In 2014, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) introduced the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) as its final professional examination. The APC is an eight-hour case study assessing both the technical knowledge and pervasive skills that together represent the professional competence required of accountants entering the profession. In order to write the APC, candidates must first complete a preparatory programme designed to develop professional competence. This paper adds to the accounting education literature by identifying themes in programme design that informed the effective development of professional competence in the preparatory programme context. A four-year action research study was conducted. The initial programme design incorporated learning tools identified in the literature as effective in developing professional competence. Feedback from participating candidates was then elicited to assess the perceived contribution of each of those learning tools. This feedback was incorporated into the revised design of the next year’s programme, which was again assessed through candidate feedback. This cycle was repeated three times. The findings of this study are presented as themes emerging from the action research cycles. The study found that assessment continued to drive learning, while ‘value-adding’ material made little positive contribution. Skills development was found to be more effective when it was explicit. Individual feedback, groupwork and mentorship contributed positively to the development of professional competence, while the contribution of lectures was less clear. The study also found that large class sizes presented practical challenges to the implementation of effective learning tools.

中文翻译：

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培养会计专业毕业生的专业能力：一项行动研究

2014年，南非特许会计师协会（SAICA）引入了专业能力评估（APC）作为其最终专业考试。APC是一个八小时的案例研究，评估技术知识和普遍技能，这些知识和技能共同代表了进入该行业的会计师所需的专业能力。为了编写APC，候选人必须首先完成旨在发展专业能力的预备课程。本文通过确定计划设计中的主题来补充会计教育文献，这些主题为准备计划中的专业能力的有效发展提供了信息。进行了为期四年的行动研究。最初的程序设计结合了文献中确定的有效发展专业能力的学习工具。然后从参与的候选人那里获得反馈，以评估每个学习工具的感知贡献。该反馈意见已纳入下一年度计划的修订设计中，并再次通过候选反馈进行了评估。将该循环重复三遍。这项研究的发现以行动研究周期中出现的主题提出。研究发现，评估继续推动学习，而“增值”材料几乎没有积极作用。发现技能开发是明确有效的。个人反馈，团队合作和指导对职业能力的发展做出了积极的贡献，而讲座的贡献还不清楚。研究还发现，大班制对有效学习工具的实施提出了实际挑战。