Candidates of the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) completed their professional evaluation (PE) on Saturday, 5 December 2020.
 
According to Karl Smith, Senior Education, Training and Membership Manager at the Institute, SAIPA employed online technologies to ensure the evaluation took place as scheduled.
 
“We are proud that we were able to facilitate both our July and December examinations digitally without delay and in a very short time, despite COVID-19 constraints,” he says.
 
The Institute’s PE marks the end of a trainee member’s initial professional development (IPD) phase. Graduates become full SAIPA members, can practice independently, and may bear the designation of Professional Accountant (SA).
 
Digital initiative
SAIPA has employed both formative and summative online assessments for the past four years and implemented online competency-based PEs during 2020.
 
This is a much needed and welcome relief for SAIPA candidates, especially with the current pandemic, which poses a very real health concern and adds undue stress to an already pressure-filled event.
 
Facilitating an online PE further assists some candidates to avoid travelling long distances to examination centres.
 
“Even before the advent of COVID, we committed to digital transformation to enhance the Institute’s service delivery model, and to become as future-ready in the 4IR era as we expect our members to be,” says Smith.
 
Careful monitoring
Thomas Nyamvura, IT Manager at SAIPA, says the body’s greatest focus is on verifying the identity of remote candidates and confirming their responses are authentically self-generated.
 
“We continue to partner with an experienced service provider to ensure all tests are conducted under strict examination conditions through a system of technology-based invigilation,” he reports.
 
This includes visual identification of candidates and the environment where they take the examination. The computers they use are also monitored throughout the assessment period.
 
In addition, the system uses embedded artificial intelligence (AI) that identifies significant patterns of deviation from normal assessment behaviour. If detected, these are flagged for review and investigated by SAIPA.
 
Integrated competency
The actual content of SAIPA’s PE has also been redesigned to align with the competency-based approach prescribed by International Education Standard 6 (IES 6) from the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IESBA).
 
The PE therefore tests a candidate’s technical knowledge, applied skills and professional attributes against internationally accepted accounting proficiency standards.
 
“We are more interested in candidates demonstrating holistic competence across a spectrum of business and advisory concerns than just achieving a passing grade,” says Professor Rashied Small, CoFE Executive at the Institute’s Centre of Future Excellence.
 
Support
SAIPA also provides a number of interventions to prepare PE candidates for the evaluation and the experience of taking it online.
 
The foremost of these is SAIPA’s Project Achiever, a preparatory programme that augments candidates’ training with cognitive and soft skills shown to improve PE pass rates among attendees.
 
They are also exposed to intermediate and practice tests online to accustom them to the testing process in advance of the live examination.
 
“We encourage other bodies to adopt digital assessments so that the economy is never short of future-ready professional accountants,” concludes Smith.
 
ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
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Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
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Future-ready tax practitioners will need to learn data management to become effective advisors. This is according to Ettiene Retief, Chairman of the National Tax and SARS Committee at the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA).
 
Retief was speaking at SAIPA’s 2020 Accounting iNdaba, held online on the 4th and 5th of November.
 
He said that, as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) sets in, tax compliance processes are becoming highly automated. So tax practitioners will increasingly be called on by their clients to provide advisory services instead.
 
“It is essential that they understand how to manage data and extract value from it,” he said.
 
Evolving tax
Tax administration used to be a complex, manual and time-consuming process. To ensure they were compliant, organisations and individuals employed the services of tax specialists.
 
Now, 4IR technologies, like artificial intelligence (AI), big data and mobile computing, are enabling SARS to automate its assessment and auditing services more and more. For example, the tax authority can now carry out auto assessments on certain taxpayers based on third-party data without them having to submit a return at all.
 
As the demand for their administrative services falls, tax practitioners should begin focusing on services like compliance and risk management, and advisory services.
 
Value of data
Over time the amount of data taxpayers are expected to retain and its retention period have increased significantly.
 
Tax advisors who understand how to work with data and use it to provide their clients with valuable insights will be more in demand.
 
“This means learning to improve data quality, processing efficiencies, and data analytics,” said Retief.
 
Steps
Retief said that tax practitioners should take the following steps to ensure they are prepared.
 
First, they must understand the limits of their client’s accounting systems and supporting documents. “They will add value by identifying bottlenecks in the compliance process, like weak VAT reporting or manually transcribing information from source documents,” he said.
 
Second, they should identify ways to enable automation within their practice and in processing their client’s data. “Use technology to reduce manual processing, minimize human error and speed up submissions to the client’s benefit,” said Retief.
 
Third, they must invest in upskilling themselves in technology and process design competencies. Said Retief: “Having this knowledge will allow them to design more efficient and informative tax management processes.”
 
Fourth, they must understand how tax and accounting departments can leverage data management to improve processes and outcomes. “This includes ensuring data is clean and formatted to enable reporting,” he said.
 
Fifth, they should know how to identify and mitigate risk in relation to data protection. “It is critical to understand topics like cybersecurity and data governance as these can save clients from legal pitfalls,” said Retief.
 
Conclusion
As tax administration becomes increasingly automated, tax practitioners will focus more on advisory services. Those who learn to leverage data to their client’s advantage will be in greater demand.
 
“They must become competent in data management and automation if they want to remain relevant,” concluded Retief.
 
ENDS
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
 
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
Website: www.saipa.co.za
Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
LinkedIn: South African Institute of Professional Accountants Company
Facebook: South African Institute of Professional Accountants

The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) held its 2020 Accounting iNdaba on the 4th and 5th of November.
 
At the end of the first day, the Institute recognised the winners of its Accounting and Tax Thesis Competition. The contest has been held annually for over ten years to recognise outstanding research in the fields of accounting and taxation.
 
According to Shahied Daniels, Chief Executive of SAIPA, the administrative duties of accountants and tax practitioners are being assumed by automated processes in the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Because of this, they will be increasingly drawn towards strategic advisory services.
 
“It is more important than ever to promote an increase in the volume and quality of research being carried out,” said Daniels. “This will ensure that these professions are informed by cutting edge thought leadership in their new roles.”
 
Accounting winners
The following winners were awarded for their outstanding accounting thesis:
 
In the PhD category, Cara van der Merwe of the University of South Africa for Towards the Development of a Corporate Community Involvement Disclosures Framework: Evidence from South Africa. Cara’s supervisor was Professor Christa Wingard.
 
In the Masters category, Rudolf Mfundo Mbwanja of the University of KwaZulu-Natal for Perceptions of Accountants and Auditors on Professional Ethics and Professional Skepticism in South Africa. He was supervised by Professor Mabutho Sibanda.
 
In the Honours category, Ryan Stevens of the University of Cape Town for Commercial Bank Reaction to Repo Rate Changes by the South African Reserve Bank. His supervisor was Mr. Carlos de Jesus.
 
The accounting thesis awards were presented by Faith Ngwenya, Technical and Standards Executive at SAIPA.
 
“We are very pleased with the standard of work produced by these outstanding researchers and believe their contributions will do much to improve the field of accountancy,” said Ngwenya.
 
Tax winners
For the tax thesis, the winners were as follows:
 
In the PhD category, Roshelle Ramfol of the University of Pretoria for Taxation of the Extractive Industry in the Context of Contemporary International Fiscal Regimes: Lessons for South Africa. Roshelle’s supervisor was Professor RCD Frazen.
 
In the Masters category, Frances Burger of Stellenbosch University for Third Party Appointments in South African Tax Law: A Comparison with South African Civil Procedure Law and a Constitutional Review. Frances was supervised by Professor Linda van Heerden.
 
In the Honours category, Tanya Lizanne Pienaar of the University of Cape Town for Wealth Erosion of the Middle Class and Taxation Levied on Life Insurance Policies. Her supervisors were Mr. Rudi Oosthuizen and Mrs. Tracy Johnson.
 
The tax thesis awards were presented by Ettiene Retief, the Institute’s Chairman of the National Tax and SARS Committee.
 
“It’s hard to believe that the quality of research in the field of tax could improve on previous years, but these winners have proved that the bar is never too high. Well done,” said Retief.
 
Accounting and economy
Daniels said the thesis competition has far reaching effects. “We believe that encouraging more and better research in accounting and taxation correlates closely with positive economic growth,” he says.
 
ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
 
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
Website: www.saipa.co.za
Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
LinkedIn: South African Institute of Professional Accountants Company
Facebook: South African Institute of Professional Accountants

Shahied Daniels, Chief Executive of the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA), has been elected Chair of the Edinburgh Group. The Edinburgh Group is a coalition of 16 accountancy bodies representing over 900 000 Professional Accountants in Africa, North and South America, Australasia and Europe. SAIPA is a member of the Edinburgh Group.

Mr Daniels said the appointment was the pinnacle of his long career in accounting. He has held many leadership positions in accounting both here and globally over the years, and in 2015 the International Accounting Bulletin named him one of the 50 most influential people in global accounting.

“As an African, this exceptional honour is yet another validation of the fact that South Africa and Africa are increasingly ready to play their part in supporting and reinventing the role of small and medium-sized practices, Professional Accountants in business and, generally, the SME sector of the global economy,” he said in his acceptance speech.

The Edinburgh Group champions the interests of small and medium-sized accountancy practices and Professional Accountants generally. Professional Accountants typically work in businesses or operate practices that service SMEs and non-profits in the main. Professional Accountants are integral to the development of financially sound businesses, and so have a critical role to play in growing economies and creating sustainable jobs. The Edinburgh Group also sees its role as helping to promote the role of accountants in business in developing economies.

Globally, it is recognised that SMEs are the engines of growth and job creation, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that SMEs account for 60-70% of jobs in OECD countries, and a disproportionately large share of new jobs.[1] The World Bank says that SMEs account for approximately half of all employment in the developing world. [2]

In his acceptance speech, Mr Daniels emphasised that he would work tirelessly towards lobbying for the interests of Edinburgh Group stakeholders with the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) as well as other industry bodies.

Kantha Naicker, Chair of SAIPA, congratulated Mr Daniels on the appointment on behalf of the board. “Shahied has provided, and continues to provide, visionary leadership for our organisation, and he will make an enormous contribution as an advocate for the role of Professional Accountants in growing economies and creating jobs across the world,” she said. “His appointment enhances the standing of both South Africa and SAIPA itself on the global stage.”

[1] OECD, “Small businesses, job creation and growth: facts, obstacles and best practices”, available at http://www.oecd.org/industry/smes/2090740.pdf.
[2] The World Bank, “New Evidence Shows Way Forward for SME Growth and Job Creation”, (30 November 2016), available at https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/11/30/new-evidence-shows-way-forward-for-sme-growth-and-job-creation.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
Website: www.saipa.co.za
Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
LinkedIn: South African Institute of Professional Accountants Company
Facebook: South African Institute of Professional Accountants

The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) has launched its Centre of Future Excellence (CoFE). The unveiling took place at the Institute’s 2020 Accounting iNdaba, hosted online on the 4th and 5th of November.

Professor Rashied Small, Executive: Thought Leadership at SAIPA, announced the initiative and explained its purpose. “The Centre was created to research emerging trends that will affect the accounting profession and to develop competency programmes that ensure our members are future-ready,” he said.

The Institute’s Centre of Business Advisory (CoBA) and its revamped Centre of Tax Excellence (CoTE) were launched at the same time.

Background
In the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, trade and industry stand to be highly automated using intelligent machines and processes. This includes the administrative and reporting functions typically carried out by accountants. Accountants will use increasingly sophisticated and smart technologies to enhance their traditional ways of conducting business.

Instead of traditional number crunching and report compilation, these professionals will be called on in the future to provide advanced business advisory services. Clients and employers will require their professional accountants to deliver value-added strategic insights rather than raw data and compliance. Ethics and public trust must be at the forefront as accountants shift into the digital age. 

This new role demands that practitioners are able to extract business value from data and effectively communicate its meaning to stakeholders. “The Future-Ready Professional Accountant must acquire competencies beyond those currently taught to them,” said Small.

The CoFE will identify and prioritise specific competencies and develop programmes to equip professional accountants with them.

Competency Framework
According to Small, the CoFE employs a Competency Framework that is based on various inputs and four classes of competency and delivers a desired set of outcomes.

The inputs used to determine competency needs are international education standards, assessment standards, national education legislation, qualification legislation, market requirements, and the business environment.

The four classes of competency will mean the accountant can operate effectively under different conditions.

Professional competencies will ensure they approach their work in an ethical and client-oriented manner. Human competencies improve on their communication and interactive skills, with an emphasis on emotional intelligence. Business competencies will enable them to provide reliable administrative, operational and market guidance based on the data at their disposal. Technical competency will ensure they are proficient in fields like data analytics and business modelling, allowing them to transform data into profitable initiatives.

Results
According to Small, the CoFE will prepare future accountants to provide services to their clients on four fronts.
As creators of value, they will develop effective business models resulting in increased competitive advantage. As enablers of value, they will help organisations effectively allocate and utilise available resources. As preservers of value, accountants offer direction on enterprise risk management and governance. As reporters of value, they will provide financial, integrated and accountability reporting services.

Praise
Small indicated that the initiative also created a competitive advantage for the Institute’s Professional Accountant (SA) designation. “Most importantly, CoFE will ensure SAIPA members are distinguished from other professionals by their leadership capabilities and authority in these business-critical competencies,” he said.

Attendees at the launch praised SAIPA for its foresight into the future needs of the profession and for developing a progressive strategy to address them.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
Website: www.saipa.co.za
Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
LinkedIn: South African Institute of Professional Accountants Company
Facebook: South African Institute of Professional Accountants

“It’s a mistake to build barriers to protect traditional ways of practice,” said technology expert Daniel Susskind on the topic of the future of the accountancy profession.

Susskind was speaking at the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) 2020 Accounting iNdaba, which was hosted online on the 4th and 5th of November.

He is a recognised authority on the impact of technology on work and co-author of the book, The Future of Professions.

Two futures
According to Susskind, the profession faces two possible futures, both of which are driven by the rise in technology.
In the first, accountants use technology to create more efficient versions of the services they already offer. The processes are simply streamlined.

The second future is very different and could see accountants displaced by intelligent processes that are designed and operated by people who do not look like typical professionals.

Susskind predicts that, in the long run, the second future is assured.

New approaches
Traditionally, he says, people use professionals because nobody knows everything. Professionals offer practised expertise in solving complex problems. In the past, they were implicitly trusted as the gatekeeper of specialised knowledge.

However, in the Internet society, where new ways of sharing knowledge exist, the professions come across as opaque and intentionally obfuscated.

Technology experts are finding faster ways to solve problems by decomposing specialist services into component tasks and activities. They are discovering that many of these discrete tasks and activities are not actually complex and can be readily routinised.

Technology
The exponential growth in technology and increasing connectedness of the world has made it possible to automate expertise and rapidly share expert knowledge. A significant development is the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) which has advanced notably in the past few decades.

Susskind said that professionals tend to argue that machines cannot exercise human traits like judgement and creativity.

“This is the wrong question,” he said. “What we need to ask is: to what problem is judgement a solution?” He asserted that judgement is the expertise to deal with uncertainty while creativity is the expertise to deal with originality or novelty. These are problems that a machine can solve better than a human.

Different thinking
However, Susskind also warned against assuming a risk mindset and thinking automation will replace professionals immediately. “Rather, it displaces us from some tasks but makes others more valuable,” he said.

It is important for professionals to adopt technology and not try to preserve their traditional ways of practice. In addition, they should not use technology to simply improve their efficiency in providing the same services as before.
“Instead, they should ask themselves how to achieve their outcomes in a fundamentally different way,” he advised. He suggests they start with a blank sheet.

SAIPA agrees with this assessment, encouraging its members to not do things differently but to do different things. “We cannot continue to offer the same services in the future, only using technology to improve our speed and efficiency importantly digitalisation goes further than simple automating your processes and output; we must acquire the competencies to deliver radically new, value-added services,” said Shahied Daniels, the Institute’s Chief Executive.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
Website: www.saipa.co.za
Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
LinkedIn: South African Institute of Professional Accountants Company
Facebook: South African Institute of Professional Accountants

The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) hosted its second Accounting iNdaba on the 4th and 5th of November.

“The Accounting iNdaba provides a platform to prepare professional accountants for the demands 4IR and other emerging trends will place on the profession over the next decade,” said Shahied Daniels, Chief Executive of SAIPA.

4IR refers to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, that is, the use of new technologies, especially AI-enabled machines and processes, to boost efficiencies in trade and industry.

To be future-ready, accountants need to adapt to this new environment and evolve by gaining additional skills and deepening their knowledge of technological developments. All accountants will need to adjust to stay ahead of the curve. To succeed, they must do this intentionally – by design – in an agreed-upon direction.

The inaugural event, held last year at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, was a resounding success, promising the iNdaba’s regular annual return.

Due to the current pandemic, the function was presented virtually through an online conferencing service.

Theme
The theme of the Accounting iNdaba was Hindsight > Insight > Foresight.

Its purpose is to emphasise the transition of accounting from a strictly administrative function to a value-added strategic advisory service.

“Corporate financial processes and the quantification of accounting data will become more automated,” said Daniels. “Rather than making accountants redundant, this frees them to provide business context to the resulting data and direct organisations towards its meaningful strategic application.”

Fundamental to all future successful accounting firms will be embracing technology developments to improve practice efficiencies, enhance how clients are serviced, and expand the range of services provided.

Accounting practitioners should look at the rise of AI, for example, not in terms of potential job loss, but the elimination or evolution of tasks; this approach will lead them to focus on the opportunities new technologies bring. Professional judgement will remain essential to advising clients and adding value.

Trends
On both days, international and local industry experts spoke on topics covering a variety of concerns.

These included how technology would change the way business is carried out, how this would affect the services expected of accountants, and what competencies they would need to acquire to respond effectively to future demands.

Of note was guest speaker Daniel Susskind, co-author of The Future of Professions and international expert on the effects of technology on professional services. His message was that, ultimately, accountants should not use technology to do their work more efficiently. Rather, they should develop completely new approaches to solving their clients’ problems.

“We are telling SAIPA members that accountants must not do things differently but do different things,” said Daniels. “Daniel Susskind articulated this idea concisely.”

It was also apparent that accountants would need to acquire competency in data analytics to respond to new information requirements and create value from it for their clients and employers.

“Businesses will want their accountants to explain what the numbers mean and what to do about it,” said Arthur Goldstuck, guest speaker and CEO of the technology research firm, World Wide Worx.

Centres launched
The first day of the Accounting iNdaba ended with Daniels and Professor Rashied Small, Executive of Thought Leadership, launching the Institute’s Centre of Future Excellence (CoFe).

The Centre’s purpose will be to gather research and identify emerging trends in business and the accounting profession. It will use this data to develop education, training and promotional programmes for the profession.
Its opening was accompanied by the Centre of Business Advisory (CoBA), along with the new SAIPA designation of Professional Business Advisor (SA). The Institute also launched its revamped Centre of Tax Excellence (CoTE).

“Each Centre focuses on specialised competency needs of the Future-Ready Professional Accountant,” said Daniels.

A successful event
According to Daniels, the event went smoothly. “Of course, we expected some issues but everything went according to plan with excellent technical continuity throughout,” he said.

SAIPA’s Accounting iNdaba will return next year.

ENDS
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
Website: www.saipa.co.za
Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
LinkedIn: South African Institute of Professional Accountants Company
Facebook: South African Institute of Professional Accountants

The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) has ended its old model of issuing hard copy membership certificates, opting instead for a modern, online system of e-certificates.

“E-certificates will allow clients and the public to instantly verify the professional authority of our accountants and the authenticity of their work,” says Faith Ngwenya, Technical and Standards Executive at the Institute.

Each SAIPA member who remains in good standing with the Institute will be provided with a personalised digital seal. This must be displayed on both printed and electronic texts, such as their email signature, business card or financial statements approved by them.

Anyone can click on the seal, or scan its included QR code, to be taken to an online certificate confirming the holder’s identity and membership status.

Why e-certificates?
According to Ngwenya, printed certificates and the process of maintaining them suffer from several shortcomings readily eliminated by modern digital technologies. Specifically, they are easy to lose and harder to replace, whereas e-certificates are downloaded from the Institute’s systems each time the seal is activated.

Physical certificates are also easier to forge and more difficult to validate. E-certificates, however, are updated with the member’s latest credentials and their current standing with the Institute at the moment they are requested.

“This real-time response to inspection requests means that users of accounting services from our members, can immediately see if they are dealing with someone who is qualified and has a clean record with their professional body,” says Ngwenya.

Building trust and professionalism
E-certificates prevent unaffiliated accountants or unqualified impostors from passing themselves off as SAIPA members who bear the Institute’s Professional Accountant (SA) designation.

This includes former members who have been found guilty of misconduct, remain non-compliant with the Institute’s requirements for continuous professional development (CPD), or no longer meet its standards for service excellence and professional ethics.

“E-certificates provide a significant level of transparency that will help us clean up the profession and restore its good reputation while protecting SAIPA’s trusted brand,” says Ngwenya.

Public awareness
SAIPA is encouraging the public to be on the lookout for their accountant’s digital seal and to click or scan it to satisfy themselves they are dealing with an authentic service provider.

If it is not displayed prominently on their vendor’s business stationery or electronic communications, they should query the practitioner about it.

The seal can also be used to provide assurance that a financial statement or report was prepared or approved by a qualified professional.

Future readiness
Shahied Daniels, Chief Executive of SAIPA, says the new system is part of the Institute’s larger strategy to develop Future-Ready Professional Accountants.

“SAIPA has committed itself to lead the evolution of the accountancy profession in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. E-certificates are just one of our initiatives for achieving this goal and ensuring our members remain relevant and responsive in a digital economy,” he says.

Physical SAIPA membership certificates were discontinued in August and should no longer be accepted as proof of professional affiliation.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
Website: www.saipa.co.za
Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
LinkedIn: South African Institute of Professional Accountants Company
Facebook: South African Institute of Professional Accountant

The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) intends to fundamentally
re-imagine the way the accountancy profession is perceived, developed and utilised.
 
This was announced at an online media briefing presented by Shahied Daniels, the Institute’s Chief Executive, on Thursday, 3 September.
 
“We have begun thinking differently about what accountancy is and needs to be in a world marked by advanced technological capabilities and extreme socio-economic conditions,” he said.
 
Daniels outlined how SAIPA will approach these requirements.
 
Ethics
Daniels said that in the 18 years since the Arthur Andersen and Enron incident, and in the wake of other major accounting scandals since, the profession has come under increasing public scrutiny. Accountants are expected to be ethical flag bearers, by providing quality information used to make business decisions which impacts the socio-economic well-being of people, and SAIPA’s objective is to regain the public trust.
 
“Adding additional regulations to existing regulations has proven ineffective, because regulations seldom change behaviour which drives ethical and professional conduct” he said. Rather, it is critical that ethics is continuously reinforced through regular training, awareness and professional bodies holding their members accountable.
 
SAIPA has therefore made ethics a compulsory part of its continuous professional development (CPD) programmes, aligning with SAQA’s current professional accreditation criteria. In addition, SAIPA members must now confirm their commitment to ethical conduct by signing an annual pledge.
 
4IR
SAIPA acknowledges that the accountancy profession is being radically re-imagined by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and plans to prepare its members accordingly.
 
“SAIPA will ensure its members rapidly transition from merely performing mechanical and repetitive tasks to become value creators and to be seen as trusted strategic business advisors by their clients and employers,” said Daniels
 
SAIPA’s premier designation, Professional Accountant (SA), will become a fusion of human competencies and digital capabilities to facilitate effective and ethical decision-making, he said. It would also expand into auxiliary services that extract greater value from accounting data.
 
This means they must acquire new skillsets, such as digital proficiency, data literacy, critical thinking, and strategic assessment of business development initiatives.
 
SAIPA’s response
To improve secondary and tertiary accountancy education, SAIPA is developing an educational roadmap and curriculum that embraces data science, data analytics and digital proficiency as essential competencies for the profession.
 
SAIPA has also grown its National Accounting and Maths Olympiad competition to encourage school leavers to shift their focus from memorisation to cognitive development.
 
Further, the Institute has established a Centre of Future Excellence (CoFE) to ensure its competency framework aligns with an increasingly digital world, both in and beyond 4IR.
 
Small-to-medium accounting practices often build value by collaborating with non-accountants. To assist them, SAIPA has established the Centre of Business Advisory (CoBA) where non-accountants who meet its professional requirements can become affiliate members.
 
According to Daniels, the Institute’s long-running Project Achiever programme, which prepares candidates for its Professional Evaluation, and is funded by the Finance and Accounting Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Fasset), has received much attention for its lasting effects on broader proficiencies and soft skills.
 
Conclusion
Daniels said SAIPA’s initiatives are critical to ensuring the profession is prepared for a digital-driven future.
 
“They will also enable it to evolve its value proposition and service offerings for demands in business and society by creating value,” he said.
 
The date of the briefing was significant in that it marks the 14th anniversary of the Institute’s historic name change to depict the role SAIPA has been fulfilling in the profession over the past 38 years.
 

Accounting professionals who acquire the necessary new skills will position themselves well for an uncertain future in the post-COVID-19 world.

By Professor Rashied Small, Executive: Centre of Future Excellence (CoFE), South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA)

It’s a brave man who will predict the future, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 emergency —everybody was expecting a pandemic, but it was the scale of the response that nobody foresaw. But while one should resist making detailed predictions, it would be equally foolish not to recognise the currents that are going to shape our world and, more particularly, our profession of accounting.

It’s clear that organisations that are agile and responsive to change were more likely to have spotted the threat posed by COVID-19 early on, and thus gave themselves time to ready themselves for change even though they were not necessarily certain about the details of that change.

One of SAIPA’s main aims is to help its members identify the trends that will be shaping the profession, and to help them acquire the skills they need to navigate the uncertain waters of change. We have identified the following trends that look set to disrupt accountancy:

Impact of technology on the profession. The impact of technology on business and society is undeniable, but professionals have tended to feel that they are to a great extent protected from anything more significant than having to learn some new technologies. It’s becoming clearer by the day that this is largely illusory. Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning coupled with the immense processing power of the cloud (the Fourth Industrial Revolution) means that many of the services currently rendered by accountants can be done better, faster and cheaper by software.

At a more profound level, increasingly sophisticated automation means that accountants can no longer rely on producing information — financial statements, balance sheets and so on—but must become information users and knowledge producers. This is good news because accountants are highly skilled people with a lot to offer both the private and public sectors. — and now they can focus on adding genuine value.

This will require a substantial mindset shift for many professional accountants. It will also mean that they will need to invest sensibly in technology and, particularly, in their own technology skills. Only by being expert users of the increasingly sophisticated software that is available will they be able to carve out a niche for themselves.
The days of simply churning out “the numbers” are rapidly ending.

Changing client demands. The flipside of the technology revolution is that clients will be able to do more for themselves, and their demands for advice will become more sophisticated. In many senses, both the private and public sectors are becoming more complex and the environment in which they operate is more uncertain. Their reliance on advice rather than information is likely to grow. Professional accountants must be ready to move from being primarily numbers people to something more like financial strategy consultants or advisors. To make this jump, they will need to understand the value of the data that the systems have generated, and how to use it to advise clients.

In the end, I believe that professional accountants can essentially position themselves as virtual CFOs for smaller enterprises, providing them with the financial insight they need to survive.

Growing regulation. Financial services are already highly regulated but expect more regulation to be coming your way. Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies can be of great assistance in boosting compliance, and professional accountants need to understand how to use them to align themselves with the spirit as well as the letter of the law.

Virtualisation of the working relationship. As many have observed, COVID has forced everybody onto virtual platforms to conduct both business and social life. As with the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies that are transforming their profession, accountants must embrace this change which is likely to be long-lasting. In due course a hybrid model will doubtless emerge, but virtual consultations have much to offer: they save an enormous amount of time and can be remarkably effective. A more virtual client relationship also means that a professional accountant can service a much greater number of clients over a theoretically unlimited geographical area.
Perfecting the technique of using a video call to build or deepen a relationship is going to be an essential skill for professionals as well as businesspeople.

Build resilience into your business model. The disruption caused by the current pandemic should serve as a wake-up call for smart professional accountants. Not only should they focus on risk identification and mitigation, they need to take steps to ensure that their practices are better able to adapt to the unexpected at speed. Above all, resilience will depend on the ability to cope with the materialisation of unforeseen risks.
Rather neatly, those who embrace the technology revolution will find themselves better positioned to change—or “pivot” as the new jargon has it—when the next unexpected challenge comes their way.
Are you future-proofed? 
ENDS


 
MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, stephne@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
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