The Gauteng Provincial Treasury (GPT) has received accreditation status from the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA); becoming the first government department in the country to be recognised as an Accredited Training Centre (ATC) for professional accountants.
This development will enable practicing accountants in the department to transfer skills to trainee accountants and prepare them for board exams that will qualify them to become professional accountants.
“We approached SAIPA last year with a view to establish a partnership to develop professional accountants for the public service, to address the challenges that we are experiencing in attracting this particular skill. We are certainly proud to become the first government department to be accredited as a SAIPA ATC. We will use this status to meaningfully contribute to increasing the pool of professional accountants in the province and the country”, Finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe says.
GPT received its accreditation in January and has developed an intensive three year programme that will provide BComm graduates with the skills and knowledge required to qualify as professional accountants. A total of 19 trainee accountants have already been recruited into the GPT-SAIPA ATC programme, which has a budget of nearly R2 million for this financial year.
“There is an urgent need to improve the accounting knowledge and expertise in government. We need the efforts of everyone in order to succeed in this task; taking into consideration our drive to achieve clean audit outcomes for all government departments, entities and municipalities,” Nkomfe explains.
He called on the accounting industry to create opportunities for young people to enter the field, saying that this is important to the sustainable development of the country. The MEC further says the GPT-SAIPA ATC initiative is entrenched in the province’s commitment to building an innovation and knowledge-based economy to drive competitiveness, growth and job creation.
“The partnership with SAIPA further strengthens our position as a strategic, pro-active and value adding Treasury. We are making a significant contribution in the effort to professionalise the public service by investing in the development of the necessary capacity in scares skills areas that are in high demand in particular in the public sector, he adds.
The GPT-SAIPA ATC programme has been designed to expose trainees to critical and complex areas of financial management and accounting in the public sector. Included in the scope of activities will also be exposure to the provincial accounting and municipal finance systems, auditing, taxation and advisory service.
The trainees have dedicated mentors and will be rotated in provincial government departments and entities during the duration of the programme. As part of its monitoring mechanisms, SAIPA will conduct continuous assessments to ensure that the GPT ATC complies with all the requirements.
For more information contact:
John Sukazi
MEC Spokesperson
Tel: 011 355 2161
Cell: 083 772 4885
E-mail: john.sukazi@gauteng.gov.za
