Pretoria - SA accountants must take full advantage of a business windfall, says the SA Institute of Business Accountants (Saiba).
The institute has urged accountants to market themselves in accordance with legislation that requires their services more than ever before.
Saiba CEO Nicolaas van Wyk said that accountants should familiarise themselves with sections of the Companies Act 2008 which presented significant opportunities for accountants to acquire business.
Auditors
He explained that the Act prohibited auditors engaged to perform a statutory audit of a company or a close corporation from preparing financial statements for that same company, leaving the door open to accountants to do that work.
“Many accountants are unaware of or unclear about the advantages that this presents to them in the form of non-audit services that were handled by auditors previously.“ said van Wyk.
“Because auditors may no longer conduct both services for the same client, accountants should be actively looking to enter into agreements with auditors to prepare financial statements for that auditor's clients.”
Audit function
In line with the Act, it would make sense for auditors to outsource accountants to produce annual financial statements. In other cases, businesses themselves will have seen the need to restructure the way they work by outsourcing their preparation work to accountants or changing their audit function to independent review.
“Either way, the legislation is good news to accountants because companies are forced to accept that professionals who prepared their financial statements in the past, may no longer perform their audit as well. This brings accountants neatly into the loop,” said Van Wyk.
The institute has urged accountants to market themselves in accordance with legislation that requires their services more than ever before.
Saiba CEO Nicolaas van Wyk said that accountants should familiarise themselves with sections of the Companies Act 2008 which presented significant opportunities for accountants to acquire business.
Auditors
He explained that the Act prohibited auditors engaged to perform a statutory audit of a company or a close corporation from preparing financial statements for that same company, leaving the door open to accountants to do that work.
“Many accountants are unaware of or unclear about the advantages that this presents to them in the form of non-audit services that were handled by auditors previously.“ said van Wyk.
“Because auditors may no longer conduct both services for the same client, accountants should be actively looking to enter into agreements with auditors to prepare financial statements for that auditor's clients.”
Audit function
In line with the Act, it would make sense for auditors to outsource accountants to produce annual financial statements. In other cases, businesses themselves will have seen the need to restructure the way they work by outsourcing their preparation work to accountants or changing their audit function to independent review.
“Either way, the legislation is good news to accountants because companies are forced to accept that professionals who prepared their financial statements in the past, may no longer perform their audit as well. This brings accountants neatly into the loop,” said Van Wyk.