Freight company trains its own accountants

ONE MAY not think of freight companies in terms of accountants, let alone in terms of training the profession. But latest news from logistics major Access Freight is that it has been accredited by Saica (SA Institute of Chartered Accountants) as an Accredited Training Organisation (ATO). “Over the past 18 months we’ve been working hard on Access’s application to be accredited by SAICA as an Accredited Training Organisation,” says Philippa du Plessis, Access financial manager and TOPP training officer. She said this had culminated on March 13 in a presentation to the training requirements committee of Saica in Johannesburg. “On April 4 we were notified by the committee that our application had been successful.” This means that Access is now able to train potential CA (SA)s. Instead of trainee accountants doing their articles at an auditing firm through the TIPP programme (Training in Public Practice), they can gain their practical experience at Access through the TOPP programme (Training outside Public Practice). Saica’s regulations with regard to their trainees are extremely stringent so this development becomes a notable achievement for the company. Two Access staff members, Sadie Campbell and Pearl Mgobhozi, have become its first trainees – Campbell is currently the company’s management accountant and is in her final year of her required studies, while Mgobhozi is an assistant accountant in the second to last year of her required studies.