provided.
 It is evident that the process for
determining the target of students for
enrolment in the accounting field by
the University of Fort Hare was not well
defined as evident in the project
documents.

Negative issues:
 A process of mentoring students is not
clearly defined on how the CA’s
deployed as Accounting Lecturers in
UFH would play that role effectively.
 It is apparently evident that a
framework required to be followed by
students who would like to be
Lecturers in the Nkuhlu Department of
Accounting was lacking.
 It was not clearly demonstrated how
quarterly reporting was used to
measure project progress and address
any issues that were outstanding.

RECOMMENDATIONS
 The minimum success factors for a
project of this nature can be drawn to
include:
 There must be evidence that the
management of the university have started
to develop a strategy to offer Certificate in
the Theory of Accounting.
 Availability of a competent and committed
project champion.
 The University must establish working
relationship with SAICA to be capacitated
on the requirements for registering an
accredited CTA qualification programme.

RECOMMENDATIONS (Cont…
 The project champion must understand the
requirements for registering an accredited
CTA qualification.
 The university must establish partnerships
with other accredited universities to be
capacitated on lecturing methods and
utilisation of course material.
 The university must understand the CTA
curriculum outlined by SAICA.

 UYF must conduct a readiness study
based on but not limited to the above
listed minimum success factors first
before any agreements can be entered
into.
 Shortcomings in the readiness test
must be made available to the
university to address them. The
willingness of the university to register
an accredited qualification will be
assessed through the ability to take
responsibility.

 Once the success factors have been satisfied,
UYF can then enter into agreements with the
university, ABASA, SAICA and other relevant
partners.
 The university must report on the number of
students who register based on the following
variables: study stream, course, and year of
study. Further to this, it must be reported on:
number of students registered, number of
students who wrote examinations, number of
students who cancelled, number of students who
passed, number of students who failed, number
of students who completed the yearly courses,
and number of students who graduated.

 It must be clear as to how the CA’s
recruited as lecturers will mentor
students apart from lecturing in class
and this must be included in their
contracts.
 The university must develop a plan in
which it outlines how students with
potential would be retained, coached to
become junior accounting lecturers.
 The parties must establish a steering
committee that meets regularly to
review the progress achieved by the
project and address any challenges.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!
Time for questions or issues
that require clarification.

Presentation-Abasa-Nkuhlu Subvention_UYF Challenge'v2

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