The North-West University (NWU) has again emerged as a leader in accounting education in South Africa. Its candidates achieved an overall pass rate of 95% in the January 2025 Initial Assessment of Competence (IAC) examinations of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Namibia (ICAN).
This compares to the national average pass rate of 70%, according to the results, which were announced on Friday, 4 April 2025.
“This year, a total of 141 candidates from the NWU passed the SAICA and ICAN exams, which is the highest number of successful passes in these exams in the history of the university,” says Prof Heleen Janse van Vuuren, director of the NWU’s School of Accounting Sciences. Among the university’s SAICA candidates, the pass rate was 95%, while the figure for ICAN candidates was 100%.
The latest results also reaffirm the NWU as a top contributor to the transformation of the chartered accountancy profession: 88% of the NWU’s African, coloured and Indian SAICA candidates passed, compared to the national average of 64%.
A total of 42 African, coloured and Indian candidates from the NWU passed the SAICA exam, 10 of whom are part of the SAICA Thuthuka programme. This is the highest number in the history of the university.
Prof Janse van Vuuren attributes these outstanding results to the support the faculty and its flagship programmes receive from the university’s management. “We celebrate our contribution to the transformation of the accounting profession, this year and over many years,” she says.
The January 2025 IAC exams were the first held under SAICA’s new Chartered Accountant of the Future Competency Framework. This updated framework reflects global trends in digital transformation and integrated thinking, focusing not only on financial but also on non-financial performance, ensuring a future-ready profession.
SAICA has applauded all the high performers and notes that the overall pass rate of 70% marks an improvement from the previous year’s overall pass rate of 67%, reflecting the effectiveness of SAICA’s initiatives aimed at supporting candidates.
