July announces the beginning of the South African tax year. The South African Revenue Service’s (SARS) automatic assessments are done from 1 until 14 July, whereafter individual taxpayers have a chance from 15 July until 21 October to submit their tax returns for the 2024 tax year.

Knowledge is power and because not all South Africans are adept tax specialists, there is a need for well-trained tax practitioners. Considering this Akademia has joined hands with industry partners like CPD Campus and Moore Infinity-Sandton to make students of the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences tax smart and practice ready. The former are continuous professional development training providers whilst the latter represents a multidisciplinary professional financial services provider.

This dynamic collaboration resulted in 41 third-year students from the after-hours BCom (Financial Planning) programme and the full-time BCom (Financial and Management Accounting) programme respectively undergoing a simulation training programme and qualifying themselves to be able to complete electronic tax returns. This simulation follows after students studied personal income tax and the calculation thereof as a study unit during their first semester.

According to Mariska Wannenburg, programme coordinator of the BCom (Financial Planning) programme, this initiative not only represents the different institutions’ shared vision for training, but it promotes the quality of the learning process. Students that received more than 50% for the simulation, received a skill certificate that they can add to their CV. Wannenburg adds that the second group of students, that include 162 second-year students, will complete the tax survey simulation in September.

“This simulation exercise is just another way that Akademia prepares its students for practice, and offers its students a safe test environment to hone their theoretical and tax law knowledge,” Wannenburg explains. She adds that this type of practical learning opportunity helps to bridge the uncertainty between academic preparation and practical work experience.

Wannenburg and her fellow lecturers in the tax discipline, Sanet van Schalkwyk and Thinus Nienaber, agrees that the value of practice-oriented training is of invaluable importance – especially for students that will enter into the labour market one of these days. These students will serve as career experts in their different communities as tax consultants, management accountants and chartered accountants.

“Akademia looks forward to making this pioneering initiative an annual institution, as well as making this event an essential addition to the undergraduate tax programme,” says Wannenburg.