This article reports on a study of the perceptions of aspirant chartered accountants (CAs) on the effectiveness of academic and training programmes in transferring pervasive skills en route to qualifying as a CA. The interest in the topic arose given the conflicting views on where the responsibility lies for developing pervasive skills (Barac & Du Plessis 2014; International Federation of Accountants [IFAC] 2015; Lines & Gammie 2004; Strauss-Keevy 2014), and the requirement of universities and training programmes, as part of their professional accreditation to report to membership bodies, on how they incorporated pervasive skills into their curriculum (Gammie, Cargill & Hamilton 2010; Jackling & De Lange 2009; SAICA 2009).

Accounting education has been under scrutiny for the past few decades, given the changes in the accounting profession in terms of proliferating regulations, rapid advancements in technology, globalisation and corporate failures (Albrecht & Sack 2000). Furthermore, the common theme emerging from the literature is that accounting graduates should develop not only technical acumen but also pervasive skills (Albrecht & Sack 2000; Barac 2009; Fouché & Visser 2008; Kermis & Kermis 2010; Mohamed & Lashine 2003), which are also referred to as soft skills, generic skills, non-technical skills and employability skills in the literature (Crebert et al. 2004; De Villiers 2010; Jackling & De Lange 2009). Various accounting bodies have responded to these challenges. In particular, in 2008, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) introduced a Competency Framework (SAICA 2009).

The Competency Framework was developed to ensure that the CA designation remains relevant to the changing business arena (SAICA 2015a; Steenkamp 2012) and also meets the requirements of the IFAC (2015). This framework requires SAICA-accredited universities and training programmes to ensure that each pervasive skill is addressed in their programmes and that evidence of this is provided to SAICA (2009, 2017c). The training programmes serve as the practical training ground for aspirant CAs and are classified as large, medium or small firms, commerce and industry, or the public sector.

SAICA changed its previous final qualifying examination to a competency-based assessment, now referred to as the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) (SAICA 2015b). The APC assesses both technical and pervasive skills, as conveyed in SAICA’s objective of the APC being the ‘assessment of professional competence developed during the academic, professional and training programmes to the extent possible in a simulation’ (SAICA 2013:11). Therefore, at the time of sitting for the APC, aspirant CAs would have already completed a minimum of a 4-year academic programme and 2 years of the required minimum 3-year training programme (SAICA 2016a).

Various international and local studies have investigated teaching methods during the academic programme (Adler & Milne 1997; Ballantine & McCourt Larres 2009; De Villiers & Fouché 2015; Fouché & Visser 2008; Keevy 2015, 2016a; Lines & Gammie 2004; Mohamed & Lashine 2003; Viviers 2016) and the training programme (Gammie et al. 2010; Lines & Gammie 2004) that addressed pervasive skills. However, none of these studies were presented from the viewpoint of aspirant professional accountants en route to qualifying as CAs. Furthermore, De Lange, Jacking and Gut (2006:382) convey that a study examining student perceptions after completing their professional accreditation would be interesting to ascertain whether pervasive ‘skills deficiency is a short-term or long-term perception of accounting graduates’. Therefore, this article makes the following specific contributions:

The remainder of this article is organised as follows: the next section describes the literature review, followed by the ‘Research method’ and ‘Empirical findings’ sections. The conclusions, limitations and areas for future research are presented in the last section.

The IFAC (2015) advocates that the demarcated routes for aspirant professional accountants to develop professional skills should be through both the academic and the training programmes and aptly states that ‘learning and development through which aspiring professional accountants first develop competence leading to performing their role as professional accountant include general education, practical experience and assessment’ (p. 11).

This is supported by various academics (Ballantine & Mc Court Larres 2009; Bui & Porter 2010; Gammie, Gammie & Cargill 2002), who view that the academic and the training programmes have an equally important role in developing pervasive skills. However, De Villiers (2010) has conveyed that it may be impracticable to expect graduates completing their academic programme to possess all the required pervasive skills. Similarly, Kavanagh and Drennan (2008) suggest that training programmes should not assume that graduates possess all pervasive skills when entering the work environment. Furthermore, several academics also view that pervasive skills are best developed in the workplace (Jackling & De Lange 2009; Lines & Gammie 2004). In the words of Lines and Gammie (2004:124), ‘the ability to perform any job is evidenced, ultimately, by doing it’. Furthermore, Atkins (1999) is of the opinion that graduates should add value to a company from day 1, as companies cannot afford to pay the cost of training graduates in terms of pervasive skills. She concludes by stating that ‘universities have to ensure that graduates can hit the ground running’ (1999:274).

In its latest Handbook of International Education Pronouncements, the IFAC states that the academic programme lays the foundation for aspirant professional accountants, but the training programme serves a complementary role (IFAC 2015). SAICA (2017b) concurs that the academic and the training programmes have a joint responsibility in producing competent professional accountants by conveying that the:

Furthermore, the training programme should complement the academic programme by addressing both technical and pervasive skills (SAICA 2017b). Star and Hammer (2008) view that universities should respond to the needs of the profession by developing teaching initiatives to address these pervasive skills. Gammie et al. (2010) emphasise the importance of introducing the assessment of pervasive skills prior to the final qualifying examination; otherwise, aspirant professional accountants will not see the benefit of these skills.

Certain studies have indicated where individual pervasive skills are best addressed. For example, in Crebert et al.’s (2004) study, it was found that the pervasive skills most notably developed during the academic programme were communication, problem-solving, team work and critical thinking. Conversely, the pervasive skills pertaining to demonstrating leadership and entrepreneurial skills, assuming responsibility, making decisions and demonstrating high ethical values were more suitable to the workplace.

There is also a considerable amount of literature pertaining to the individual pervasive skills regarding ethical behaviour and professionalism. The IFAC (2006) advocates that learning ethics in the workplace is as important as learning ethics in an educational setting. Flemming (1996) asks universities and professional bodies if accountants are best suited to teach accounting ethics to students. The author adds that ‘the responsibility for the ethical education of professional accountants cannot be placed solely, or even largely, on the universities’ (Flemming 1996:25). Another study indicated that ethics education should be learnt during pre-qualifying programmes, that there should be a dedicated unit, and also it should be integrated with other units during the pre-qualifying programmes (Jackling et al. 2007). Some argue that academic providers do not have a responsibility to contribute towards the development of the ethical values of graduates (Smith 2003) given that they are ill equipped to properly teach ethics (Bampton & Cowton 2002; Frank, Gradisher & Ofobike 2010). Bampton and Cowton (2002) posit that ethics education should be integrated in the business curricula, while Barac and Du Plessis (2014) highlight the importance of the integration of ethical behaviour and professionalism into the final year academic modules such as taxation, management accounting, financial management and financial accounting.

In 2010, the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) decreased its 4-year academic programme to a 3-year programme. From their study, Low, Samkin and Liu (2013) found that the majority of accounting graduates maintained that the number of years in a degree should not impact the development of pervasive skills. Furthermore, only a small minority (six) out of 50 accounting graduates were of the opinion that universities have a responsibility to provide pervasive skills to accounting students. Therefore, Low et al. (2013:31) concluded that there ‘are areas for improvement in terms of soft skills development with the accounting education curriculum’.

From a South African perspective, Viviers (2016) claims that SAICA-accredited universities need to develop competency-based teaching methods that will develop pervasive skills. Hesketh (2011:1–2) agrees with this view by conveying that ‘assessing the additional competencies in professional examinations will involve new assessment approaches’, which will influence the way academic providers teach and assess their students. However, Strauss-Keevy (2014) found that academics view that the training programme develops pervasive skills more effectively than the academic programme given that academics are not equipped in this regard, and De Villiers (2010) stated that:

On the contrary, Hesketh (2011) surmised that academics have a greater accountability to prepare aspirant CAs in developing pervasive skills that would be demonstrable in examinations such as the APC.

In another South African study, the heads of departments at SAICA-accredited universities were asked to reflect on where the pervasive skills are most effectively developed en route to qualifying. Their overriding view for 24 of the 25 pervasive skills listed in the Competency Framework was that the workplace had a bigger role to play than the undergraduate academic programme. However, the heads of departments concluded that there is a shared responsibility between the academic and the training programmes, but a higher degree of reliance should be placed on the training environment for developing the pervasive skills (Barac & Du Plessis 2014).

From the literature set out above, there are different views on where the ultimate responsibility for developing pervasive skills lies. SAICA is however clear in its message that accredited universities and training programmes should ensure that each pervasive skill is addressed in their programmes and that evidence of this is provided to SAICA (2009, 2017c). Therefore, this article set out to ascertain where aspirant CAs viewed the pervasive skills were most effectively developed en route to qualifying as a CA.

The aim of this study was to ascertain where pervasive skills are most effectively developed en route to qualifying as a CA. In order to explore candidates’ views regarding the academic and the training programmes en route to qualifying, a research instrument in the form of a questionnaire was developed to elicit the necessary information. The development of the questionnaire was aided by the review of the relevant literature in terms of SAICA’s qualification process and a study conducted by Strauss-Keevy (2014). Strauss-Keevy analysed academics’ views on the vehicles that most effectively develop pervasive skills. However, this study was from the viewpoint of academics. Therefore, it was felt appropriate to develop an adapted questionnaire for the purpose of this research.

The questionnaire consisted of three sections of mostly closed-ended questions of a quantitative nature. Comment boxes comprising the qualitative aspects of the questionnaire were included at the end of each section allowing descriptive responses to enrich and expand on the research results. Data from these open-ended questions were analysed by one author and reviewed by the other author. Section 1 was designed to capture the views of aspirant CAs on the APC and whether pervasive skills are developed en route to qualifying. Section 2 attempted to elicit candidates’ views on the effectiveness of various vehicles during the qualification process. Section 3 was concerned with aspirant CAs’ views on whether separate courses should be offered to develop pervasive skills during the qualification process.

The questionnaires were pilot tested by a selected group of aspirant CAs. A data controller was used to set up an online website where the questionnaire could be answered and the data could be recorded. Ethical clearance was obtained to distribute the questionnaire to aspirant CAs from SAICA. The questionnaire, containing a dedicated uniform reference (URL), was sent via email to aspirant CAs. The participants were directed to a website and asked to complete the questionnaire by clicking on the URL. The data controller collated the completed questionnaires electronically.

The aim of this article was to ascertain the perceptions of aspirant CAs on the effectiveness of the transfer of pervasive skills by means of the academic and the training programmes en route to qualifying as a CA. The findings indicated that candidates were of the viewpoint that pervasive skills were developed en route to qualifying. However, an interesting shortfall of the CA profession identified in the commentary was that candidates were not equipped with entrepreneurial skills. For example, business acumen, innovation, creativity and business start-up skills. Therefore, this could be an area of focus for SAICA going forward.

It was evident that the aspirant CAs view that a combination of the academic and training programmes most effectively develops the pervasive skills. This was similarly suggested in the literature (Ballantine & McCourt Larres 2009; Bui & Porter 2010; IFAC 2015). However, corresponding to what was suggested by various researchers (De Villiers 2010; Jackling & DeLange 2009; Lines & Gammie 2004; Strauss-Keevy 2014), the training programme plays a bigger role in skills development compared to the academic programme. A noteworthy comment from an aspirant CA affirmed this view:

As academics still have a long way to go in terms of the delivery of pervasive skills, there is potential for academics at different institutions to collaborate on how they are equipping graduates with these skills. It was recommended that during the training programme, candidates should be seconded to different work environments. Therefore, training officers should more readily create exchange programmes for trainees to gain ‘exposure to different management styles and skills needed in different environments’, thereby also aiding pervasive skills development.

The empirical evidence to the question as to whether the academic and the training programmes should have separate modules to develop the pervasive skills revealed that candidates were inclined to want separate modules. However, it was declared that the qualification route is already loaded, for example, ‘University and training programmes are already very full. To add to this work load will push incoming candidates past the breaking point’. Nevertheless, a suggestion was made that pervasive skills should be embedded into the curriculum, as was also recommended by De Villiers (2010).

This study also revealed that aspirant CAs see the benefit of ‘out of classroom experiences’ (Albrecht & Sack 2000) such as having case studies, mentorship programmes and getting practical experience through internships, which are all methods that could assist in embedding pervasive skills into the qualification model. Academics could approach businesses for assistance in the development of case studies to simulate the business environment and similarly create partnerships with businesses to mentor graduates.

The comparative results for candidates from different training programmes indicated that candidates from small firms view the training programme as the least effective vehicle in developing pervasive skills, whereas commerce and industry candidates view it as the most effective. In addition, candidates from small and medium firms and the public sector indicated that the training programme should have separate courses to develop pervasive skills, more so than their counterparts from large firms and commerce and industry. Therefore, there is potential for these training environments to work on their pervasive skill delivery.

Certain limitations to this study may implicate the interpreting of the results. For instance:

Future research could build on the findings of this study by addressing how pervasive skills can be better implemented in the current qualification model, by investigating the impact of using different methods such as case studies, internships and mentorship programmes during the academic and the training programmes. Despite the limitations detailed above, aspirant CAs views that both the academic and the training programmes have a role to play in developing pervasive skills and that both programmes are critical to the success in qualifying as a CA. However, both programmes have scope to continually strengthen and revisit their programmes in light of the continual changes in the business environment.