Higher Certificate: Accounting Sciences

Purpose

This qualification is intended for candidates wishing to pursue a career in the field of accounting sciences but who are uncertain about the discipline in the accounting sciences that most interests them.

Owing to the exposure to financial accounting, management accounting, auditing (including internal auditing) and taxation, qualifying students will be better equipped to select the discipline of their choice, either for further studies or when seeking employment once they have qualified.

This qualification is also intended for candidates who consider their arithmetic, computing and English communication skills to be below par.

Students will develop the necessary skills to perform basic duties under supervision in bookkeeping, costing, auditing and taxation. They will also acquire an understanding of management and administration principles.

The purpose of this qualification is to enable qualifying students to

• Perform basic functions under supervision in the field of accounting sciences, for instance, general bookkeeping, costing, auditing (including internal auditing) and tax calculations.
• Understand basic management and business administration concepts.
• Perform accounting calculations.
• Use a computer for basic business purposes.
• Communicate in English in the business world.

Rationale

This qualification not only sharpens students' skills in arithmetic, computing and English communication, but also exposes them to all four of the core disciplines of accounting sciences, namely financial accounting, management accounting, auditing and taxation. This exposure will enable students to make a more informed choice in career planning or when considering further studies. The higher certificate programme also exposes students to the basic principles of management and administration and prepares them to perform certain accounting-related functions when entering into the labour market.

Candidates who are interested in the field of accounting sciences, either for career purposes, or otherwise, and who do not qualify for admission to degree programmes, may enrol for this higher certificate qualification subject to fulfilment of the specified admission requirements for each programme. Learners who do not qualify for direct admission to diploma programmes may do so once they have successfully completed this higher certificate and may also qualify for admission to the bachelor degree programmes, once they have successfully completed the school's diploma programme.

It is assumed that learners who register for this certificate can

• Learn from predominantly written material.
• Communicate what they have learnt comprehensibly in the medium of instruction.
• Take responsibility, with guided support, for own progress in an Open Distance Learning environment.

Recognition of Prior Learning

All admission through Recognition of Prior Learning must be in accordance with the principles laid down in the Unisa Recognition of Prior Learning Policy.

The Unisa Recognition of Prior Learning office can supply full details of processes relating to the assessment and accreditation of learning from prior experiences. Evidence can be presented in a variety of forms, including international or previous local qualifications, reports, testimonials mentioning functions performed, work records, portfolios, videos of practice and performance records.

All such evidence will be judged according to the general principle of assessment described in the notes to assessors. Unisa lecturers will act as assessors for Recognition of Prior Learning purposes.

Access to the Qualification

The learner must be in possession of one of the following

• A National Senior Certificate (NSC) with either Afrikaans or English, as either Home, or First Additional, or Second Additional Language as a recognised 20-credit subject for the National Senior Certificate.
• An achievement rating of 4 or better for Mathematical Literacy, if this recognised 20-credit subject was selected as a subject for the National Senior Certificate instead of Mathematics.
• An equivalent NQF Level 4 qualification, such as a Further Education and Training Certificate without matriculation exemption, that meets the above listed criteria, may also be considered for admission to the Higher Certificate.

Learners with a National Senior Certificate, who did not select either Afrikaans or English as a recognised 20-credit subject for their National Senior Certificate and therefore do not comply with the minimum language requirement, may do so once they have obtained an achievement rating of 2 or better for either Afrikaans or English, as either Home, or First Additional or Second Additional Level as a recognised 20-credit National Senior Certificate subjects at NQF Level 4.

Learners who comply with the minimum requirement, but not with the additional requirement, may do so once they have successfully completed the CEMS Short Learning Programme in Introduction to Mathematical Literacy (Module IML1400); or once they have obtained an achievement rating of 2 or better for Mathematics or an achievement rating of 4 or better for Mathematical Literacy, both recognised 20-credit National Senior Certificate subjects at NQF Level 4.

The qualification consists of 10 compulsory modules at NQF Level 5 each worth 12 credits. The modules are

• Financial Accounting 1501.
• Management 1502.
• Practising Workplace English.
• Quantitative methods 1500.
• End-user Computing 1501.
• Financial Accounting 1502.
• Management Accounting 1501.
• Auditing 1501.
• Taxation 1501.
• Business Administration 1501.

1. Demonstrate a fundamental knowledge of each of the major accounting disciples, namely, financial accounting, management accounting, taxation and auditing.
2. Select and use a range of procedures and techniques to solve routine problems in a familiar environment.
3. Gather information and analyse/synthesise data gathered from the work environment.
4. Present and communicate information coherently and reliably using basic conventions and formats.
5. Take responsibility for own learning within a supervised environment.

Critical Cross-Fields Outcomes

This qualification promotes the development of all the Critical Cross-Field Outcomes.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1

• Auditing and taxation principles are applied to real and/or simulated contexts.
• Elementary economic and management principles are explained.
• Basic management accounting principles are applied.
• The terms, rules and concepts that apply in the four disciplines are used correctly in written and oral discussions and reporting.
• An organisation or operating environment is described as a system within a wider context in relation to society.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2

• Financial transactions are classified and recorded.
• General bookkeeping duties are performed.

> Range of duties include as debtors clerk, creditors clerk or general bookkeeper for small business enterprise.

• Essential methods, procedures and techniques are applied.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3

• Text/operational symbols/representations are interpreted and evaluated.
• Text/operational symbols/representations are converted.
• An application of a solution is adjusted within relevant parameters.
• Changes are evaluated using relevant experience.
• Information is analysed and evaluated.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4

• Presentations are developed using appropriate technologies.
• Information is communicated coherently (verbally and in writing) using the appropriate format, genre and language conventions.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5

• Decisions about and responsibility for own actions are taken in the workplace and in daily living.
• Own performance is evaluated against given criteria.

Integrated Assessment

To be awarded this qualification, a learner must achieve each of the compulsory modules.

In addition, evidence is required that the candidate is able to achieve the purpose of the qualification as a whole at the time of the award of the qualification.

Each module completed during this qualification will have two assessment components namely

• Formative Assessment: Learning and assessment are integrated. The study guides contain self-assessment tasks and feedback. The scheme of work includes assignments based on the learning material and students are given feedback. The process is continuous and focuses on smaller sections of the work and a limited number of outcomes.
• Summative Assessment: Examinations or equivalent assessment such as a portfolio of a representative selection of outcomes practiced and assessed in the formative stage. Summative assessment also tests the student's ability to manage and integrate a large body of knowledge to achieve the stated outcomes of a module.