Willie Du Plessis

With excellent results in the latest South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) exams, the North-West University (NWU) has again shown that it is among the best of the best for quality education in accounting.

The results were released on 25 March 2022. NWU students achieved a 99% (76 out of 77 candidates) first-time pass rate in SAICA’s January 2022 exams for the Initial Test of Competence (ITC) and a 100% pass rate (11 out of 11 candidates) in the Namibian institute (ICAN) exams.

Prof Nico van der Merwe, coordinating programme leader for Chartered Accountancy in the School of Accounting Sciences, says this is an excellent achievement considering that the average pass rate in the country for all first-time candidates was 78%.

“I would like to congratulate all our graduates who successfully passed this challenging exam. Even under extremely difficult circumstances throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, our students persevered, and I am so happy that they can now reap the fruit of their hard work.”

Three NWU candidates passed with honours – another excellent showing, considering that only 29 candidates in the entire country passed with honours. It is remarkable if it is taken into account that more than 2 000 students wrote the exam.

Four of the five ICAN top five candidates were from the NWU. One of these candidates also passed with honours.

Prof Nico concluded that he is very grateful for the excellent team of lecturers who spared no effort in ensuring that teaching and learning could continue under the challenging Covid-19 circumstances.

The university has consistently achieved excellent results in the SAICA exams over the years and the latest results affirm that this streak of excellence is continuing.