After completing his articles and qualifying as a CA(SA), Richard remained with PwC and specialised in taxation, which had always been his first passion together with teaching. He completed his master’s degree in taxation at Nelson Mandela University (NMU) in 2010 while completing his articles. He joined the academic staff of NMU in 2011 as a senior lecturer and quickly became a valued colleague. His commitment to transformation and the provision of opportunity to students led him to coordinate a new postgraduate programme designed as a bridging course into the CTA programme.
In 2011 Richard established a tax consultancy firm. This complemented his role as an academic, as it gave him the opportunity to combine his theoretical work in taxation with practical application. In the period to 2016, Richard developed into an excellent teacher and also developed his tax consultancy firm into a thriving business. At the end of 2016 he resigned from his academic post to focus on tax consultancy.
Richard provides tax services at the highest technical level involving complex tax matters, including tax restructuring for large entities, representing clients at dispute hearings, and facilitating consultations from a tax perspective in the transformation of companies. He also serves as a strategic partner for a number of medium to large entities as well as serving on the board of an audit committee. Richard regularly deals with leading tax experts in the country which has shaped him into the tax specialist he is today. He has advised on the tax implications of transactions in excess of billions of rands.
In keeping with his passion for teaching Richard regularly presents tax updates countrywide for a variety of clients. Richard presents regularly for the Deloitte School of Tax & Legal on a variety of tax topics. He also delivers tax updates to other medium-to-large audit firms and on an ad hoc basis delivers tax lectures to NMU. He finds the interrelationship between theoretical tax and practical tax of significant importance.
On a personal note, Richard enjoys a good squash game and spending time with his young family.
