What a great opportunity for high school students, who are studying accountancy, in the Endumeni/Nquthu/Dannhauser area and beyond.

Entries for the 2016 South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) Sage One Accounting Olympiad are now open. Grade 11 and 12 high school learners are encouraged to enter by April 30 to stand a chance of winning a share of the R 300 000 in prize value.

The Olympiad is a three-hour test that gives learners an opportunity to wrestle with credits, debits and adjustments – an incredibly challenging task. It was created to help prepare the learners for tertiary education, help identify accounting talent in schools, and show learners the link between the subject and possible career opportunities in the field.

“It is always inspiring to see the passion and talent of the youth studying accounting in South Africa – each year’s contestants always impress us with their commitment, hard work and aptitude for this important subject.”

The Olympiad plays an important part in SAICA’s objective to grow the number of chartered accountants in South Africa. For Sage One, supporting this event is about the company’s belief and support of the Accounting leaders of tomorrow.

The prizes will include a laptop for the top student; the winning school in each province will be given two desktops, preloaded with NCS Sage Pastel software written specifically for the Grade 11 and 12 national accounting curriculums. Lastly, the top school’s educator will win R 2 000.00.

Last year 4 100 Grade 11 and 12 learners from 322 schools competed in the Olympiad. The event began in Bloemfontein in 2007 as a regional event and then went national in 2010.

Gugu Makhanya, Project Director for Transformation, Growth and Professional Development at SAICA says, “Year after year we see that Olympiad participants have an advantage over their peers going into their final matric exams. Thembelihle Mzila, who is currently a first year student, studying for BCom Accounting at the University of Pretoria, started off as a learner who took first place in the Kwa-Zulu Natal’s regional Olympiad and second in the national event.”

Says Steven Cohen, Head of Sage One International (Africa, Australia, Middle East, Asia and Brazil): “As the global market leader of integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, we see it as a privilege to help develop the next generation of financial and entrepreneurial skills. That is why we are such proud supporters of the annual Accounting Olympiad.”

“It is always inspiring to see the passion and talent of the youth studying accounting in South Africa – each year’s contestants always impress us with their commitment, hard work and aptitude for this important subject.”

The participating schools are selected by SAICA in conjunction with the provincial departments of education. Educators from these schools choose the top 10 – 15 learners who will participate. Only 500 learners per province take part.

The Olympiad will take place on August  3 2016.

For more information, speak to your school’s accounting teacher or download the entry form here: https://bit.ly/1pcmKxp