By our reporter
The Public Accountants Examinations Board (PAEB) of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) has released the June 2018 examinations results showing a slight increase in performance as compared to the November 2017 results.
The examinations covered mainly three courses – Accounting Technicians Diploma (ATD), Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (CPA) and Certified Tax Advisor (CTA).
While releasing the results on Thursday at a press briefing held at Imperial Royale – Kampala, CPA Edna Isimbwa Rugumayo, a member of PAEB and ICPAU in charge of Education and research, said there was a drop in the number of candidates.
271 candidates sat for the ATD June exams compared to 308 candidates in November 2017. The average pass rate for ATD was 44.4 for June 2018, higher than 40.5% in November 2017.
For CTA, the number of candidates decreased from 103 in November 2017 to 101 in June 2018 .The pass rate for this course, which was its third sitting since it was started in 2016, was 57.3% in 2016, 48.1% in 2017 and 42.6 in 2018.
There was an increase in the number of candidates who sat for CPA down from 5,643 in 2017 to 5,770 in November 2017. The average pass rate was 34.1 compared to 34% in June 2017.
The overall performance showed Women on top as compared to men in all the 3 courses
Frederick Kibbedi, a newly elected president of ICPAU said that a pass mark of 50% is a high mark because of the quality of the exams.
“As ICPA, We are privileged and delighted to have results released on time, these exams were done in June 2018 and we have released them in this very June” he said, adding that early release of results in their Profession has only happened in Uganda and nowhere else in the World. “We appreciate the quality of exams our professional body delivers,”said Kibbedi.
When asked to comment on the overwhelming number of youths in all the three for CPA in all the courses, Kibbedi said: “Young People are attracted to good things that is the reason the Youth embrace CPA. Responding to the question of why females performed highly than their Male counterparts, kibbedi said “Women pay more attention in class that is why they were able to perform highly.” Kibbedi also added that they will not revise the pass mark for the examinations to entertain every one because 50% is the highest pass mark that is recognized globally”
Overall, officials said, there are 127 candidates who completed the CPA course compared to 104 in November 2017 of which 56 were female and 71 were male. Cumulatively, 3,246 students have completed the CPA course.
Edna said the increase in number of candidates most especially the youth is a clear implication that they are likely to serve the economy for a long time. Many people are appreciating the role of accountants in Uganda and want to be a part of them.
The examinations were carried out in seven examination centers namely; Arua, Fort Portal, Gulu, Kampala, Mbale, Mbarara and Nkozi from May 29 to June 1.
