Abstract:
PURPOSE – Students completing their tertiary education at a university may be equipped with theoretical
knowledge with little to no practical experience. In order to bridge this gap in practical skills, a computer
simulation was developed based on the e-filing platform of the South African Revenue Services (SARS).
Students were exposed to this self-developed computer simulation to answer the question: to what extent will
the e-filing simulation improve students’ confidence to practically apply their theoretical knowledge?
DESGIN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH – The research applied a pre–post questionnaire research method to gauge
the students’ ability to apply their theoretical knowledge to a practical scenario before and after the simulation.
FINDINGS – From the results, it is apparent that the students were inspired with confidence in getting to terms
with the application of their theoretical knowledge in a real-life scenario. The computer simulation provided the
platform for learning to take place in a practical environment without the risk of errors that would translate into
real financial consequences.
ORIGINALITY/VALUE – The contribution of this research can be found in a teaching intervention that may support
the training of future tax professionals in practical application skills. The contribution can be extended to the
enhancement of education in the field of taxation, particularly with the results’ showing that the students
experienced high levels of increased confidence in their application of theoretical knowledge to real-life scenarios.
