Academic and non-academic indicators for preparing future-ready postgraduate diploma in accountancy students: Lecturers' insights

The accounting profession's rapid evolution amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has intensified calls for postgraduate accounting programs to develop not only technical expertise but also broader competencies to ensure graduates are resilient and future-ready professionals. Attrition and low throughput in professional accounting pathways remain a global concern, with postgraduate programs facing challenges in retention due to high academic demands, self-regulated learning requirements, and non-academic factors (e.g., stress, socio-economic influences). In South Africa, while recent South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) exam improvements (e.g., IAC throughput 76% in 2025 January and June sittings, up from 61% in 2024; APC 61% in Dec 2025) reflect support initiatives, persistent program-level and equity-related challenges underscore the need for early identification of at-risk students to boost completion and address talent shortages. Drawing on accounting education literature that emphasises holistic student development and early intervention (e.g., Bean and Tinto's integration model and studies on indicators in professional programs), this qualitative interpretive study explores lecturers' insights into academic and non-academic indicators serving as early warning signals in a SAICA-accredited postgraduate diploma in accountancy (PGDA) program. Through semi-structured interviews with eight purposively selected lecturers and thematic analysis using ATLAS.ti™ software, ten interconnected themes emerged, encompassing programme-specific challenges, academic performance signals, student engagement and behaviour, psychological factors, socio-economic influences, time management, study habits, and underutilised support resources. These findings contribute to accounting education pedagogy by highlighting lecturer-perceived indicators in a high-stakes postgraduate context, extending prior work on retention to illustrate how holistic combinations can inform proactive interventions. The study offers implications for accounting educators worldwide, targeted early interventions based on identified indicators, such as enhanced monitoring of engagement and support for self-regulated learningto improve student outcomes and better prepare graduates for professional demands.