Work-Readiness Program for Under-Graduates
The Association of Accounting Technicians SA
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SA) jointly launched the Association of Accounting Technicians in SA. See AAT SA.
Guarantee Trust Corporate Support Services (GTCSS) was awarded by Fasset’s avant-garde organization to deliver a GTCSS/AAT SA program. This program in 2009 delivers the AAT Certificate and Advanced Certificate Qualifications to matric Learners or to those who have incomplete degrees or diplomas.
The current program run by GTCSS is called Phakamani and involves 100 learners on a one-year intensive program. Learners start with no qualification and end with full work-readiness, the AAT Qualifications and are placed within accounting firms to complete their AAT Diploma Qualifications.
This is an exciting new development that picks up those ‘lost’ to the employment market and the profession and creates skilled employees within the country and the accounting field.
Introduction
Guarantee Trust Corporate Support Services in conjunction with Fasset, the Seta for the accounting sector, is running a program to assist under-graduates and grade 12 learners, with acumen for accounts, enter into Learnerships with accounting firms.
The Phakamani Program, incorporating the AAT program, aims at preparing young aspiring accountants for entry into the accounting profession at the Accounting Technician level by presenting Certificate and Advanced Certificate levels through the Association of Accounting Technicians SA (AAT) who are partnered with SAICA (South-African Institute for Chartered Accountants) in South Africa.
Guarantee Trust will have 100 AAT trainees ready for placement into accounting firms in
November of 2009.
AAT (SA) is part of a worldwide organization that has over 139 000 students, affiliates, full and fellow members worldwide. The Phakamani AAT Program involves campus-style training and will prepare participants for the challenging accounting environment. This programme is fully financed by Fasset.
AAT (SA) is the only professional body in the country dedicated to the education, development, regulation and support of Accounting Technicians. AAT gives professional recognition and membership to all appropriately qualified accounting and finance staff.
Work-Readiness Program
The program is for HDI (Historically Disadvantaged Individuals) with matric accounting or incomplete degrees/diplomas and includes work-readiness and accounting qualifications modules. Delivery has started in Kyalami (near Midrand).
The AAT (SA) accounting qualification has three levels. Each level is a qualification in its own right and learners will receive recognition for each level completed. The levels offered are as follows:
Certificate in Accounting:
This level will start to develop skills in double-entry bookkeeping and give an understanding of management and administrative processes. Trainees will learn how to use manual and computerized accounting systems and to work with the purchase ledger, sales ledger and general ledger.
Advance Certificate in Accounting:
This level introduces more complicated accounting tasks, including the preparation of the final accounts for sole traders and partnerships. Trainees will also learn how to maintain cost accounting records and how to prepare reports and returns. In addition, there is a professional ethics unit as part of this qualification, which can be completed either at this level or as part of the Diploma.
Diploma in Accounting:
This includes a choice of special units, which means that trainees can focus their efforts on the areas of accounting most relevant to their needs and interest, including a personal taxation unit and a business taxation unit tailored to South African business tax legislation. After completing the Certificate and Advanced Certificate qualifications at GTCSS the learners will be placed in an accounting firm to complete their practical period as part of the AAT Diploma qualification.
The Phakamani AAT program will follow three very exact and defined steps:
1. Selection is done to establish the applicants’ suitability for the profession including motivation and organizational sense. The latter is critical to a trainee making it in the detailed environment of the profession. We have received just under 3000 applicants and of these 100 have been selected onto the program.
Pre-selected graduates are a huge benefit to those firms taking on our trainees as this can be a very expensive and time-consuming action for a professional firm to embark upon itself.
2. Training is conducted over a 10 month period to complete the Certificate and the Advanced Certificate levels. The training covers research areas that actually prepare our trainees for the accounting environment.
Subjects covered are basic skills that avoid ‘learning for exams’ and build skills in learning for actual work environment application. Actual communication skills are taught with the accent on operating skills as opposed to technical skills. Basic accounting functions are taught with trainees taking a set of transactions through a manual process and later repeating this exercise on Pastel.
The training regime includes soft skills courses on rules of professional conduct, full office orientation, work-place manners, etiquette, work habits, performance techniques and much more. These soft skills and work-readiness skills include simple tasks such as filing and being able to operate within an office to shorten the training time required by employers and allowing professional firms to earn a return on these graduates quicker than normal. This is a simple example of a small part of one of the courses that demonstrates the relevance of the training to the work-place.
This also illustrates the detail and care built into the program to ensure eventual and sustainable success.
Trainees will also be trained in our own “Virtual Office”. Learners will be exposed to the rigours of being a trainee accountant in an accounting firm, intensely. This accounting office simulation section exposes participants to basic record keeping, ledger compilation, management accounts, financial statements, working papers, statutory returns including VAT, UIF and PAYE. These trainees will be completely familiar with the above skills having completed them for different businesses for a twelve month accounting period. This is in addition to their attainment of the AAT Certificate and Advanced Certificate qualifications. These program graduates will be ready to operate within your firm from day one.
3. Once their training is completed the trainees are placed with accounting practices on a one year Learnership program to complete the Diploma level.
A final but vital part of the Guarantee Trust success formula is the attention given after the placement of the leaner, to ensure teething problems are overcome and by giving advice on processing grant applications, training centre accreditation, learner registration and workplace processing.
Conclusion
Guarantee Trust understands fully the difficulties of Historically Disadvantaged Individuals making it through the system and finally qualifying as accountants. This includes the problem of graduates studying for academic qualifications with decent pass rates while experiencing a shortfall of skill in application of knowledge once employed.
The Guarantee Trust programs actually bridges this gap. Vital in our process is careful selection of those who have the capacity to make it in this profession.
Previous Guarantee Trust programs have focused on graduates. This program empowers those with matric (or incomplete diplomas) and gives them work-readiness skills AND accounting qualifications. This is why the program covers the whole year.
Our Phakamani AAT graduates will be available at the end of November 2009; however there are limited numbers available so please contact us early for your requirements!
