​The City of Johannesburg's Academy of Chartered Accountants (ACA) is steadily positioning itself as a leading public-sector training hub. It recently reached an important milestone after achieving a low-risk accreditation from the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), marking a significant improvement from its previous medium-risk status. The accreditation was formally communicated to the City in March 2026.

Advocate Mlandu Kona, Group Head: Group Governance, who spearheads the programme, says the achievement reflects the City's continued commitment to excellence.

“It demonstrates progress in governance, training quality, assessment processes, and support systems. It also reflects SAICA's confidence in the City's ability to provide a credible and professionally supportive training environment for aspiring chartered accountants."

The new accreditation also confirms the programme meets SAICA's standards for governance, workplace training, assessment and support. It also enables the City to expand its approved trainee quota from 10 to 20, creating opportunities to train more chartered accountants and further strengthen public-sector financial capacity.

“It affirms the City's role as a credible public-sector training institution that contributes to national skills development and professionalisation," says Kona.

The programme produced 10 qualified chartered accountants, with five remaining in the City, choosing to help strengthen financial governance and institutional capacity.

Looking ahead, the ACA is preparing future chartered accountants for an increasingly digital profession by integrating artificial intelligence and data-driven financial capabilities into the training programme. To equip trainees with the technological skills and strategic insight needed to improve financial management, accountability and service delivery in a complex municipal environment.

Kona says the long-term vision is to establish the City of Johannesburg as a centre of excellence for local government chartered accountant training and create opportunities for other recognised finance professional training programmes.

“The City is well positioned to achieve this due to the scale and complexity of its operations, its established and successful chartered accountant training programme, experienced reviewers, evaluators, and assessors, and strategic partnerships with SAICA, National Treasury, other public-sector CA training offices, and institutions of higher learning," says Kona.

In closing, he says: “President Nelson Mandela said: 'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world'. He frequently emphasised that education and training are the great engines of personal development and transformation, and the key to dismantling historical economic disenfranchisement. The qualifying candidates must seize this opportunity to become public sector specialised CAs and transform the governance imperatives in organs of state."

Written by Brümilda Swartbooi 
31/07/2026

 
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