Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) Examination –December 2023

THE Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) congratulates candidates who successfully passed the 2022 Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) examination which is the final examination before one can be admitted into membership as a Chartered Accountant (Zimbabwe).

At least 283 candidates wrote the APC examination in December 2022 and 142 (50 percent) were successful.

The December 2022 APC examination was the ninth sitting of the APC after the introduction of the Competency Framework Project, which began in 2014.

The APC examination assesses a candidate’s ability to use and apply their technical knowledge in a real world context by setting tasks that entry level Chartered Accountants are expected to be able to complete in the working environment. The Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) has six levels of competence:

1. NA = not attempted; (fail)

2. NC = not competent; (fail)

3. LC = limited competence; (fail)

4. BC= borderline competence; (fail)

5. C = competent (pass) 6. HC = highly competent (pass)

During the examination the candidates are expected to demonstrate their professional competence through the application of their acquired skills and technical knowledge in a multi-disciplinary case study. The candidates were provided with pre-reading material five days before the examination. Further information and the tasks are provided on the day of the examination. Levels of competence are assessed for each of the tasks and a final overall assessment is provided.

The APC is the final challenge for an aspiring Chartered Accountant (Zimbabwe) and the examination requires candidates to integrate their technical academic knowledge from multiple disciplines into a single, complex real-life business case study. This eight-hour competency-based assessment reviews, via a case study, candidates’ ability to demonstrate ethical, personal, and professional attributes in their application to real-world scenarios, using their technical experience. The examiner assesses the candidates in each of the tasks by grading them in the six levels of competence and then providing an overall assessment. Outstanding performance honoured It should be noted that the examination structure includes an Honours Roll where the level of competence of candidates is reviewed in respect of each task as well as the overall assessment. On applying the formula to determine the award, no candidate achieved the Honours Roll for APC 2022.

Best APC Student

Having considered the results, the ICAZ Examination Board concurred that the Top APC candidate who outperformed the rest in this assessment was Tinotenda Chivaurah who trained with PWC. The criteria for this award was the overall performance in the levels of competence across all the required tasks.

Duff Award of Merit

The Exam Board has also concluded that Ralph Dzihwema, who did articles with KPMG, is the winner of the Duff Award of Merit for being Best Overall Candidate after taking into consideration the Initial Test of Competence (ITC) results.

It is expected that these candidates register as Chartered Accountants (Zimbabwe) with the Institute once their training records have been discharged.

The Institute congratulates the 2022 successful candidates for their dedication and determination in applying themselves to the professional requirements of the APC and wish them the best in their future endeavours. The Top Ten candidates are as follows:

The Institute encourages unsuccessful candidates not to give up, but to come back stronger and prepare for the 2023 APC examination. Perseverance is the key to success. You can do it, don’t lose hope. Your Institute is behind you all the way.