SAIPA Top Achievers’ Awards 2018 Honours Outstanding Performers
11 October 2018
On 11th October, the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) hosted its Top Achievers’ Awards at The Wanderers Club in Illovo, Johannesburg to recognise remarkable performance across three separate SAIPA programmes, namely, the National Accounting Olympiad (NAO), the Accounting and Tax Thesis competition, and SAIPA’s own Professional Evaluation.
“Bringing all these achievers together in one place resulted in a multifaceted function, more prestigious than we would achieve by hosting them separately,” Zobuzwe Ngobese, Marketing and Business Development Executive at SAIPA.
National Accounting Olympiad
The first set of awards was presented to top performers in the National Accounting Olympiad. The Olympiad is held annually at participating schools across the country. Grade 11 and 12 pupils who pass a first round of written tests advance to a final round. From this last division, students with the highest marks nationally are declared 1st, 2nd or 3rd place winners. This year, 13 students were positioned in the top three spots.
From grade 12, A.I. Moosa of Scottburgh High School in Kwazulu-Natal took 1st place. In 2nd place was R. Parker of Rondebosch Boys High in Western Cape. 3rd place saw a four-way tie between D. Vanmari of Westville Boys High School in KwaZulu-Natal, A. Mohamed of Orient Islamic School in KwaZulu-Natal, N.L. Dube of Edenglen High School in Gauteng, and E.M. Pillay of Stanger Manor Secondary in Kwazulu-Natal.
In grade 11, M.T. Mowzer of Fairbairn College in Western Cape, K.J. Becker of Richards Bay Christian School in Kwazulu-Natal and T.J. Murphy of Rondebosch Boys High in Western Cape all tied for 1st place. T. Naidoo of Avonford Secondary School in Kwazulu-Natal came in 2nd. In 3rd place there was another three-way tie between J.K. Knopfmacher of King David High School in Gauteng, J.D. de Kock of Rondebosch Boys High in Western Cape, and J.A. Freeman of Stirling High in Eastern Cape.
Winners received a National Winners’ certificate and a trophy as well as prizes totalling R35 000, SAIPA laptop bags and branded hampers. First place winners were also given a Lenovo notebook computer.
Accounting & Tax Thesis
The second set of awards went to the Accounting & Tax Thesis competition winners. For this contest, a panel of experts in the fields of accounting and tax review papers submitted in the pursuit of a PhD, Masters or Honours degree. Those judged to possess the most significant analyses at each level are declared the winners.
SAIPA believes that by giving these thought leaders and their work the recognition they deserve beyond academia, new insights into taxation and accounting science can find their way to practical application in the business world. In the accounting category, Corrie Cloete who is doing a PhD at the Northwest University on The Development of an SME risk analysis tool for professional accountants was awarded R20,000, while Waheeda Mohamed who is doing her Masters at the University of the Witwatersrand on IFRS for SME’s: the current perception of South African practitioners won R15,000.
For the taxation category, Jacqueline Arendse from Rhodes University received R20 000 for her PhD entry on An investigation into the introduction of a new wealth tax in South Africa. The University of Johannesburg’s Ivette du Toit’s Masters entry on Transfer pricing legislation in South Africa: challenges in compliance earned her R15 000, while R10 000 was handed to Tayla Stocks from the University of Cape Town who is doing her Honours in A critique of value-added tax on interactive gambling.
Professional Evaluation
Finally, those who achieved top marks for their Professional Evaluation were presented with their awards. The Professional Evaluation is a three-hour written exam that those applying for SAIPA membership must take before being admitted to the Institute’s ranks. After passing, graduates are granted full membership and may bear the title of Professional Accountant (SA). Two groups of top performers were honoured. From the November 2017 sitting, the top graduate was Ashrika Singh, in 2nd place was Riette Snyman and Lente Steyn came in at 3rd place. The same prizes were given to 1st place winner Carla Briers, Adelaide Joao in 2nd place and Kevin Schou in 3rd respectively for the May 2018 sitting.
“We had very positive feedback all around,” said Ngobese. “We’re proud of the result and look forward to a repeat performance next year,” he added.