Non-cognitive success factors of postgraduate chartered accountancy students in South Africa: perspectives of students and lecturers

South Africa faces a shortage of Chartered Accountants, who are critical to supporting the country’s socio-economic development. Persistently low pass rates for the Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA) programme have been identified as a key obstacle. This qualitative study explores South African CTA students’ and lecturers’ perspectives on whether five pre-selected non-cognitive factors are perceived to be associated with academic success. Findings suggest that all five factors: student motivation, learning strategies, academic self-efficacy, academic resilience and socio-economic circumstances, are perceived to support student performance. The study also highlights a two-way interplay between these factors, underscoring their potential to be jointly associated with academic outcomes.