Upskill is offering a dedicated live event series specifically for first year trainee accountants registered on the new CA2025 training programme of SAICA in 2022. The live event series will focus on setting up trainees to be more effective in their first year of the new CA2025 training programme and will develop several key competencies contained within the CA2025 competency framework.

Once trainees are onboarded onto our live event series, they will get access to regular, one-hour, live events directly on the Upskill platform. These live events are delivered by our subject matter experts and will cover a diverse range of topics focused on the development of Professional Values and Attitudes as well as the enabling acumen. All live events are one-hour in length and has been scheduled to have minimal impact on the normal working hours of the trainee. If trainees are unable to attend live events they enrolled for as part of the live event series, they will still have access to the recorded session for the remainder of the calendar year. 

The live event series will cover topics that were hand-picked by our subject matter experts. The topics were benchmarked against the new CA2025 competency framework and has also undergone a ‘research stage’ where the topics were subject to feedback from a test group of trainees. It is important to us to ensure the topics are not only determined by the CA2025 competency framework, but also actual trainee feedback with reference to their ability to perform their work effectively and efficiently. 

The series contains 16 one-hour live events hosted via the Upskill platform over the duration of the calendar year. We have also included two complimentary On Demand courses that trainees can complete at your discretion. Should the trainee attend all 16 live events and also completed the complimentary On Demand courses part of the offering, the time investment would amount to approximately 23 hours for the calendar year. 

We would highly recommend this. The Upskill Live Event Series will focus on the development of Professional Values and Attitudes as well as Enabling Acumen. The live event series will have limited focus on the development of technical competencies. For future CA’s to remain relevant, they need to develop the right professional values, attitudes and enabling acumen to enable them to adapt and function at levels expected of CA’s within any career path they choose to follow after the completion of the their training contract. A trainee’s ability to demonstrate competence in technical tasks is no longer seen to be critical in achieving this goal and for this reason the focus of the Upskill live event series is to develop a trainee’s proficiency in the demonstration of the Professional Values, Attitudes, and enabling acumen (the PVAA’s). Upskill can also assist with any specific technical training you might need that is not part of the live event series. 

This live event series has been curated by Wihann Rabe and Graeme O’Reilly who are both members of the CA2025 working committee responsible for drafting the new CA2025 training programme. One of the biggest changes with the new CA2025 training programme is the sole emphasis on developing trainee’s proficiency in the demonstration of Professional Values, Attitudes, and enabling Acumen (the PVAA’s). The content of the live event series takes this into account to ensure trainees has access to interventions that will aid with the development of these new critical skills a trainee accountant should have. 

We offer bulk enrolment discounts and corporate deals for all Upskill content and training offerings. This will also apply to the dedicated live event series for trainees. The single price per trainee is R 2,500.00 (excl. VAT) for access to all live events and the complimentary On Demand courses included.  

The following is included as part of our offering:

• 16 one-hour live events delivered via the Upskill platform during the 2022 calendar year.
• Two complimentary, On Demand, courses the trainees can complete at their own pace. The one dealing with the 2022 SAICA Training Regulations and the second with Study, Mark-scoring and Exam Technique, ideal for your trainees still studying.
• Monthly reporting to you on the progress and attendance of trainees.
• Access to the recordings of all the live events for the entire calendar year.  

The following live events will be presented exclusively for trainees enrolled onto the live event series:

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1. Introduction to the CA2025 training programme
2. Principles of Personal Ethics 
3. How to develop effective communication skills 
4. Audit 101: Introduction to auditing 
5. Adaptive mindset: How to adapt when change arises 
6. Cyber security: secretes to best email practises
7. Audit 202: Financial statement assertions, audit evidence 
8. Important Excel functions used by trainee accountants 
9. Audit 303: Risk of material misstatement
10. Becoming more effective in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint 
11. How to develop communication and relationship-building skills 
12. Expert's guide to emotional intelligence 
13. A how to on managing people and being a team player 
14. Principles of Professional Ethics 
15. Principles of Business Ethics
16. How to handle your personal finances in 3 simple steps 

If your training office is in commerce, then the above live event series would still be available to you, but without the live events dealing with audit (live event number 7, 8 and 9 above). You can therefore still enrol your trainee accountants onto the live event series at a reduced price of R 2,000 (excl. VAT) per trainee. 

If you are interested in enrolling your new trainees of 2022 onto the Upskill live event series or want to find out more about the specific outcomes and dates of each of the live events planned, then please get in touch with us. We can also prepare a quick bulk enrolment proposal for you that will contain all the information necessary for you to decide.