The Public Accountants Examinations Board of Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (CPA) has registered an improvement in the pass rate of students.
According to the November results released Friday at Imperial Royale Hotel, there was an increase in the average pass rate in the courses of Certified Tax Advisor (CTA) and Certified Public Accountants (CPA).
The average pass rate in the CTA course increased to 48.1% from 42.2% in June 2017.
In terms of gender, the pass rate for female candidates was 46% and 49% for male candidates. Tax Audits Investigations and Ethics was the highest performed subject with a pass rate of 97%, while Income Tax was the worst performed subject with a pass rate of just 3.5%.
The President of Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU), Protazio Begumisa blamed the high failure rate of Income Tax papers on Uganda’s education system.
“Our education mainly encourages students to copy notes and formulas and then reproduce them in exams. Life is not all about remembering. It’s about critical thinking – analysing a situation and coming up with a solution,” Mr. Begumisa noted.
This was the third sitting for the CTA course since its inception in 2016, and the number of candidates increased from 86 to 103 in November 2017.
CPA also registered an increase in the average pass rate. The average pass rate was 34% compared to 31.9% in August 2017.
In terms of gender, the pass rate for female candidates was 36% and 33% for male candidates.
The majority of the candidates who passed were in the age group of 25-29 years (43.5%), followed by 18-24 (23.4%) and 30-34 (17.5%).
The number of candidates also increased from 5,498 in June 2017 and 3,607 in August 2017 to 5,643 in November 2017.
On why students of advanced age failed the most, Begumisa likened the human head to a computer Central Processing Unit (CPU).
“The more content the CPU process, the weaker it becomes. Our brains operate exactly like the CPU and thus I think this could be the reason why older students are beaten by their younger colleagues,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Accounting Technicians Diploma course registered a decline in the average pass rate. The overall average pass rate was 40.5% compared to 44.3% in the June 2017 sitting.
In terms of gender, the pass rate for female candidates was 38% and 43% for male candidates.
72% of those who passed were in the age bracket of 18-24 years.
The November 2017 examinations were conducted from November 27 to December 1, 2017 at seven examinations centres: Kampala, Arua, Fort Portal, Gulu, Mbale, Mbarara and Nkozi.
