The democracy in South Africa brought about many changes and new challenges. One such challenge was to transform the Higher Education institutes in South Africa. The National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) resulted in the proposed National Plan for Higher Education in 2001. This referred to the restructuring of Higher Educational Institutes in South Africa. The National Plan for Higher Education listed priorities within section 6, which deals with the restructuring process. Some of these priorities referred to the reduction of duplications and overlaps in the programmes offered. Prior to 2005, Technikons offered the course National Diploma: Cost and Management Accounting over three years. Former Technikons developed their curricula for Cost and Management Accounting to utilise career orientated training in order to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills for careers in financial and cost and management accounting as was applied in commerce and industry. Before the transformation and restructuring of the South African higher education institutions, Technikons in South Africa was part of a National system where a National curriculum was developed and implemented by all Technikons in South Africa. Curriculum development took place on a national level. Therefore, the programmes offered at these former Technikons were similar. Some of the former Technikons still offer the National Diploma in Cost and Management Accounting but in a different format. Students registering for this programme, register for a National Higher Certificate (NHC) in Accountancy. The duration of this NHC is two years where after students can complete a third year to graduate with a National Diploma in Cost and Management Accounting. The NHC in Accountancy was also developed on a national level and the curricula are similar at the higher education institutions offering it in South Africa. Since the merger of higher education institutions in South Africa, the responsibility to develop new programmes shifted from a national level to an institutional level. The newly merged institutions carry the responsibility to develop new programmes which suites the specific institution and serves the need of the specific communities. The iv primary objective of this study is to analyse the Cost and Management Accounting curricula in South Africa with the intention to propose a new curriculum for this diploma. To suggest a proposed curriculum, the old curricula of the various South African institutions were considered using qualitative research methods. The four South African institutions and the two Australian institutions were analysed and a balanced curriculum proposed out of this information. The proposed curriculum for the diploma in accounting, combined subjects that have been offered previously and subjects that could further expand graduate employability. Five companies were selected to evaluate the proposed curriculum. After considering the views of all the interviewed employers, a final curriculum was suggested for the Diploma in Accounting. As a result of this study it was clear that in-service training should be added to the Diploma in Accounting. Eighty percent of the interviewed potential employers suggested that practical experience in third year studies would significantly enhance student employability. Cost and Management Accounting has long been used by accountants to help managers understand the different costs of running a business. It is important for managers to identify certain areas of the business process where costs can be cut and the profitability increased. From this study it is clear that the proposed curriculum is acceptable to employers as they found that students will benefit from it.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:8973 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Roodt, Luan |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MTech |
| Format | xii, 93 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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