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What the qualification covers
The ATQ runs in two levels. Level 1, Foundation Technician, covers introduction to accounting, cost accounting, business skills and Ethiopian business law. Level 2, Advanced Technician, moves on to financial accounting, management accounting, assurance and controls and ethics, Ethiopian taxation, and Ethiopian public sector accounting. Each level is assessed by examination.
That last subject is worth noticing if you work in a school, a woreda office or any other public body: public sector accounting is a separate discipline with its own rules, and it is rarely taught as its own subject on a general business degree.
Where you can take it
Eleven institutions are accredited to deliver the training. Eight are public universities, one is a private university, and two are private training providers.
- Addis Ababa University
- Bahir Dar University
- University of Gondar
- Hawassa University
- Jimma University
- Haramaya University
- Ethiopian Public Service University
- Jigjiga University
- Unity University
- IPAS
- HST
Why a technician qualification and not a degree
Most of the finance work in the country is done a level below the certified public accountant: keeping the books, running payroll, filing the tax returns, closing the month. Ethiopia has far more of that work than it has people formally qualified to do it, and a degree is a long and expensive answer to a gap that is really about a specific set of skills. A technician qualification is the shorter route, and it is a step someone can take while holding the job they already have. It also stacks: the ATQ is designed as a stage on the way to the professional CPA qualification rather than a dead end.
Sources
Every figure and date above comes from one of these. Open them; a story about your child's school is worth checking.