Tag: South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA)

During the 2020 State of the Nation Address, President Ramaphosa made special mention of the great strides being made by the Youth Employment Service (YES) in tackling South Africa’s youth employment crisis.

The only constant in a tech-driven world is change. Rapid advances in technology are driving change in the workplace. To remain competitive, businesses are having to implement new strategies that include technology, upskilling their workforce, employing agile leaders and promoting a culture of lifelong learning among managers and other employees.

Future shifts in demands and activities are unavoidable for all professions. The future of the accounting profession as one that remains relevant and vital to the prosperity of the societies in which it operates, depends on its ability to focus on what is required to sustain its relevance in an evolving, changing, and technologically-dominated future.

In its quest to empower and grow the number of Black people in the chartered accountancy profession and empower them meaningfully to participate and sustain the growth of the economy, the Department of Trade and Industry, has gazetted the revised Chartered Accountancy Profession Sector Code (CA Charter) for public comment.

According to QuickBooks, there are already more than 700 apps that are assisting accountants to automate processes and reduce their workload. Gone are the days where accountants can be mere number crunchers, who collate and check data and allocate it to the correct cost centre. The future accountant will have transformed her/himself into a financial advisor, adding value to businesses by offering strategic advice, consulting and financial planning.

Against the backdrop of the weakening Rand, the pain point of the increased marginal tax rate of 45 per cent, the increase in the VAT rate by 1 percent in April 2018 and the decline in household spend, can South Africans really afford another tax rate hike?

South Africa recently tightened its transfer pricing and disclosure requirements, implementing global standards. This was an important step to enable the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to enforce transfer pricing rules and to counter undesired base erosion through profit shifting. However, the question remains what else can be done to address impermissible transfer (mis-) pricing and to stimulate investment into South Africa, as tax collections have not been where they should be and it is expected that further expenditure will be proposed in the 2019 Budget?

As an election year, a second State of the Nation Address (SONA) will probably be held during June 2019 wherein the newly elected government will present their programme of action for the 2020 financial year. The SONA address that was delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday 7 February 2019, accordingly reflected on the Medium Term Strategic Frameworks designed and implemented in the past five years.

South Africa’s current woes are in large part a result of a large-scale breakdown in ethics (both personal and professional) and good governance practices. One only needs to look at the goings-on at Steinhoff, KPMG, Eskom, SARS and VBS Bank to see the impact that unethical behaviour, large scale looting and unchecked business practices have had on the South African economy and on South Africans, whose confidence in the leadership of this country and those in business is at an all-time low.

This feature takes a look at how professionalism helps to build and maintain an ethical society, one that upholds the values of honesty, integrity and dependability. It explores the role professional bodies play in setting and upholding industry standards, and how professional development assists in the maintenance of those standards. It also looks at the role business schools are playing in professional development, and what skills will be needed in the future world of work.