IAC Exam Preparatory Board Course

IAC Exam Preparatory Board Course Board Course

The Institute of Teaching and Learning (ITL) offers a responsive IAC preparatory board course that provides unique and tailored support to exam candidates, avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach. ITL strives to make the IAC exam preparation manageable for candidates through structured and targeted academic support, leveraging the Institute’s passion, experience, and care to enable success.

We are determined to play a critical role in enabling the exam candidates’ success using our passion, experience and care!

The IAC exam is regarded as a standard-setting exam by SAICA after the completion of the academic programme (typically a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting – PGDA and a bachelor’s degree) at academic programme providers (Universities and Private institutions).

For a number of years, the ITC exam has largely been about what ‘you know’ – specifically your knowledge or technical competence but SAICA is now shifting the focus to assessing the full competence of the candidate.

A full competence consists of:

Technical Competence:

Assessing candidates on their knowledge and technical competence.

Professional Values and Attitudes (PVAs):

Evaluating candidates on ethics (personal, business, and professional), as well as citizenship (personal, professional, and global citizenship) aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Enabling Competencies/Acumens:

Focusing on digital acumen, business acumen, decision-making acumen, and relational acumen.

In short, a Competence is made up of three aspects (what you know, which relates to knowledge, your skills – what you are able to do and what attributes, attitudes and values you should display as the professional)

SAICA, through the CA of the Future Competency Framework (CA2025 Competency Framework) is now focusing on the development of the full competency by changing the ITC examination, which translates into a change in behaviour of academic programme providers, who in turn start focusing on developing the said competencies.

The Jan 2025 exam was the first of its kind under the IAC dispensation (from ITC). SAICA has changed the name of the first professional exam from Initial Test of Competence (ITC) exam to Initial Assessment of Competence (IAC) exam. The structure of the examination has changed as follows:

3 Papers written over 3 days, no longer 4 papers written over 2 days:

Paper 1 – written on Tuesday from 9h00 – 13h00

Paper 2 – written on Wednesday from 9h00 – 13h00

Paper 3 – written on Thursday from 9h00 – 13h00

Each Paper is out of 120 marks = 360 marks in total.

SAICA has effected a structural change in the Exam, not much has changed from the ITC examination, except that there is now some assessment of PVAAs.

ITL’s IAC Prep Board Course did extremely well in preparing its exam candidates for the change in the exam, putting a lot of emphasis on how PVAAs would be assessed and also the exam technique, which is ultimately the major ingredient for passing an exam!

Having run a successful IAC Prep Board Course from October 2024 – Jan 2025 for the Jan 2025 IAC Exam and the Board Course in April – June 2025 for the IAC June 2025 exam – we are looking forward to making yet another difference! We’ve been credited by the successful IAC 2025 exam candidates for our strong exam technique and preparatory approach – which assists the candidates to build on what they know. Our strong academic support programme continues to add a unique benefit to the candidates. We are currently open for registration for the IAC Exam Prep Board Course for the upcoming Jan 2026 exam. For more info, refer to:

The IAC Preparatory Board Course programme

The Institute is determined to play a crucial role in the success of the IAC Exam candidates. The focus is not only on adapting to the change exam structure but also on nurturing candidates to excel in technical competence, embody professional values and attitudes, and develop essential enabling competencies. The Institute’s commitment is rooted in the belief that every exam candidate, regardless of the their background, deserves an opportunity for success in the evolving landscape of the chartered accountancy profession.

Our Team of Subject Heads

Auditing & Governance:

Mr Msizi Gwala

CA(SA)
Project Director: Enabling Competencies (SAICA) and CTA Lecturer at Regent Business School

Financial Reporting:

Prof Jade Jansen

CA(SA)
Associate Professor: Financial Reporting at UWC

Management Accounting & Finance (MAF):

Mr George Sarpong

CA(SA)
PGDA (CTA) Programme Leader (Boston City College)

Taxation:

Mrs Ayesha Le Roux

CA(SA)| M.Com (Taxation)
Senior Lecturer & Head of Tax (Boston City College)

Academic Support

As the Institute of Teaching and Learning (ITL), we pride ourselves of offering a strong academic support programme as part of the IAC Preparatory Board Course. To fulfill this, we have a dedicated team of academic consultants (who are chartered accountants) on standby to respond to the exam candidate technical questions, including assisting them with exam technique or approach. We have two academic consultants for each of the core disciplines.

Each academic consultant will be available for consultation for a fixed number of hours per week and the available times will be indicated on Microsoft Bookings. Candidates who wish to consult should book consultations with any of the two academic consultants for the specific discipline.

Candidates are also required to regularly check Microsoft Viva Engage (online platform) for interesting discussions initiated by the academic consultants or fellow IAC exam candidates. Candidates are encouraged to participate in the discussions by initiating discussions and providing input to discussions. Active engagement will boost candidates’ confidence and help fellow candidates to IAC success.

Our Teams of Academic Consultants

Our team of academic consultants are available to provide a strong academic support (consultations, responding to exam candidate queries) using our e-Tools.