ICAJ Partners with Chartered Accountants in South Africa

ICAJ President, Leighton McKnight, recently attended the 21st annual convention of the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (ABASA) held in Durban, South Africa, from August 29 - September 1.

The trip was aimed at finalizing arrangements for a partnership with ABASA, which will involve both associations sharing resources and undertaking projects for mutual benefit. To this end, a formal Memorandum of Understanding between ICAJ and ABASA will be signed shortly.

It should be noted that Jamaica has had a long partnership with South Africa and efforts should be made to continue to assist with the development of South Africa's economy.

"Despite achieving political liberation officially in 1994, South African blacks still have a very far way to go in terms of achieving economic and mental liberation. For example, in the accounting field, the latest statistics from the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) indicate that there are currently 25,804 Chartered Accountants registered in South Africa but only 717 (2.77%) are black. This is far from equitable when one considers that blacks make up some 80% of the country's population of over 46 million," Mr. McKnight stated.

"In an effort to address this frightening imbalance, there is a project to qualify an additional 10,000 black Chartered Accountants over the next 10 years. This is a massive undertaking and the ICAJ will assist in this process through exchange programmes, the provision of training material, facilitating contacts with universities here in Jamaica and helping with the structuring of additional qualifying examinations," he stated.

He added that South Africa recently adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and so, the ICAJ will share its IFRS implementation strategy with the South Africans and assist them with effectively implementing the standards.

During his visit, Mr. McKnight addressed over 450 delegates at a gala banquet hosted by ABASA.



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