FAQs

• Accredited degree, accredited postgraduate degree or an accredited bridging course and an employment contract from an accredited training office, OR
• Non-accredited degree, employment contract from an accredited office AND proof of registration for a course directly leading to an accredited degree or an accredited bridging programme or an accredited postgraduate programme, OR

Matric certificate, employment contract from an accredited training office, proof of registration for a course directly leading to an accredited degree or an accredited bridging programme or an accredited postgraduate programme.

SAICA will only approve your request upon presentation of your official results from your Institute confirming that you have completed all the degree's requirements. Important to remember is that you have seven months from the commencement date of your contract to finalise your training contract application on TCMS. You can also into either a five- or four-year contract while waiting for proof of qualification that confirms that you passed your accredited program, you can apply for academic remission once the proof has been obtained

• The employment contract is not signed by the trainees and/or a representative from the training office.
• The contract start/end date on TCMS differs from the trainee contract.

The information on TCMS relating to the contract, achieved/enrolled qualification does not align with the attachments provided.

This should be submitted on TCMS and approved by your training officers.

• Cancellation date on TCMS differs from your last day of work as per the attached support.
• The cancellation reason on TCMS differs from the supporting document provided.
• The reason for cancelling the contract is not valid.

No supporting documentation was provided for the cancellation.

RPL stands for Recognition of Prior Learning: this is the process through which the trainee accountant’s prior learning (or work experience) is recognised by reducing the remaining term of the training contract after assessment of the trainee against the prescribed competencies. This is covered in paragraph 18 of the Training Regulations.

To be decided by your new training officer, if the time was previously served under a non-training contract environment, then this is limited to a maximum of 12 months. A trainee that has had a previous SAICA training contract can apply for RPL for a maximum of the full term of the previous training contract.

Not necessarily: the officer should assess your competence and determine how much RPL to grant you.

Where the training officer declines the trainee’s application for RPL, or where the trainee disputes the number of months of RPL granted by the training officer, the trainee may appeal to SAICA if, in their view, the training officer has unreasonably withheld his approval or has been unreasonable in the number of months of RPL awarded.

No, RPL is granted based on your competence level. Time spent at your previous training office is not directly linked to your competence.

No, once again the new training officer will have to assess your competence based on the Training Office’s expected level of competence for a trainee with your experience.

The satisfactory completion of all or sufficient subjects to enable a trainee accountant to make one further year of progress towards the completion of an accredited degree or accredited bridging programme. The trainee accountant must achieve at least one year of academic progress during any two calendar years. This progress is measured by passing the examinations of the accredited education institution.

No, your training officer has the option of granting you an additional discretionary year, however this is at their sole discretion. Please refer to Training Regulation 21 for more information.

SAICA requires that the training office cancel the contract due to the academic rule progress.

Under a four-year or five-year training contract: upon the successful completion of an accredited degree, an accredited bridging programme, or an accredited
post-graduate qualification,

Under a three-year training contract: No academic remission available.

Please refer to Training Regulation 16 for further information

No, SAICA will only approve academic remission request upon the receipt of official results from the university confirming the qualification.

A trainee accountant who is studying towards an accredited degree or an accredited bridging programme is permitted to take one recess period of a maximum of 12 (twelve) months from their academic studies at any point in the training contract, with the restriction that only one recess period per contract term is allowed.

The permissible grounds for an academic recess are: financial hardship, severe illness or family responsibilities. If you have a unique situation, you can apply in writing to SAICA for consideration prior submitting the request on TCMS.

SAICA will only approve your request upon presentation of your official results from your Institute confirming that you have completed all the degree’s requirements. Once you are in possession of official results, you can apply for the remission.

Your training officer will either approve or decline the request. You can appeal to SAICA in the event that your request has been declined and if, in your view, the training officer unreasonably withheld their approval.

You apply on TCMS.

No, during the academic recess period you are exempt from the academic progress requirement.

No, you are only allowed one academic recess throughout the duration of your contract.

No, your contract suspension needs to be recorded on TCMS within 30 days of the commencement of the suspension.

If you have not obtained your required number of core hours, your training officer has an obligation to extend your training contract.

In the event that you have reached the required number of core hours but have not met the competency requirement, your training officer has the discretion of either cancelling or extending your contract.

A training office has to extend if core hours are not met, but extension is optional where competence has not been achieved.

No, however please ensure that you if you cancel your contract by resignation, you need to serve the required notice period as stipulated in your employment contract. Failure to do so will result in your contract being placed on hold and you would have to go through a SAICA disciplinary process before entering into another training contract.

No, this will result in your training contract being cancelled with the reason being that the trainee absconded, your contract being placed on hold and you would have to go through a SAICA disciplinary process before entering into another training contract.

You can process the cancellation yourself on TCMS once the cancellation has been agreed with your training officer.

The cancellation date is your last day of work as a SAICA trainee. This does not always coincide with the day when the cancellation request is processed.

Your contract will be placed on hold and you will not be able to enter into another training contract until you are found fit and proper to continue with your contract by SAICA's Professional Conduct Committee.

When the training contract cancellation is due to unforeseen circumstances which the trainee cannot prevent, such as retrenchment, de-accreditation of their training office, relocation due to circumstances beyond your control, illness, etc. Please refer to Training Regulation 21 for further information.

You must apply in writing to SAICA for the penalty waiver.

If you fail the ITC in the January or June sitting, you will forfeit the 12 months served under the academic trainee programme. If you wish to discontinue the year of academic traineeship and continue with the year from 1 April at the training office, you will have to spend the first three months of the training contract in an accountancy unit recognised as part of their training contract requirements.

The Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) is the SAICA committee that hears all professional conduct matters. You will appear before this committee if you have been referred to the SAICA legal team for investigation. The PCC will rule on whether there was misconduct and also determine whether you are fit and proper to enter into a new training contract.

The PCC occurs in two parts, Part 1 is the misconduct hearing process and Part 2 is the fit and proper hearing process. Part 1 occurs first and the committee will determine whether Part 2 is required thereafter. Should part 2 be required, you will appear before the PCC twice.

Punishable conduct is defined in the SAICA By-Laws and relates to any offence or misconduct on the part of the trainee. Common examples of trainee misconduct include (but are not limited to) the following: Resigning with immediate effect without an agreement from your training office to waive the notice period, absconding from work, phantom ticking, any act of dishonesty, failure to return from an approved suspension without agreement from your Training Office, gross negligence, etc.

Regulation 30.2 of the Training Regulations requires that Training Officers bring to the attention of SAICA any circumstances that may constitute punishable conduct on the part of a trainee accountant, irrespective of whether or not this has led to the dismissal of the trainee accountant, in accordance with the procedures prescribed in Annexure 4 of these Regulations.

Cancelling your contract will not absolve you from having the hearing. The misconduct hearing can be held even when you are not currently in a training contract. Prior to registering as a member/associate you would also be required to go through the fit and proper enquiry to determine if you are eligible to register as a member/associate.

Your training contract could be on hold for a number of reasons, such as the cancellation reason used on your previous training contract warranting a potential waiver of the six months penalty for changing Training Offices, or the hold relates to your previous training contract being cancelled due to potential punishable conduct on your part.

The SAICA training department will refer your matter to the SAICA legal team (copying you on the email referral) who will then investigate the matter. Once the referral occurs, you will be allocated a project manager from the legal team who will handle the matter. You can follow up on progress directly by contracting the project manager who has been allocated to your case and/or emailing discipline@saica.co.za.

No, SAICA will need to investigate the matter in detail. This may entail reaching out to your previous Training Office for additional information and this process could take a few months.

Resigning means that you will not go through your Training Office’s internal disciplinary hearing process, however it does not absolve you from going through the SAICA PCC process. Before you will be allowed to enter into another training contract, SAICA will investigate the conduct that resulted in the internal disciplinary hearing to determine if you are guilty or not. Resigning is definitely not advised and you should rather go through the process internally. Based on the outcome of the internal disciplinary hearing, Regulation 30.2 of the Training regulations would then be applied.

No, Regulation 3o.2 still requires that Training Offices bring such matters to SAICA’s attention and ,depending on the reason for the MSA, you may still be required to go through the SAICA disciplinary process.

No, a guilty verdict does not mean it is the end of the road. Should the PCC find you fit and proper to enter into a new training contract, you will be able to continue on your journey. Being found guilty will most likely result in an additional penalty on your training contract and may require a fit and proper hearing.

Yes, the matter will be published on the SAICA website, in member communications and/or ASA magazine together with your name and a brief description of the offence and penalty imposed.

No, the penalty sanctioned by the PCC will be added to your training contract separately, i.e. both penalties will apply.

This means that you can enter into a training contract and the hold on your TCMS contract application will be removed.

This means that your current training contract on TCMS will be declined as the PCC determined that you are not fit and proper to enter into a training contract. The PCC will provide you with a list of requirements that need to be met and before you can apply for another training contract after your period of ineligibility ends.

You can contact the SAICA training department or legal team at any point and someone will be able to assist you. The Project Manager in the Legal team who is handling your matter will be your first point of contact as well as the Project Manager in the training department.

Discipline@saica.co.za

No, an overlap in training contract is prohibited. You are required to resign from your current employment and serve the required notice period before you begin work with your next employer.