TOUGH COMPETITION for fewer and fewer jobs with local accounting firms and other professional services sectors has left a record number of students facing the prospect of changing careers or moving overseas.
One hundred and two accounting students were successful in the June and December sittings of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants at the University of Technology Joint-Scheme Examinations.
The record number of passes means that students face the toughest job market in years as the continued depressed economy, mergers in the accounting profession and the onset of modern technology mean that many are looking overseas for work.
However, the successes are but one end of the spectrum, as the Institute confirmed this week that the contraction in the local economy and the fact that an average of 70 students qualifying annually over the past 10 years has resulted in many graduates seeking employment in Europe, North America and elsewhere in the Caribbean.
ACCA Caribbean Affairs head Emile Valere confirmed that he has been receiving resumes from graduates of the ICAJ/ACCA Joint-Scheme programme, and has so far secured employment opportunities for Jamaican nationals in The Bahamas, The Cayman Islands, St. Martin and Barbados.
PricewaterhouseCoopers senior partner Richard Downer said he had seen an improvement in the quality of young professionals entering accounting in recent years but firms such as his were now favouring more experienced applicants.
He pointed to changes in the profession that had seen a growing use of modern technology and new approaches, which call for more analytical skills rather than the traditional "number crunching" associated with work carried out by junior accounts.
PricewatershouseCoopers, an amalgamation of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand last year, has been a leaner organisation since the move. It, like most other major accountancy firms has also seen mega mergers among its clients cut the amount of available work among traditional customers.
Young accountants are by no means alone in the search for professional jobs. Lawyers are also facing similar problems. Many of the 40-a-year-graduates from the Norman Law School find themselves looking for work in different fields as a result of the lack of options in Jamaica. The same can be said for professionals in other fields.
The emerging surplus of locally-trained accountants stands in sharp contrast to the realities of the 80s when the profession was peopled by expatriates. Statistics from the Ministry of Labour on the number of work permits issued to expatriate accountants during this period support this claim. (See table)
Data from the corresponding period in the 1990s show that there has been a 40 per cent reduction in this area, as the local profession can now sustain itself.
In Jamaica, there are various routes of entry to the accounting profession, which cater to persons of differing educational backgrounds - from CXC to tertiary-level qualifications.
There is also a Mature Student Entry Route (MSER) which was introduced in 1992, and allows prospective candidates direct admission to the Foundation Stage of the ICAJ/ACCA Joint-Scheme programme.
Once a course has been completed through a recognised institution, budding practitioners must spend three years of practical work experience as an accountant before being able to be designated as a chartered accountant.
Between 1990 and the present, a total of 642 Jamaican students have completed the Joint-Scheme exams. The numbers of people graduating in accounting has risen rapidly over the few years, from an average of 45 people between 1990 and 1995 to 102 this year.
This year's successful students of the 1999/2000 sittings will be honoured at a graduation ceremony to be hosted by the ICAJ/ACCA on October 7.
The influx in numbers into the field has also affected balance in the traditionally male-dominated profession. The gender split between male and female graduates of the joint ICAJ/ACCA exams is currently weighted in favour of women.
This has been the trend over the past five years, with the number of female graduates at present, overtaking the men. For every five men, nine women are now graduating.
In addition, not only have the women outnumbered their male counterparts, but the ICAJ also reports that they are outperforming them as well.
A comparative analysis of the results of the December 1999 and June 2000 sittings, and indeed those of the past five years supports this, with the Institute's top awards going to female graduates of the programme. This year is no exception. Jamaica's highest overall achiever in the 1999 sittings, 22-year old Carolyn Bell, placed first in the Caribbean, earning for herself a ranking within the top 40 students out of a total of 7,000 ACCA graduates in the 140 countries it operates in world-wide. ACCA Head of Caribbean Affairs, Emile Valere, added: "Since the Association established Joint-Scheme programmes in the Caribbean region(introduced in 1965 in Jamaica, we continue to experience significant growth in the number of graduates from the respective territories. Over the past five years Barbados has recorded a 40 per cent increase, Grenada, 60 per cent and Trinidad, 35 per cent."
