Is accountancy education paying its social debt?

Abstract

The subject of accounting is not only dominating the syllabus: it has turned the whole accountancy programme into a nightmare. Although universities claim to attract the most gifted and talented students to a career in accountancy, students rarely excel: most barely survive.

The PFMA, MFMA, Treasury Regulations, Public Audit Act and GRAP are topics that have not found their way into the syllabi of the accountancy departments of South Africa's universities. Consequently, the graduates that are "needed for the social and economic development of South Africa's public sector" are not being delivered - its as simple as that.