Abstract
At its 34th meeting held in January 1997 in Accra, the Council of ABWA took a decision to establish the Accounting Technicians Scheme West Africa (ATSWA) to serve as a vehicle for providing a regionally recognized and accepted professional qualification for the supporting staff of Professional Accountants within the sub-region. The conduct of ATSWA Examinations in Ghana has been ongoing since 2007. Since that time, many students have graduated from the programme. Some of these ATSWA graduates have gone on to pursue the CA Professional Programme, with others engaged in various professions and career paths. The objective of the study was conduct a tracer study on the graduates of ICAG’s ATSWA Programme. The study employed the case study research design in the collection of the required data, adopting the mixed approach. The population for the study was made up of all ATSWA Graduates from 2007 to 2019 (552), with an accessible population of 328. The census sampling technique was adopted, by administering a questionnaire and interview guide. The study found out that majority of respondents have commenced the CA Programme, with most starting within 6 months after their ATSWA. However, only 7 of the respondents have completed the CA Programme, with majority currently in the CA Level 2. About 68% of respondents are in some form of employment, with 26% being unemployed currently. Majority of those employed are in the private sector, largely in the accountancy/audit sub-sector. The programme has helped graduates to gain tertiary and professional admissions, as well as employment. The major challenge hindering progression to the CA is finance, and the perceived difficulty of the CA Exams. It is recommended that the Institute take steps to promote the ATSWA programme, on its website, as well as educate public sector entities on the rationale, benefits and equivalence of the ATSWA qualification. ICAG can consider collaborating with selected PILs across the country to offer tuition at little cost.
