High Schools throughout the country wrote the SAICA-Sage Pastel Accounting Olympiad today

High schools throughout the country wrote the SAICA-Sage Pastel Accounting Olympiad today. The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and Sage Pastel organised the Olympiad, which is open to grade 11 and 12 learners. This year 4 150 learners from 315 schools entered the Olympiad.

"More learners and educators are beginning to appreciate the impact that the Olympiad has on improving accounting skills," says Gugu Makhanya, Project Director for Transformation, Growth and Professional Development at SAICA. The Olympiad, which began as a regional competition in Bloemfontein with long-time sponsors Sage Pastel Accounting, was expanded to a national competition in 2010. It has since grown to attract top young accounting minds from schools across South Africa.

The main objective of the Accounting Olympiad is to recognise young accounting talent and encourage interest in accounting as a subject among high school learners.

Joanne Van Der Walt, Marketing Manager at Sage Pastel Accounting, says: "We were delighted with the increased number of participants in the programme. Pastel is included in most school curriculums, so this long-standing partnership with SAICA is a perfect fit for our brand. We hope to generate further interest in the competition this year."

The competition identifies accounting talent at school level, popularises accounting as a subject, and draws the link between accounting at school and a possible career in an accounting or business field. This is in line with SAICA's strategy to grow the number of chartered accountants, as well as to transform the profession.

The total prize value for this competition is R 245 000, and the national winner will go home with an iPad. The accounting teachers of the provincial winners will receive a cash prize of R2 000 each, and the best schools in each province will also receive prizes such as desktop computers pre-loaded with Pastel software.

For more information and to read success stories of learners in Gauteng who wrote today, visit the SAICA Web site (www.saica.co.za)