Blue Recruiting gets into the minds of SAICA trainee graduates

Every year Blue Recruiting conducts a fascinating survey with a group of a few hundred CA trainee graduates.  The results of this survey expose current trends within the finance industry in South Africa and provide insight into the young minds of our local talent, as well as their experiences throughout their auditing years. This year’s survey has been particularly insightful as 2021 was a year full of both political and social challenges, driving a shift in work environments and educational value for our graduates.

James Hobson, co-founder, and Managing Director of Blue Recruiting says, “The SAICA trainees are an important sample and an accurate reflection of the young professionals in our country. Their feedback is crucial in understanding the emotions and attitudes of the future leaders of South Africa.”

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See some of the top takeaways from the survey below:

• There was an increase in the number of candidates who chose remote work opportunities (working from home in South Africa, but being outsourced to global audit firms, predominantly in the US). Previously, most candidates would leave the audit firms they completed their articles at and find employment at organisations in South Africa – this shift has resulted in a decrease in the number of CA’s available to the local market
•  The organisations who offer this remote work can offer substantially higher salaries than what has traditionally been offered. This is due to them charging their US clients in Dollars and the candidates being paid in Rands
•  External auditing ranked near the bottom in terms of job preferences, despite many candidates taking up these remote auditing opportunities, highlighting the desire to gain international experience and earn higher salaries
• Due to the COVID pandemic, a vast majority of trainees (84%) felt that they received inferior work experience and training during their articles

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“The sustainability of this remote work model (locally based but working for international firms) remains to be seen, but the immediate impact has been a noticeable shortage of candidates available to the South African market,” says James.

This annual survey is exciting and valuable work conducted by our partners at Blue Recruiting and we continue to look to them as a source of the best CA talent our country has to offer.

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Blue Recruiting is an independent, specialist financial recruitment service provider. They are always available to find the best local CA talent to match your financial skills requirements. To find out more, visit their website BLUE RECRUITING – Home and contact them on +27 (0) 10 110 1550 or contact@bluerecruiting.co.za