The South African chartered accountants skills gap
South Africa's chartered accountants are rising through the ranks: 90% of chief financial officers and 25% of directors of the top 200 companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange are CAs, according to new research by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica).
The 12% rise since five years ago, when the last research was conducted, shows that CA is "the qualification of choice in business", according to Matsobane Matlwa, Saica Ceo.
"There is no doubt about the premium that SA's top companies place on the CA designation and the profound value that chartered accountants add to the success of leading local and international corporations," he said.
The World Economic Forum, he says, recently rated SA second in the world for the strength of its auditing and financial reporting standards, largely thanks to the skills of its CAs.
No wonder that CA is the most sought-after business designation in SA, ahead of MBA, according to another Saica survey.
"CAs make good business leaders because they can help people understand the financial environment in which we operate," says Victor Kgomoeswana, associate director of Ernst & Young's Africa Business Centre. "They are very important, not only in business leadership, but also management and administration. And of course raising capital is also an accounting skill."
The problem is there are not enough CAs in South Africa. Over the past few years Saica's membership has increased and is now 30,404, but according to the organisation there is still a shortfall of at least 5,000.
The shortage is leading companies to frequently resort to poaching and to offer high salaries to recruit talent. The remuneration packages offered to chartered accountants are higher than the average in financial services, ranging from R400,000 for new graduates to well over 1 million Rand for experienced CAs.
"There were less accountants in the greenhouse three years ago when the credit crunch hit, far less were planted so the crop is lower now that demand has increased," says Ian Woodthorpe, director of Gap Placements, an international recruiting agency. "Banks are still cautious but they are recruiting, both here and in South Africa"
The shortage in SA is exacerbated by the fact that many CAs choose to work abroad, where they are very much in demand. "Accountants with 5-year-plus investment banking experience abroad are highly regarded," says London-based Woodthorpe, who specialises in placing South African CAs internationally. "We recently placed an ex-JP Morgan finance director with Deutsche Bank in Johannesburg. There is a lot of mobility at the top end."
What is important is having "the right kind of experience," says Woodthorpe. "not contract work but some years' work in financial services."
