The road to qualifying as a Chartered Accountant is not as easy as it may seem.

To the public who are not in the accounting profession, they may ask themselves: “How hard can it be?” It only entails a three-year B Com degree, an honours (CTA) year, three years of training on the job and two board exams all completed over roughly a seven-year period.

However, for those who venture out on this journey to the acclaimed and sought-after CA(SA) designation, we experience this list of requirements quite differently.

Most professionals and trainee accountants alike will agree that the hardest parts of the journey in qualifying and registering with SAICA as a CA(SA) is the honours year (CTA) and the ITC board exam.

Some prospective CAs decide to study full time while others opt to study part time while completing their training contract with an accounting or audit firm. I began my articles with RSM South Africa, a medium sized audit firm, in 2014 and spent my entire three-year training contract studying part time, first completing CTA level 1 (the first year of honours) and then stumbling through CTA level 2 until I passed on my second attempt in my third year of the training contract.

Studying CTA, and especially studying CTA while working full time, is no small feat. The life of a full-time CTA student is filled with endless days of studying and studying. The life of a CTA student who is working and studying looks something like this: long days of completing audit working papers and clearing manager queries followed by long nights and weekends pouring over your tutorial letters and textbooks. What does not change whether you study full time or part time is that there are many sacrifices to be made – time with friends and family members is cut short and sleep is often a rare commodity. Watching TV or going to the movies is a luxury that you realise you just cannot afford when the stakes are this high. All because you do not want to go through the pain of repeating the honours year or board exams time and time again.

Had I known what I was up against, I may have decided differently and studied my honours full time before starting my articles but I (and many others like me) am living proof that one can qualify while working and studying. The road is long and tiring and many days you will feel like you want to give up, but it is all about the decisions that you make along the journey. You may be like that small child asking continuously of their parents on a long journey to a holiday destination “Are we there yet?”, wishing with every fibre of your being that the journey could come to an end and that you can be at that final destination already.

If you are studying CTA this year, make it your year to conquer it! Get into a good routine and be consistent with your study schedule, being careful not to fall behind with the workload. Get help from friends, colleagues and lecturers, it is always easier and more bearable road tripping together.

Remember to refuel - give yourself a break every now and then and get enough sleep, no one can study 24/7 for the whole year without feeling burnt out.

Lastly, find something or someone that will motivate you to carry on in the hard times when you want to give up. We all find ourselves with a flat tyre (burnt-out) or in a pothole where we feel like we cannot go on and it is all about how you pick yourself up during those times.

For me, it all ended on 23 February 2018. The long journey to CA(SA) was finally complete. The sacrifice and tears were finally over. And despite the hard road, I now see that it was all worth it. There are now new roads and adventures to embark on, new potholes to avoid and conquer and new destinations and sights to see and experience as a new CA(SA). Wherever you are in the journey, enjoy the ride even when you ask yourself, “Are we there yet?”

Kim Venter

Manager | Audit Technical Training, Johannesburg