Qualify - CIBA Academy

Start your own practice

You don't need to redo your Accounting or Finance Degree.

Qualify with CIBA core modules

What is required to open your own accounting practice?

For society to know you are competent and they are assured of quality work, the law and best practice require that you must have an:

Five core categories of knowledge of an Accountant in Practice

The Accounting Profession consists of the following 5 core categories of knowledge:

Routes to Qualify as an Accountant in Practice

What is RPL?

You may have acquired skills or knowledge from a combination of, training conducted while at work, experience you gained in the workplace, short courses or from community work in a relevant field. CIBA recognises your prior learning to acknowledge your competency to possibly start your own accounting practice.

Different pathways
For Route 1 and 2 contact membership here. For further details regarding the requirements, read “What do you need” here.
For Route 3 register for the Qualify modules below that needs to be completed, after following the stipulated process.

Qualify Route

Route 3 relates to the Qualify modules that need to be completed, to serve as proof of competence based on SAIBA’s requirements.

For a BAP(SA) designation it is required that your qualification should consist of the following core modules/outcomes:

Accounting NQF7 (equal to a 3rd year Higher Educational Institutional level)
Tax NQF6 (equal to a first level tax module at a 2nd year Higher Educational Institutional level)
Auditing NQF6 (equal to a first level audit module at a 2nd year Higher Educational Institutional level)
Management accounting NQF6 (equal to a Management accounting module at a 2nd year Higher Educational Institutional level)
Commercial law NQF5 (equal to a Commercial law module at a Higher Educational Institutional level)

If your qualification does not include these modules you can register as a SAIBA Academy student and write our assessments as evidence that you are competent in these core categories.

Get Qualified with CIBA Recognition

Follow the steps below to register for the Qualify modules below that need to be completed.

Once you have gained all the required modules you will be eligible for the SAIBA designation BAP(SA) and start working for yourself as an Accountant in Practice.

Anyone with a BCom degree can write the missing core modules. Practical requirements still apply during the BAP(SA) application process, but can be obtained simultaneously with the academic requirements.

How it works

Step 1: Get approved by membership to enrol in the relevant core module/s, by simply sending an email to membership@myciba.org requesting to enrol in the Qualify courses providing the following documentation:

Step 2: After membership has verified your academic progress they will advise you on the modules required and the path forward.

Step 3: Enroll in the missing core modules below. Read more regarding each module below.

Step 4: Work through the provided textbook and pass the required CIBA assessments.

Step 5: Provide proof of your experience, your academic achievements plus your Qualify module/s, to obtain the designation BAP(SA).

Quality Assured

We are not registered as an Institution of Higher Learning or as a University as we are a professional body of accountants registered with SAQA. This allows us to set the criteria to award a designation. Our assessments assist you in meeting our criteria. CIBA continuously engage with legislators and administrators to ensure that CIBA Qualify modules and Licenses becomes the minimum standards of competence prescribed by legislation.