Glossary

A plain English glossary of the terms and acronyms you’ll encounter throughout your SAICA training contract

PDS — Professional Development Summary

Your PDS is the summative assessment instrument used to record your cumulative competence at the end of each assessment period. It summarises the Learning Outcome Reviews you’ve completed, reflects on your range and depth of technical exposure, identifies development areas, and documents the plan for addressing those areas in the next period.

Your training office will set your PDS cycle — either every three, four, or six months. You initiate the PDS on SAICA’s Electronic Assessment Tool (EAT), and it is reviewed by your evaluator and signed off by your assessor.

Think of your PDS as the formal record of where you are in your development at a given point in time — not just what you’ve done, but what you’ve learned and where you still need to grow.

Refer to Annexure 2, D2.2 of the SAICA Training Regulations 2026.

Your LOR is the formative assessment instrument you complete on an ongoing basis throughout your training contract. You must submit at least one LOR every two months, though your training office may require more frequent submission.

Each LOR documents the technical work you performed, links it to relevant learning outcomes, and — crucially — provides evidence of how you demonstrated your Professional Values, Attitudes and Acumens (PVAAs) in that context.

Your LOR is not a task list or a timesheet. It is a reflective record of what you did, how you demonstrated professional behaviour, and what the experience taught you. SAICA requires your evidence to be specific, detailed, verifiable, and to show genuine understanding of the learning outcome being demonstrated.

Your reviewer corroborates the evidence you provide and completes their section of the LOR before it feeds into your PDS.

Refer to Annexure 2, D2.1 of the SAICA Training Regulations 2026.

PVAAs are the prescribed competencies at the heart of the SAICA training programme. They are what the training programme is actually assessing — not your technical knowledge, but your professional behaviour and judgment.

PVAAs are divided into two categories:

Professional Values and Attitudes (PVAs) are behaviours — how you conduct yourself professionally, ethically, and in relation to others. These are assessed based on the frequency and complexity with which you demonstrate them.

Acumens are abilities — your capacity to apply integrated thinking, make decisions, and take responsibility in complex situations. These are assessed based on the level of guidance you require and the complexity of the context in which you demonstrate them.

Most learning outcomes need to be demonstrated to a level 3 proficiency by the end of your training contract. Your LORs build the evidence base, and your PDS records the summative assessment of where you stand.

Refer to the SAICA Competency Framework and Annexure 2 of the SAICA Training Regulations 2026.

The EAT is SAICA’s online platform for completing and managing your training programme assessments. All LORs and PDSs are completed on the EAT. Your reviewer, evaluator, and assessor also access the EAT to complete their respective sections of your assessment documents.

You must complete all assessments on the EAT — paper-based or alternative formats are not permitted under the current training programme.

Refer to Annexure 2, D2 of the SAICA Training Regulations 2026.

TCMS is SAICA’s online system for registering and managing training contracts. Your training contract is registered on TCMS, and all formal actions relating to your contract — including suspensions, extensions, cancellations, and discharge — are applied for and approved through TCMS.

You will interact with TCMS at key milestones: when your contract is registered, if your circumstances change, and when you apply for discharge at the end of your contract. Your training officer manages most TCMS functions on behalf of the training office.

Refer to the definitions section of the SAICA Training Regulations 2026.

RPL is a process through which relevant work experience you have already gained — either under a previous SAICA training contract or in another role — is recognised by reducing the remaining term of your new training contract.

RPL based on a previous SAICA training contract can reduce your term by up to the time served under that contract. RPL based on other relevant experience can reduce your term by up to 12 months. RPL is granted at the discretion of your training officer and must be applied for within 14 months of your contract start date.

Note that vacation work and temporary employment are not automatically recognised — your training officer considers them as part of the RPL assessment.

Refer to Regulation 18 of the SAICA Training Regulations 2026.

If your training office requires an independent RPL assessment, Deepa Daya is a registered SAICA assessor and available to assist. Book a 20–minute conversation →

Your IEP is your training plan for technical exposure. It sets out the tasks and rotations you are expected to complete during your training contract and links them to the relevant technical learning outcomes across the value creation chain — Inputs, Business Activities, and Outputs Leading to Outcomes.

The IEP is your training office’s plan for ensuring you get sufficient range and depth of technical exposure. It starts with the actual work available in the office and maps it to the learning outcomes that work is likely to cover — which means it reflects the real environment you are training in, not a generic checklist.

Your IEP sits alongside your ELP in your overall training plan. Together they map out what technical work you will be exposed to and what level of PVAA proficiency you are expected to reach at each stage of your contract.

Refer to the SAICA CA2025 Training Programme Guidance and Template 1: Training Plan on the SAICA website.

Your ELP maps out the PVAA learning outcomes you need to demonstrate, at what point in your training contract, and to what overall proficiency level. It is the developmental roadmap for your PVAA progression over the full term of your articles.

At a minimum, your ELP must show that you will provide evidence for at least one learning outcome in each of the seven PVAA competency areas within each PDS cycle. Your training office sets the ELP, and it is used in the EAT to prompt your reflection on technical exposure and expected proficiency when completing your LORs and PDSs.

Think of the ELP as your training office’s commitment to your development — a documented plan showing how you will progress from foundational to advanced proficiency across all seven PVAAs by the time your contract is discharged.

Refer to the SAICA CA2025 Training Programme Guidance and Template 1: Training Plan (ELP tab) on the SAICA website.

The first SAICA board exam, written before the APC. You must pass the IAC before you are eligible to write the APC. It requires completion of an endorsed postgraduate qualification (such as a CTA or PGDA) as a prerequisite.

The second and final SAICA board exam, and the last academic step before you can register as a CA(SA). It is an intensive assessment that simulates a real professional work environment, testing the competence you have built over your entire training contract — not just technical knowledge, but professional judgement under pressure.

Also known as the Training Contract Exemption Assessment (TCEA). An alternative route to CA(SA) or AGA(SA) for finance professionals who have gained relevant work experience outside of a formal SAICA training contract. If you have at least 60 months of relevant experience, you may apply to have that experience assessed against SAICA’s competency framework instead of completing traditional articles.

Not sure where to start? 

Book a 20-minute conversation  Let’s talk →