5.

DEVELOPMENT AND THE PLANNED INTERVENTIONS

One of the most important elements of the SAICA assessment process is the regular 6-monthly ANA
meeting between the trainee and their evaluator. This meeting serves as a status check on the trainees
progress towards demonstrating the competence requirements expected of an entry-level SAICA
member.
One of the key questions to be answered in this ANA meeting by the Evaluator is What is the trainees
current level of cumulatively demonstrated competence to date in each of the tasks?
If this demonstrated competence to date is at level 4 (advanced, for compulsory and elective tasks or
basic, for residual task), then, provided the evaluator believes this level to be sustainable, a
recommendation can be made to the assessor to sign that task off as competent. Under these
circumstances, the trainee would then not need to submit any further evidence of their ability to perform
these tasks.
If however the demonstrated competence to date is not at level 4, then we start to enter the realm of
potential development being required and the related development plans to address this.
A common misconception
It is incorrect to state that a trainee automatically requires development if their demonstrated competence
to date is not yet at level 4. This is simply not true. A trainee who is not yet demonstrating level 4
competence is clearly not yet competent from a summative assessment perspective, but this does not
necessarily mean that they require development.
Exploring the nature of development
Development is only required under the following two circumstances:

Given a trainees current cumulative exposure (or lack thereof!) to opportunities to demonstrate
competence in a task, the trainee is demonstrating a lower level of competence than what we would
have expected from them at this point in time. They have fallen behind in their expected progression.
OR

Even though a trainee is demonstrating the expected levels of competence at a point in time, given
the remaining period of their training contract, and the work assignments that we expect them to still
receive exposure to, a trainee is unlikely to obtain sufficient further exposure to a task in the remaining
time to enable them to demonstrate level 4 competence.

One needs to remember that trainees will follow a natural path of growth during their 3 to 5 year training
contract as they are exposed to appropriate opportunities and training at set points during this period.
The consideration of whether development is required or not therefore always needs to be seen in the
context of whether the trainee, at that specific point in time in their training contract, is demonstrating
a level of competence that is appropriate for that stage or is expected at that point, given their cumulative
exposure to date in the task being considered.
The nature of development is that it is remedial. Typically where development is highlighted as being
required, specific (additional / out of the norm / non-standard) action needs to be taken to address a
situation that requires correction.
In essence, the question of whether development is required or not really boils down to just two things
that can be set out in the decision tree on the next page

AT THIS POINT IN TIME, FOR THIS PARTICULAR TRAINEE, HAVE

THEY DEMONSTRATED A LEVEL OF COMPETENCE IN THIS
TASK THAT IS IN LINE WITH WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE
EXPECTED FROM THEM AT THIS POINT IN TIME?

NO

Development
IS required

YES

WILL THE TRAINEE RECEIVE

SUFFICIENT EXPOSURE TO THIS
TASK THROUGH THE NORMAL
COURSE OF EVENTS IN THE
REMAINING TIME IN THEIR
CONTRACT TO ENABLE THEM TO
DEMONSTRATE EXIT LEVEL
REQUIREMENTS BY THE END?

NO

YES

Development
IS required

Development
IS NOT
required

Determining and documenting effective development plans:

It is vital that the development plans set out in section 4 of the ANA are detailed enough that they provide
very clear direction to the trainee in terms of exactly what needs to be done in the upcoming period, by
whom, and by when.
Ideally development plans should incorporate the following elements in their design:
1. Reference to a specific intervention where the trainee will acquire the shortfall in capabilities.
This may be a particular training course that they need to attend, or may be a particular
assignment where they will get an opportunity to develop the skill. It is not appropriate to
simply state something like Must attend training or Must be dealt with during upcoming
assignments.
2. Reference to who is responsible for doing what to ensure that the plan is followed through
with. If a trainee needs to attend training, for example, who needs to book the trainee on the
intervention? If they need to be assigned to a particular engagement, who is responsible for
arranging this, if the trainee is not already scheduled onto such an engagement?
3. Reference should also be included to when should these actions be undertaken by? So, if
they need to attend training and they need to arrange this, by when must they have attended
to this and reported back to you? These dates should be recorded in the due date column
in the development plan in section 4.
When following up on the effectiveness of development plans from the previous ANA, it is highly likely
that where these plans have not been successful, it is because they were not specific enough?
Consider the following scenarios where development has been identified as being required and document
an acceptable development plan for inclusion in section 4 of these ANAs.
Scenario requiring development
A trainee on a 3 year contract in C&I spends the first 6
months of their training contract in the firms tax
department where she is expected to gain the
necessary exposure to the Tax subject. At the end of
this period, she is evaluated to be at a level 3
(advanced) for all the tax related tasks. Tax is an
elective skill for this trainee and she is not scheduled
to spend any more time in the tax department, nor
receive any additional taxation exposure in any other
work assignments during the remainder of her
contract.
A trainee has 1 year left to go in their contract. They
have had to be constantly reminded to complete and
submit assessment documents correctly, and on time
throughout their contract to date. They have also
invested very little effort into their studies to date. You
have awarded PA7 and overall rating of 2 at this point
in time and are concerned about this trainees ability to
develop level 4 capability in this task by the end of their
contract.

Suggested development plan

Scenario requiring development

Suggested development plan

At the end of their first year of their contract a trainee

has not yet submitted any evidence pertaining to PC 1
(behaving in a straightforward and honest manner).
Given that this is value that should be demonstrated
consistently throughout their contract, you have
obvious concerns about this situation and do not want
it to continue.

Consequences of failing to timeously identify and respond to development needs

The Training Regulations (Chapter 6) clarify the position if a trainee fails to achieve competence. An
extract of these are as follows:
If the trainee will not have achieved all the prescribed competencies, or minimum core
experience hours by the end of the training contract, the training officer must issue a written
notification to the trainee accountant, no later than five months before the end of the training
contract that his training contract is likely not to be discharged.
26.3. The written notification
26.3.1. must list the competencies in which the trainee has not yet achieved competence ;
26.3.2. outline a developmental plan to enable the trainee to achieve the required
competence, core experience hours or work attendance hours by the end of the
training contract;
26.3.3. inform the trainee that, notwithstanding the completion of the developmental plan as
outlined in the notification, failure to achieve the prescribed competencies, minimum
core experience hours or work attendance hours may nevertheless result in the
extension or the cancellation of the training contract at the end of the training contract;
and
26.3.4. must be signed by the training officer and the trainee accountant.
26.4.

If, by the end of the training contract, the trainee has still not achieved the
competencies, minimum core experience hours or work attendance hours as
prescribed by SAICA, the training officer must
26.4.1. cancel the training contract; OR
26.4.2. extend the training contract (also see Regulation 23.1).
26.5. If, by the end of the extended period of the training contract, the trainee has not
achieved competence in all the prescribed competencies, the training contract must be
cancelled.