Over 1,700 candidates now one SAICA board exam away from becoming CA(SA) as they pass their ITC exams

Over 1,700 candidates who passed their South African Institute of Chartered Accountants Initial Test of Competence board exam are now one step closer to attaining their CA(SA) designation.

From the 1,726 who passed their first of two SAICA board exams, over 1,073 of them were African, Coloured, Indian or Other, while 653 were White.

According to SAICA, the ITC is the first of two qualifying examinations which assesses the technical competency through analysis and evaluation specific scenarios. The second exam is the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC).

SAICA has congratulated the 1,726 candidates who passed the first sitting of the 2024 ITC, resulting in a pass rate of 67% from the 18 academic institutions.

The University of Pretoria produced a 100% pass rate with its 204 candidates, while Milpark, Wits and the Johannesburg universities produced 249, 209 and 187 candidates respectively.

The North West University and the University of Stellenbosch produced 97% and 96% pass rates respectively.

Performance of the 18 institutions who fielded candidates for the ITC
Institution	Pass Rate	Total Wrote	Total Passed	Rank
University of Pretoria	100%	204	204	1
North West University	97%	92	89	2
University of Stellenbosch	96%	174	167	3
University of Cape Town	94%	178	168	4
University of the Witwatersrand	92%	226	209	5
University of the Free State	85%	60	51	6
Nelson Mandela University	83%	53	44	7
University of Limpopo	81%	36	29	8
University of Johannesburg	79%	237	187	9
Rhodes University	68%	22	15	10
University of the Western Cape	67%	24	16	11
Institute of Accounting Science	58%	144	83	12
The Independent Institute of Education IIE (VC and Msa)	56%	34	19	13
University of KwaZulu-Natal	47%	113	53	14
Milpark Education	45%	557	249	15
Regent Business School	42%	38	16	16
University of South Africa	34%	343	115	17
University of Fort Hare	33%	36	12	18
Total	67%	2571	1726

“While we are encouraged by the results for first time candidates, we are also concerned with results of the repeat candidates. We remain committed to continuous improvement and provision of support for the repeat candidates,” said SAICA chief executive Patricia Stock.

Racial breakdown

SAICA also noted the demographics of the pass rate for the 2024 year.

The demographics of the January 2024 ITC results were as follows:

Racial breakdown of the 2024 ITC candidates
	Total	Fail	Pass	Overall Pass Rate	First Time Candidates Pass Rate	Repeat Candidates Pass Rate
African	1259	518	741	59%	74%	17%
Coloured	159	53	106	67%	73%	13%
Indian	326	137	189	58%	75%	12%
Other	46	12	37	76%	77%	0%
White	778	125	653	84%	89%	31%
Grand Total	2571	845	1726	67%	79%	17%

SAICA said the overall pass rate for first-time candidates is 79%, and 19% for repeat candidates.

“SAICA continues to analyse differences in pass rates between demographic groups and academic service providers. A review to understand the root causes of the gaps in pass rates of different race groups is underway,” it said.

The institution said that once the review is concluded, the relevant learning and development governance structures will consider the steps that should be taken to address the challenges with the pass rates.

100% for Tuks

The University of Pretoria was the only institution to produce 100% for its 204 candidates. The institution said it was extremely pleased about achieving a 100% pass rate.

The University of Pretoria has topped the 2024 SAICA ITC board exams, with four of the Top 5 coming from the university. Picture: Facebook

The university said that it was proud of the performance of its candidates and said there is a euphoria at UP having achieved an incredible feat.

This is the second year in a row that a UP candidate has come out tops nationally, the university added.

Professor Madeleine Stiglingh, Head of Department of Accounting at the university said: “To pass this examination with honours is an exemplary achievement and we wish to congratulate each one of these candidates”.

Touching on the results from a transformational perspective, Tuks said they were proud to register 43% growth in pass rates from African, Coloured and Indian candidates.

They said they were committed to improving the numbers further in future and said they were proud of the results of this cohort as they had started their university journey during the challenging Covid-19 pandemic, which included two years of online learning.

“These outstanding results achieved by this cohort is a testament to their resilience and agility during very challenging times in the higher education sector,” said Prof. Stiglingh.

The UP also had four out of the Top 5 performers.

1. Gareth Griffiths (UP)

2. Deone Mulder (UNW)

3. Udo Bohmer (UP)

4. Matthew Pollock (UP)

5. Thalene Hanekom (UP)