The Public Accountants Examinations Board (PAEB) of the Institute of certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) has announced an improvement in the pass rates for the October 2021 examinations of the Accounting Technicians Diploma (ATD), Certified Tax Advisor (CTA) and the Certified Public Accountants (CPA) courses.
The announcement was made by CPA Geoffrey Byamugisha, the Chairperson of PAEB during a press conference at which the results of the October 2021 examinations were released, on 27 October 2021 at the ICPAU offices.
For ATD, the average pass rate was 60%, which was significantly higher compared to 45.5% in December 2020 and 43.3% in November 2019. For CTA, the average pass rate was 54.6%, which is also significantly higher compared to 41.2% in December 2020 and 45.7% in November 2019, while for CPA, the average pass rate improved from 31.2% in November 2019 and 32.2% in December 2020 to 36.4% in October 2021.
CPA Geoffrey Byamugisha, the Chairman of PAEB partially attributed the improved pass rates to the longer preparation period. “The longer period to prepare for examinations may have contributed to the improvement in performance,” he said.
It should be noted, however, that candidate numbers dropped in October 2021, presumably owing to the COVID-19 disruptions. 4,238 candidates attempted the October 2021 examinations compared to 4,453 in December 2020 and 6,516 in November 2019, representing a drop of approximately 35% from the pre-COVID-19 diet of November 2019.
In terms of gender, males outshined their female counterparts in ATD and CTA, while females outperformed the males in CPA. Out of the 3 slots for top students in the final paper, Integration of Knowledge (Paper 18), 2 were taken by female students.
With this diet, 118 students have completed the CPA course, bringing the cumulative total of CPA graduates to 4,113. 5 students completed CTA while 12 completed ATD, bringing the cumulative totals for CTA and ATD to 57 and 1,790, respectively.
In his remarks, the President of ICPAU, CPA Constant Othieno Mayende congratulated the finalists and urged the CPA finalists to register for membership of the Institute.
“This is a good starting point as you have now automatically become associate members of the Institute and we encourage you to move on to the next stage by registering for full membership,” he said.
CPA Mayende further emphasized the need for finalists to uphold professional ethics.
“In accountancy, we act in the public interest and ethics is a cornerstone in our profession. Therefore, you are expected to have integrity, be objective, maintain ethics, and refrain from actions which discredit the profession,” he said.
The October 2021 examinations were conducted from 4 - 8 October 2021, at 7 examinations centres; in Arua, Fort Portal, Gulu, Kampala, Mbale, Mbarara, and Nkozi. The next examinations diet will be from 17 – 21 December 2021 at all examinations centres and for all courses.
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