How the SAICA endorsement process works

The quality assurance environment in South Africa

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) is a not-for-profit voluntary membership body recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). This allows it to award designations such as the CA(SA) and AGA(SA). Designations do not carry any value on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). All designations are underpinned by formal qualifications. All academic qualifications are registered by individual institutions of higher learning on the NQF and regulatory approval and oversight of these formal academic qualifications is the responsibility of the Council for Higher Education (CHE) (one of three quality councils in South Africa). SAICA has no legal or compliance obligations towards the CHE and endorsement of these formal academic qualifications (programmes) is performed by SAICA for the purpose of entry into its professional examinations.

The SAICA designations have three core components:

Education (academic and professional programme which are endorsed by SAICA for the purpose of the designation)
Experience (a formal period of workplace experience known as the SAICA Training Contract)
Examinations (for the CA designation there are two professional examinations – the Initial Assessment of Competence (IAC) and the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC))

SAICA’s academic programme endorsement process

SAICA endorses certain academic programmes for purposes of the Chartered Accountant (SA) and Associate General Accountant (SA) designations. It is important to note that SAICA endorses the programmes (formal qualifications), and not the academic programme providers[1] of these programmes.

SAICA’s endorsement takes place after:

Institutional accreditation and Institutional audits performed by the Higher Education Quality Council (HEQC) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) – done for the university or private provider as a whole;
Programme accreditation granted by the HEQC (a programme is equal to a formal qualification recognised on the NQF);
Recognition of degrees (qualifications) registered on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), which is awarded by SAQA.

What does an endorsement by SAICA mean?

By endorsing a programme, SAICA certifies that:

an education provider has put the appropriate resources in place that, if utilised effectively, should enable it to deliver the programme at the required standards and levels of quality; and
the academic programme meets SAICA’s requirements in terms of the standards of learning and teaching.

Endorsement of a programme is not an assurance that a provider is achieving the required standard of delivery of that programme. Rather, the endorsement certifies that a programme contains the requirements necessary to meet SAICA’s endorsement standards.

Quality assurance and enhancement are essential elements of endorsement. The programme endorsement process consists of initial endorsement and is followed by ongoing monitoring by SAICA.

Endorsement criteria

The endorsement criteria are designed to assist academic programme providers[2] to identify their existing quality assurance policies and processes and benchmark them against international and local criteria and standards. It builds capacity to formalise these processes, identify weaknesses and gaps and rectify these to develop a comprehensive and functioning Quality Management System for each accredited academic programme provided by the institution.

These endorsement criteria are applicable to all academic programme providers, whether they are public or private providers. Providers may offer the programme using different modes of delivery.

The following elements, amongst others, are vital in the endorsement process:

Legal requirements, as prescribed by the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) as the regulator of the profession, the Council for Higher Education (CHE), the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC), South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).
The education provider’s resources, including financial, technological and human resources. Human resources include management, leadership, communication, and administrative support, amongst others.
The education (academic) programme, including programme research, design, development, course content – aligned to the CA of the Future competency Framework, learning and teaching methodologies, programme coordination and evaluation, and risk management.
Assessment covers the techniques used to adequately measure achievement of the stated learning objectives, moderation, recognition of prior learning, dealing with students who appeal the assessments' outcomes, and certification procedures.
Learner Support covers entry requirements, academic support, counselling and mentoring, and learner retention and throughput rates.
Transformation requirements mean the provider can show that it has initiatives in place to transform the composition of the students on the programme as well as show that it is contributing both in terms of numbers of students and % pass rates for students from previously disadvantaged groups. In addition, the provider must show that it is making effort to change the demographic profile of the programme leadership and academic staff. The education providers are responsible to determine the key performance indicators against which progress on transformation will be measured.

During the endorsement process, education providers are given a status of being either endorsed or not endorsed by SAICA. There is no rating, but there may be areas of improvement, or endorsement based on certain improvements that need to be implemented by the provider which are formally communicated in writing to each provider.

Each provider is also monitored on an annual basis, and the frequency and nature of this ongoing monitoring is determined based on whether the academic programme (1) substantially meets requirements, (2) meets requirements to an appropriate extent, or (3) if there are concerns regarding the requirements being met. The final option available to SAICA is to continue to endorse a programme subject to the provider meeting certain conditions within a specific time – this is only used in rare circumstances where a provider has not responded to previous requests to look at further improvements to its programmes.

All providers are further required to inform SAICA, within a reasonable time period, of material or significant developments that affect the programmes that it endorses.

SAICA’s role

SAICA engages each provider at least once a year, and the frequency of visits will be increased should concerns be raised. These ongoing engagements take place in one of three ways:

A self-evaluation report – a written submission from the provider
A follow-up visit (a one-day visit – either online or in person conducted by the team leader and SAICA secretariat)
A monitoring visit (a three-day visit, generally in person, to the provider, conducted by a team of six academic evaluators)

Every provider whose programmes are endorsed by SAICA will have a monitoring visit conducted once every six-year cycle.

SAICA will not immediately remove endorsement from a programme, as there is always sufficient engagement with the provider first, including giving them an opportunity to remedy any specific areas of concern, before any action us taken. In addition, students in the pipeline are also considered as part of any decision SAICA would make in this regard.

The endorsement process is not an isolated one, as SAICA works using a monitoring team which comprises a diverse range of academics from different providers, with one appointed team leader to ensure consistency between visits. The IRBA also observes selected monitoring and follow-up visits from time to time. The outcomes are then presented to two committees, being the Chartered Accountant Professional Development Committee (CAPDC) and the Academic and Professional Programme sub-committee (APPSC), who deliberate on and approve the outcomes of these process.

Does SAICA engage with students during the endorsement process?

Monitoring visits with providers include a specific session with students, the purpose of which is to get honest feedback from students on their experience and engagement with the providers’ programme (both at an undergraduate and a postgraduate level).

Although SAICA also engages with students through its strategic Transformation and Growth initiatives to promote the CA(SA) and AGA(SA) brands, it does not get involved in the day-to-day administration or in instances where students may be raising concerns or petitioning against an education provider.

When students raise concerns against a specific provider, SAICA will remain steadfast in the monitoring and endorsement process, based on the adequate legal protocol and support.

How does SAICA support providers?

SAICA’s endorsement and ongoing monitoring process allows providers to regularly reflect and improve on their programmes. This approach has garnered great support from providers over the years and many improvements have come about because of this ongoing and regular reflection.

Regular engagements between SAICA and academic programme providers will help all providers create a platform where open conversation can happen. SAICA is also, through these relationships, able to provide a platform for providers from all endorsed programmes to meet and share best practices on a regular basis. These platforms also allow networking among academics and the ability to collectively engage on common areas of concern.

From a student support perspective, SAICA’s Thuthuka programme delivers holistic support to students. (This is evaluated through a different committee at SAICA who are responsible for overseeing aspects of the SAICA transformation strategy)

SAICA further supports historically disadvantaged institutions (HDIs) through capacity-building projects, which also include student support already provided by these institutions.

SAICA will not interfere with the operational running of any academic programme, as this is the responsibility of the academic programme provider, which is monitored through the endorsement process. SAICA also does not deal with student complaints, as each academic provider is expected to have its own channel for escalating (and solving) concerns and students are encouraged to escalate concerns using the providers’ formal complaints channels.

The full list of programmes accredited by SAICA can be found on the SAICA website.

[1] This includes both public universities and private providers that are accredited by DHET

[2] The process and criteria followed by SAICA are also applicable to professional programme providers even though the professional programme is a short course and not a formal qualification