Shortage of financially qualifieds a crisis
2008-12-04
THE financial management and auditing sector in South Africa is searching in vain for 22 000 qualified accountants. And even worse, the situation is forecast to deteriorate in the years ahead. These are among the findings of a research report commissioned by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) with a view to determining the magnitude of the skills shortage and thereby establish effective intervention strategies. “The future looks bleak, ”observes Ignatius Sehoole, SAICA’s executive president, “given especially that economic growth is so reliant on people in the financial occupations. We are actively seeking solutions. “All the evidence presented in this report confirms the existence of skills shortages in the field of financial management, accounting and audit skills. “It also confirms that the shortages are experienced from the clerical level through to the professional levels, but are more acute at the professional level,” says Sehoole. The research team developed a model to forecast future trends in the financial sector. “In order to sustain the number of graduates who enter the labour market with a first degree and to increase the numbers at the higher levels, an increase at the level of first degrees is required. “In addition, the need exists to increase the number of students who remain in the system and qualify at the honours level.” While acknowledging the validity of the researchers’ recommendations, Sehoole highlights the principal bottleneck as the low number of quality matriculation higher grade mathematics graduates and more especially black graduates.”
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