About this programme
This programme is registered on the SAQA website as National Certificate: National Certificate: Bookkeeping NQF L3 – (SAQA): ID 58375.
Its title with the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB) is: Certified Junior Bookkeeper. All exams are set and marked internationally. ICB graduates are recognised by the International Association of Bookkeepers and the Southern African Institute of Business Accountants.
Admission requirements
Grade 10 (Std 8) or equivalent and applicants must be at least 16 years old.
CAREER opportunities
- Accounts Clerk
- Debtors Clerk
- Creditors Clerk
- Payroll Clerk
- Bookkeeper to Trial Balance
Duration
This qualification is offered part-time over one year. Two modules are covered per semester. Once you have completed the above qualification, you can spend another year part-time completing the ICB: Certified Senior Bookkeeping (six months) and then progress to the ICB: Certified Technical Financial Accountant (six months).
Course content
ICB Junior Bookkeeper: Level 3
- Bookkeeping to Trail Balance
- Computerised Bookkeeping (Pastel)
- Payroll and Monthly SARS Returns (Pastel Payroll)
- Business Literacy
WHAT DO THESE SUBJECTS ENTAIL?
Bookkeeping to Trail Balance:
This subject teaches you how to prepare a trail balance. Trial balance is a bookkeeping worksheet in which the balance of all ledgers is compiled into debit and credit account column totals that are equal. A company prepares a trial balance periodically, usually at the end of every reporting period.
Computerised Bookkeeping (Pastel):
This learning area is designed to show students how to take the manual bookkeeping process that they have learned in Bookkeeping to Trial Balance and Payroll and Monthly SARS Returns, and complete it using computer tools. The tools that will be used are MS Office (MS Excel, MS Word, MS PowerPoint) and Pastel Partner V18. Although providers may make use of any recognised software to prepare for the computerised accounting component of the ICB assessment (which is based on generic computerised accounting software), the course outline is based on Pastel software.
Payroll and Monthly SARS Returns (Pastel Payroll):
It builds on a basic knowledge of bookkeeping to include a study of VAT, basic conditions of employment, RSA statutory registrations, RSA payroll calculations and accounting, SARS eFiling and a study of the ethics of a tax practitioner in South Africa.
Business Literacy:
To be business literate is to have the ability to use financial and business information to understand and make decisions that help the organisation achieve success.
A workforce is business literate when ALL employees have a working knowledge of the following:
- The big picture–Employees know the organisation’s goals and objectives (both measurable and global).
- Measurement–Employees understand how success is measured. This usually means being able to read and explain one or more of the financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement) and understand the key measures of success for their organisation.
- Line of sight–Employees know how their work impacts the organisation’s goals and objectives, financial statements, and key measures.