Qualify as a Professional Accountant (SA)

Qualifying as a Professional Accountant (SA) usually takes 6 years (3-year degree and 3-years internship) provided you are able to complete the undergraduate qualification in the minimum time. Qualifying as a Professional Accountant (SA) does not require you to complete a postgraduate qualification. It is possible to qualify as a Professional Accountant (SA) within 3 years by working and studying at the same time.

Your journey to qualifying as a Professional Accountant (SA) works as follows:

There are three requirements that need to be met in order to qualify as a Professional Accountant (SA): academic requirements, practical experience, and passing SAIPA’s Professional Evaluation exam.

Academic requirement

For the academic pillar, you will need to complete matric with:
Accounting; and
Mathematics

You will also need to successfully complete a Bachelor of Commerce degree or equivalent at a SAIPA-accredited tertiary institution with the following required core subjects:

Financial Accounting 3;
Taxation;
Auditing 1 OR Internal Auditing;
Commercial Law; and
Finance OR Management Accounting 3.

Practical requirement

Your practical requirement is to complete a three-year internship at a SAIPA Accredited Training Centre (ATC) to gain invaluable work experience.

SAIPA’s Professional Evaluation exam

The final pillar is the Professional Evaluation (PE) exam. The SAIPA PE exam is a four-hour written competency exam to determine your ability to integrate your academic knowledge with your practical experience gained in the workplace. This exam can be taken twice a year, either in May or November, in various venues around South Africa and it is part of the admission process for membership of SAIPA.

Visit SAIPA’s website for more information – www.saipa.co.za.