This week, the Southern African Accounting Association (SAAA) hosts its largest annual conference at Fancourt, George where three of CPUT’s accounting lecturers will present their cutting-edge research in the dynamic field of accountancy.
The lecturers, Alleta Visser, Henrie Benedict and Yolande Smit, will each talk on a variety of accounting-related topics, ranging from working with architectural enterprises in the province to utilising effective performance measures in the agricultural sector.
CPUT’s accountancy departments, namely Management Accounting and Internal Auditing; and Financial Accounting and Taxation, headed by Spurge Rudman and Willem Lotter respectively, are venturing into a new direction with re-curriculation and role clarification for the two streams with well over 2000 registered students across the two departments.
Rudman and his team have successfully championed accounting research over the last few years, having invested much-needed time and resources to customise the subject ‘Research Methodology’ for 3rd year students, that assists them with research outputs in the MTech: Internal Auditing.
Lotter, who also serves on the SAAA board as Vice-Chairperson and is Chairperson of the scientific review panel for this year’s conference, expressed his thoughts on the strides their departments have made, saying: “We have reached a crossroads in terms of accounting research and the profession, as we try to maintain relevance in our academic offerings therefore becoming producers of research is very high on our list of priorities.
“Many more young researchers are coming on board from years spent in industry, both as students and academic staff, which in turn helps some of us who come from practice-based teaching to transcend these academic challenges and become published researchers”,
he adds.
Visser, one of the departments’ first MTech: Cost and Management Accounting graduates, says it is a privilege to be participating in a professional gathering of this nature. “I was one of the first students that obtained an MTech qualification in accounting from CPUT at the end of 2009, after spending years in industry and lecturing. I saw the need for more researchers in field from an academic perspective and decided to go for it”.
Benedict, who is currently studying towards his Doctorate in Commerce: Accounting through UNISA shares his experience: “I attended two international and one local conferences just last year alone, where I delivered a paper on the non-compliance of close-corporations in South Africa and was received an award for the ‘best paper presenter’, so I can say that it’s really encouraging to be part of the change that is taking place in the profession”.
Smit is also registered for her doctoral studies at CPUT (Doctor Technologiae: Internal Auditing) and also shares her colleagues’ passion for accounting research: “I’m looking forward to interacting with my peers and counterparts locally and from across the globe”.
By: Thando J. Moiloa
Written by CPUT News
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