The president of South Africa has urged national accounting bodies to 'mobilise more resources' to encourage greater numbers of black accountants to enter the profession.

Speaking at a dinner to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica), Thabo Mbeki said that he was pleased that Saica, as well as the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (Abasa), and the Public Accountants and Auditors Board, had set up a bursary fund to help the 'formerly disadvantaged' enter the profession. However, but he said the country still needed more black accountants.

The scheme, called the Nkuhlu Subvention Fund, aims to increase the standard of accountancy in institutions that attract mainly black students.

'I think we agree that we should mobilise more resources to support this initiative,' said Mbeki. However, he added that he was disappointed that a separate Abasa fund had only raised 2.3m rand (£200,000) from the private sector.