| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The initiative of blending professional and academic programs was implemented in 2010 by the former School of finance and banking-SFB in partnership with the Kenya Accountants and Secretaries National Examination Board-KASNEB. At that time, SFB signed a MoU with KASNEB in provision of training/tuition, examinations, certification, marketing and coordination of professional examinations. SFB was in charge of providing necessary facilities such as lecture rooms, computer labs, and resource materials to be applied and used during the registration of students, examination entry and provision of training/tuition to the students. It was also mandated to avail qualified staff to provide training/tuition and guidance and counseling on matters relating to syllabuses, rules and regulations of the examinations to students taking the examinations of KASNEB. On the other hand, KASNEB was in charge of administering exams with rigorous devotion to excellence.
For the initiative to be successfully, SFB has decided to align its curriculum with CPA syllabus. The Curriculum has been harmonized with CPA Program(s) in such a way that a student has chances of doing his/her undergraduate studies simultaneously with the CPA program. This help the school to minimize the coaching cost as our students will have covered almost big part and have sufficient package to do and pass CPA exams with minimum coaching.
For effective implementation, CBE (Former SFB) undertook a study tour at KASNEB and Strathmore University in Kenya and a feasibility study to allow the registration as the accredited centre for KASNEB- CPA examinations. CBE also hired experts to review BBA curriculum and assess the likelihood of BBA graduate to pass CPA examinations. The centre for running and managing CPA programs was set up, headed by a CPA professional in charge of assuring the overall supervision and coordination of professional programs training. (CPA Ke, CPA R, ACCA, etc.); ensure thorough implementation of the ever evolving curricula for professional programs; creating and maintaining collaborations and correspondences with external stakeholders in professional training (e.g.: examination bodies such as KASNEB, iCPAR, ACCA, Trainees Sponsors etc); the centre is also in charge of monitoring and circulating information relating to professional programs training to the stakeholders in need.
CBE BBA Curriculum has been harmonized with CPA Program(s) in such a way that a student has chances of doing his/her undergraduate studies simultaneously with the CPA program.
The best students are selected and given a scholarship to cover their Registration, Annual Subscription, Exam Entry and Tuition fees to undertake CPA Courses. On this basis students are pursuing and complete CPA courses as follows:
CBE BBA PROGRAM CPA Kenya CPA Rwanda
Year 1 Semester 1&2 • Basis to select the best performers to be sponsored into the CPA Program
• Registration into the CPA Program • Basis to select the best performers to be sponsored into the CPA Program
• Registration into the CPA Program
Year 2 Semester 1 CPA Part 1 Section 1 CPA Fundamental Level 1
Year 2 Semester 2 CPA Part 1 Section 2 CPA Fundamental Level 2
Year 3 Semester 1 CPA Part 2 Section 3 CPA Intermediate Level
Year 3 Semester 2 CPA Part 2 Section 4 CPA Advanced Level 1
Year 4 Semester 1 CPA Part 3 Section 5 CPA Advanced Level 2
Year 4 Semester 2 CPA Part 3 Section 6
It is obvious that, students are completing undergraduate courses along with CPA qualification.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The design and implementation of this initiative was a combined effort of different stake holders ranging from current relevant civil servants to public and private institutions. The initiative was a whole idea of CBE (former SFB) management in its core mission of becoming an accredited centre for internationally recognized professional programs. KASNEB was the biggest stakeholder as it was a Kenyan public institution which signed a MoU with CBE regarding the provision of professional qualifications. iCPAR as the body mandated to regulate the accounting profession in Rwanda, was also involved in the process. It has undertaken a wide range of projects aimed at developing a sustainable institutional capacity to support the competence and integrity of the members to enhance their contribution to the accountancy profession globally. The World Bank, acting as administrator of the grant funds provided under the Multi Donor Trust Fund for support to the Rwanda Public Finance Management Program (“MDTF”) has made available the grant to support and strengthen the PFM system led by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning [MINECOFIN]. Through this scheme, various candidates especially public servants in finance and accounting roles are sponsored to undertake CPA programs.
Today the initiative is being appreciated various stakeholders in both private and public sectors. Various beneficiaries including professional accountants, banks, audit firms and others are now getting involved in the implementation of the initiative through providing sponsorship to their employees.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The provision of professional qualification along with academic qualification required CBE sufficient resources to make it a success. Its implementation involved a number of activities which necessitated skilled professional staffs. Initially CBE was forced to set up a centre for professional programs to coordinate the whole process which necessitated payment of additional allowances. Funds were to be mobilized to sponsor students for registration, examinations, exemptions and payment of qualified staffs for coaching. Costs relating to the initiative were relatively high compared to academic programs. CBE was paying USD30 per hour/subject for coaching. A total of USD1000/student was to be paid to cover registration and examination entry fees for any student doing CPA part I. USD 942 was to be paid for a student doing CPA part II and also a total of USD1000 was to be for CPA part III. Since December to June 2014, CBE has approximately spent USD 650,000 for this initiative of training professional accountants.
Resources to finance this initiative were mobililised mainly through the government treasury as CBE is a budget agency. However, getting resources was highly competitive as the university was having many priorities. As a result of performance and success of the initiative, public as well as private institutions (including MINECOFIN, OAG, and Audit firms like KPMG, PWC, DELOITE and others) were interested in sponsoring their employees to come and join professional courses at CBE. This helped CBE to mobilize enough funds to finance the initiative in addition to appropriations received from the government treasury. Due to its remarkable success, institutions as well as private individuals are joining the program at CBE and as result, enough generation of incomes is expected in the future.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Trainings in Bachelor program does not offer recognized professional skills that the industry is yawning. It was thus imperative for the UR-College of Business and Economics to refocus on its core mission of becoming an accredited centre for internationally recognized professional programs. The output of the initiative is now reflected in efficient provision of services in public and private institutions.
From December 2010 to May 2014 CBE has enrolled 349 students. In addition to this, there some other students took initiatives for self-sponsorship and later on were awarded sponsorship subject to passing the previous papers. Therefore, CBE has sponsored 426 in total as per May 2014 out of this 397 students undertook CPA-K and 28 students for CPA-R.
It is obvious that CBE has made an investment aiming at turning people into human capital in the process of helping the government of Rwanda to get qualified professionals in accounting and finance fields. A remarkable output of this initiative is that, out of 175 Rwandans professional accountants, 71 qualified from CBE with a short period of 3 years.
In a nutshell, concrete outputs of the initiative are:
71 professional accountants were produced by June 2014
All professional accountants graduated were absorbed by the market automatically due to their high potentials. Only 2 out of 71 candidates are not employed
In the public sector, governments and donors want to be sure that the money they provide is used for its intended purpose. Good financial information and professional ethical standards help to reduce the likelihood for corruption and improve governance, and therefore make more money available for poverty reduction. Qualified accountants helped a lot in this area
Professional accountants produced by CBE, working in the public sector have played a critical role in protecting the public interest by promoting accountability, effective financial management and good governance.
This helps to ward off corruption and ensure more efficient and effective use of limited public sector funds.
Table 1: CBE graduates and their employers-/Sectors
Working in:
Private Sector Public Sector NGOs Unemployed Total
51 17 1 2 71
It is clear that most of CPA graduands are employed by private companies rather than public companies. This is because the private sector, especially audit firms provide good pay and has some professional development schemes compared to public sector.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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For its effective implementation and success, this initiative was to be monitored and evaluated on time basis. In this regard, the office was established in charge of coordinating the implementation of the initiative. The office is in charge of selecting best students to be sponsored by the university, selecting and recruiting qualified lecturers to conduct trainings, arrange classes for proper trainings. Evaluation and assessment of the institution was done by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda-iCPAR as well the Kenyan Accountants and Secretaries National Examination board, and accreditation was given to CBE.
Later on, CBE conducted a survey and a tracer study of its graduands to understand whether they are all employed and highlight those who are employed in public and private sectors. It was highlighted that only 24% of graduands are employed in public sector and 72% are in private sector.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The challenges facing the profession of public accounting in Rwanda and in the region have become increasingly complex in response to the changes in the way business is conducted. An accountant anywhere in the world can no longer claim that the complexities of international business have no bearing on his local profession.
The implementation of this initiative was not straightforward. There were some challenges encountered during the process. There highlighted as follows:
• Lack of qualified, competent and motivated staffs. Professional courses require qualified lecturers to drive the coaching process. Lecturers were to be hired form outside for instance Kenyans.
• Poor and inadequate instructional materials and equipment as well as inadequate infrastructure in general
• Low level of public /private sector partnership (PPP). There is a lack of cooperation and partnership between the institution and private sector. Private companies also should sponsor their employees to do professional courses
• Competing demands on university budget with other priorities. The appropriation of funds for this initiative was low and CBE was forced to sponsor less number of students.
To overcome all those challenges CBE decided to recruit and establish a pool of Part-Time Lecturers to support CBE in the coaching of CPA candidates. The selected individuals are professionally qualified and experienced in the relevant discipline, demonstrate professional integrity, self confidence, and ability to teach associated with teaching experience in the field of Accounting, Auditing, Taxation, Management, Economics, ICT & Communication, and Law.
CBE is now working with private companies, motivating them to sponsor their employees who wish to undertake professional courses. Finally, an appropriation of budget is made every year for the department in charge of professional courses to help carrying day to day activities.
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