Akademia announced the exciting news on Monday 25 November 2024 at a celebratory event that the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences will take in the first group of students in the sought-after programme BCom (Accounting) from 2025. The faculty already offers programmes in the accounting field such as a BCom (Financial and Management Accounting) and BCom (Management Accounting), two postgraduate diploma programmes in respectively Management Accounting and Taxation as well as a Higher Certificate in Accounting.

The BCom (Accounting) programme will be offered over a period of three years via the institution’s after-hours distance model, and students will be able to complete their studies through an extensive network of centres or the e-learning option.

Along with this announcement, Dr Rachel Maritz, dean of the faculty, also announced the news that the programme was at an advanced stage with the application for accreditation* with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). The latter is one of two professional bodies accredited in South Africa by The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA). This international professional body will provide Akademia’s BCom (Accounting) graduates with the opportunity to pursue and obtain the much sought-after title of Chartered Certified Accountant by obtaining exemption from professional examinations. An additional advantage is that such graduates, who enjoy full membership of the ACCA, will enjoy international recognition without any transition exams

“The addition of the BCom (Accounting) programme to Akademia’s existing programme variety represents a high point in the development journey of the faculty,” Maritz said. She added that the institution’s aim with this new programme was to build purposefully on the classical education ideal of forming students’ mind and heart in a vocation-driven manner. “We look forward to delivering well-formed graduates with specialist knowledge in accounting, management accounting, financial management, taxation and auditing who will make a positive difference in the world of work in a future-oriented manner through their deeper understanding of the connections between the various accounting disciplines,” Maritz said. The accreditation by the ACCA will also enable the faculty to train future certified chartered accountants or registered auditors locally to be internationally relevant as well.

“The ACCA accreditation also opens up the international professional field for local chartered accountants and can be seen as a dynamic alternative academic route to career satisfaction in this highly specialised field,” Maritz explained. 

The BCom (Accounting) programme in a nutshell

This programme is at NQF level 7 and has a twofold purpose. First, it will equip students with the necessary insight and application skills in business, accounting and auditing practices as well as related disciplines. Secondly, the programme will allow students to specialise further in either accounting or auditing by completing structured training (clerkship) and thereby gaining access to professional examinations to ultimately add the much sought-after Certified Chartered Certified Accountant (CA) title to their names.

Maritz explained that students who successfully completed the programme would enjoy exemption from professional examination papers in the first three categories of the qualification, namely foundation, applied knowledge and applied skills.

* Akademia will enjoy accreditation with the ACCA for each module for which a complete historical examination paper has not yet been submitted. That is to say, the brand-new modules will enjoy provisional accreditation until the final, provisionally accredited examination paper is written in practice by the students at the end of 2027. The latter represents the anticipated year when the institution will produce its first graduating BCom (Accounting) students.