Female Candidates Outshine Male Counterparts in October CPA Examinations

Female candidates once again outshine their male counterparts in the CPA examinations. This is the second time this year that female candidates are performing better in the Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (CPA-U) qualification.

Out of the 2,371 candidates who passed their papers 1,249 (52.7%) were female and 1,122 (47.3%) male.

This was revealed by CPA Geoffrey Byamugisha, the chairperson of the Public Accountants Examinations Board of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) during the release of the October 2021 examinations results.

The October examinations were conducted at seven centres including; Arua, Fort Portal, Gulu, Kampala, Mbale, Mbarara, Mbale and Nkozi.

“These examinations were schedule to be held in June 2021. However, the resurgence of COVID-19 in June and the resultant lockdown measures that affected education institutions forced ICPAU to postpone them to October,” CPA Byamugisha said.

A total 4,238 candidates attempted the October 2021 examinations compared to 4,453 in December 2020 and 6,516 in November 2019, representing a drop of approximately 35% from the pre-covid-19 diet of November 2019.

Despite the drop in numbers of students attempting the CPA examinations, there was a slight improvement of 36.4% in October 2021 up from 31.2% in November 2019 and 32.2% in December 2020.

However, speaking to the media on Wednesday Oct 27 2021, CPA Derick Nkajja, the chief executive officer of ICPAU noted that students failed Financial Reporting, Auditing, Public Sector Accounting, and Advanced Financial Reporting.

“These are the cores of the accountancy profession. Without appreciating the knowledge from these subjects, an accountant is half baked,” CPA Nkajja said.

He advised students to take keen interest in these core subjects.

On his part, CPA Constant Mayende, the 9^th President of ICPAU reminded accountants that they work in public interest and therefore have the obligation to execute their tasks with integrity.

At such a time when many organisations are going through hardships due to COVID-19, Mayende asked accountants to innovate ways of making their organisations sustainable. He also called upon the public to embrace COVID-19 vaccination as the only way to allow for the full opening of the economy.