The South African accounting profession has released its own charter, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), in an effort to increase the number of black accountants in its ranks.

Ignatius Sehoole, South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) executive president, said that, since 1976, only 912 Africans had completed the requirements to register as chartered accountants – a number which compared unfavourably with the total of 26,803 CAs in SA.

He said the charter was ‘to create an environment in which economic growth may continue while facilitating effective transformation, the skills profile of our population must move towards reflecting the country's demographics while still meeting growth needs and maintaining standards’.

Trevor Brown, Deloitte executive committee member, told SA business publication Business Today that, over the past few years the firm had invested more than R70m (₤5m) in bursaries and getting people through university. Eighty-percent of funding was earmarked for black students. Between 4,000 to 4,500 bursars (black and white) were supported over this period.

Further reading:

White students banned from SA accountancy Olympiad

SA needs more black accountants says president

Read the full story in Business Today