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ACCA Accredits UFS Accountancy Programmes

06 May 2020 | Story Nitha Ramnath

The quality of the following University of the Free State (UFS) Accountancy programmes is internationally recognised, as it has been accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) after a thorough review of the modules offered:

• Bachelor of Accountancy (BAcc)

• Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Accounting (BComHons in Accounting)

• Postgraduate Diploma in General Accounting (PGDip [General Accountancy])

The implications of this accreditation are that graduates of these programmes will be eligible for direct admission to the Strategic Professional level (i.e. the highest level) of the ACCA qualification structure – a level aimed at preparing students for future leadership positions. Graduates of the BCom Accounting (BCom [Accounting]) programme will receive exemption from all of the ACCA’s ‘applied knowledge’ examinations as well as many of its ‘applied skills’ examinations.

According to the ACCA website: “We’re a thriving global community of 219 000 members and 527 000 students based in 179 countries that upholds the highest professional and ethical values.”

Internationally recognised accreditation

Haneke van Zyl, the Programme Director: General Accountancy and Research at the UFS, commented: “As this designation is internationally recognised, the ACCA accreditation of our programmes is vital in the School of Accountancy’s quest to acknowledge our diverse student body and to provide a wide range of opportunities to our Accounting students. We believe that each of our students should be empowered to become the best versions of themselves – and this accreditation will open more doors for them.”

As a result of this accreditation, ACCA will also actively assist UFS graduates of the aforementioned programmes to pursue ACCA membership through programmes such as ‘Accelerate’, which subsidises the various fees payable by aspirant members of ACCA.

Prof Frans Prinsloo, the Director of the School of Accountancy at the UFS, added: “We are very proud of the quality of our programmes – which are now accredited by all the leading professional bodies that operate in South Africa, i.e. the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), the SA Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and most recently, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). This is testament not only to the quality of the school’s curricula and teaching and learning resources, but vitally important also to the calibre of academic staff – who are not only highly qualified and experienced in facilitating teaching and learning, but also committed to their students’ success.”

Van Zyl added: “We have drawn on the curriculum structures of these leading professional bodies to inform our curricula – thereby ensuring the continued relevance of our graduates in the fast changing world of work that is being transformed by the 4th Industrial Revolution. Far from becoming obsolete in this environment, appropriately qualified accountants will become key providers of credible information for organisational decision-making – a function without which no organisation can be successful and thrive.”

Prof Prinsloo acknowledged the hard work of the colleagues in developing all the required documents needed to obtain the ACCA accreditation: “The accreditation is the result of a combined effort by the colleagues from the School of Accountancy, guided by the responsible programme director, Mrs Haneke van Zyl. It is testament to the hard work and effort that the lecturers involved in the programmes have put in.”

News Archive

ANC is not a party of the people - Mbeki

2010-08-30

“The unions in this country do not understand the political economy of South Africa. They think that the ANC is the party of the people. The ANC is the party of the black middle class. The fact that the masses vote for it does not mean they control it. The policies of the ANC favour the black middle class and the established businesses. They do not favour the working class.”

This was said by renowned economic and political commentator Mr Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of former president Thabo Mbeki, during a guest lecture he recently presented to Economics students of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.

“You just have to look at the types of houses that the ANC government builds for ordinary South Africans,” he said.

“If you had a party that was a pro-working class party it would not have built these so-called RDP houses that are being built by the ANC government. The unions have all along been under the illusion that the ANC is the government of the working class and (Zwelinzima) Vavi and them are now beginning to realise that this is not the case.

“The public-sector workers are in a special dilemma. They think the ANC is their ally but at the same time they feel they are not getting any benefits out of this alliance. Therefore you are beginning to get a very acrimonious environment emerging between the public-sector unions and the government.”

Regarding the current issue of the Protection of Information Bill and the proposed media tribunal that have brought the media and the government onto a collision course, Mbeki said the ANC government was trying to muzzle the media because it wanted to safeguard corruption within government.

“The question of freedom of information is very closely linked to the rise in corruption in the government,” he said.

“What the politicians are doing is that they are trying to hide that corruption. The media in this country have been playing a very critical role in exposing cases of corruption. That is why Vavi now has bodyguards.”

He said he recently met Vavi, the General Secretary of Cosatu, surrounded by four bodyguards. He said Vavi told him that he was getting death threats because he was opposing corruption in government.

Mbeki said the economic policies of South Africa were the “worst in the world” because they benefited people who were already rich and militated against the emergence of entrepreneurs.

“In fact, one of the serious downsides of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is that it takes people who should normally be entrepreneurs and who should be creating new companies and new jobs, out of that space and just makes them wealthy. BEE has been a disaster because it created this massive economic inequality; it created this class of idle rich who have tons of money but do nothing,” he added.

He said the under-investment in the economy was having dire consequences in terms of unemployment and poverty. He said this, coupled with the growth of consumption that Black Nationalism was driving, was actually driving down the ability of the economy to absorb labour.

“What really lies at the bottom of our economic problems in South Africa is that we have too much of a one-party dominance of our political system. We need more competition in our political system and until we realise the policies of the ANC are not going to change,” he said.

Mbeki’s guest lecture was on the topic: Architects of Poverty: Why African capitalism needs changing.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
30 August 2010

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