The Local Government Accounting Certificate (LGAC) and Local Government Accounting Advanced Certificate (LGAAC) qualifications offer specifically tailored training and development and your first step onto a career path in local government finance. They are valuable, recognised qualifications that are registered with SAQA at NQF level 3 and NQF level 4 respectively, within the scope of Fasset, the SETA/ETQA for financial services.

They are quality assured and awarded by AAT South Africa - AAT(SA) - a partnership of two renowned and respected professional accounting organisations – the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT). They are competence based qualifications. The practical training programme enables learners to apply their learning to real situations. The qualifications deliver a definite increase in learners’ ability, confidence and motivation to perform their day to day tasks effectively. The training takes place in the work environment and will help develop the practical skills and knowledge needed in the day to day work in the accounting and finance functions in local government. There is a clear progression route from the LGAC to the LGAAC, and a final level 5 Local Government Accounting Diploma (LGAD) will be available later.

These qualifications are suitable for people who are already working in a relevant local government finance role (see below for examples) or as a supervisor for these roles and who would like training and support to develop
their skills further.

- debtors’ control clerks

- cashiers’ administrators

- credit controllers

- credit payment staff

- tender staff

- creditors’ clerks

- bank reconciliation administrators

- accountants (across all functional areas in finance).

In exceptional cases, the qualifications could be offered to someone working in a non-accounting function. For example, a person who works as a personal
assistant or administrator within a finance environment who might want to get a better understanding of the department within which they work or might even be
keen to move into an accounting function in future, could also participate in this programme.

These qualifications are open access with no specific qualifications required for entry. However, learners must have a good basic level of literacy, communication and mathematical literacy to enable successful completion of the course. The programme includes support in these areas and learners will complete self-assessments to measure their skills and identify areas for further improvement.

All prospective learners must discuss with their line manager and also with their appointed municipality programme coordinator their suitability and reasons for wanting to complete their chosen qualification. They must also confirm that they understand fully what is involved and the commitment they are making to seeing it through.

To ensure the quality and external recognition for these qualifications, AAT(SA) will undertake a short half-day verification visit to the particular department part-way through the programme.

The verifier will:
• meet with both senior and line managers
• meet with some learners
• undertake assessment of the training providers
• review some completed assessments.

The appointed municipality programme coordinator will need to facilitate this process and ensure that appropriate people and documents are available.

Achieve formal recognition.

On successful completion of all the units, learners will receive two certificates.

1. From the sector education and training authority for finance and accounting, Fasset, which provides the South Africa accreditation and recognition for this qualification.

2. From AAT(SA), a locally based professional body offering a professional home and professional standing for the learners once qualified.

Managers and trainers will do their very best to help learners achieve the full qualification. However, if they don’t demonstrate competence in or complete all units, learners will still receive recognition in the form of an official statement of achievement giving them formal credit for the units they have completed.

There will be an awards ceremony where financial mangers and learners can celebrate their achievements in front of a prestigious audience including senior local government and AAT(SA) dignitaries.

Where a line manager and a member of staff think these qualifications could benefit the department and the learner, they must discuss and particularly consider:

• the content of the programme, emphasising the accounting elements

• the work involved, including assessments and homework

• that the learners are expected to make a full commitment to attending the training sessions, completing assignments and progressing through
the whole course (with ongoing support from management of course) to the best of their abilities

• that this is not ‘just a course’ that they have to attend; they are qualifications that they have to achieve by demonstrating their skills, knowledge and understanding

• whether they have the right level of literacy and numeracy to progress through the qualification successfully.

Line managers have a big stake in their learners’ success. Managers’ support for learners through their studies will help get the best outcome for them personally, for the working relationship and for the team.

This can be achieved through actions such as:

• regularly checking on attendance and progress

• helping to answer any questions

• giving practical tasks back at work so learners can practice specific skills they have developed in their training sessions

• considering if it’s possible to arrange a job rotation or work experience in another department to give learners experience in an area they don’t normally work in

• helping to prepare for assessments, reassuring learners and encouraging attendance on assessment days.

All learners will need the time out of work to attend training sessions. Management are expected to respect this requirement and encourage learners to attend. If there are any problems with timetabling or very heavy workload, the manager should speak to the appointed municipality programme coordinator about this as soon as they realise there might be problems. The coordinator can then liaise with the training provider.

These qualifications are a tremendous opportunity and offer a learner the chance to:

• develop his/her skills

• better meet the challenges of day to day work

• get a recognised qualification to demonstrate their competence

• gain an entry level qualification into further levels of training

• get ahead in their career.

The government, the municipality and the particular department are making a great investment in this, and learners need to make a clear personal commitment in return.

• The department will give the time off from work to attend training sessions. Learners must make every effort to attend the lectures, and must notify the training provider of a specific reason if they can’t attend.

• We understand that learners also have a busy home life, and work required outside of the training days is kept at as low a level as possible for this reason. However, learners must expect to do homework in between lessons to go over what they have learnt and prepare for the assessments. The more personal time a learner puts in, the more chance he/she will have of success and getting their certificate.

• Making sure of the quality and high standard of this qualification is vital for the and value of the qualification. Therefore, the programme involves assessments that a learner will need to complete to demonstrate his/her competence in the main areas. Most of these assessments are informal short tests and projects that will take place as part of ongoing training. However, there are two longer assessments for the accounting units, which learners will need to prepare for and undertake under stricter exam type conditions. (The training provider will help learners to
prepare for these with advice and mock assessments.)

The municipal department may require learners to complete a learning contract when they sign up for this course.