Name: Wihann Rabe (33)
Region: Southern Region
Job Title: Senior Audit Manager
Years in this position: 0.10/9.5 Years in the profession.
Company Name: Mazars South Africa
Entry Category: Practice
| ‘Hire for attitude, train for skill’ – this is something I truly believe in. When your mindset is geared toward success, even the most complicated task can be mastered. This approach effectively steered me in my academic and professional ventures.’
Managing his portfolio of assurance clients across various industries is merely one of his responsibilities as senior audit manager at Mazars. Wihann exploits his creativity to advance the work he delivers and to add value to clients. ‘Innovation is at the forefront of our profession. It emanates many forms and to help unlock the true potential that comes with this progression, is an extremely exciting space to occupy today,’ he says Besides having successfully launched the Mazars-Studio, he is also responsible for the strategic planning and roll-out of Mazars’ national induction programme, the trainees’ technical training programme, and various global, national and local training and business development projects. In December 2015, Wihann spent two months in Paris working on a research project concerning ethics within the supply chain of luxury products. He went back to Paris in June 2017 to represent Mazars South Africa at an Audit Hackathon facilitated by Mazars Group. He is also involved in various CSI projects. He has formed an ongoing relationship with a secondary school in Kayamandi, Stellenbosch. They sponsor their valedictory and provide one-on-one accounting teaching for matric students. He has various PBO clients for which he does reduced fee work and makes their studio available for various third-party projects. He is a strong believer in empowering people from the onset. He does not micro-manage and will always provide that first opportunity to showcase capability and work ethic. ‘Over the years I have realised that the more one allows people to be accountable, the more they accept accountability. When you permit trainees and managers to express their ideas freely, they are likely to take ownership, and this fosters an entrepreneurial mindset.’ Integrity is everything, he says, and this was once again highlighted in an interview he recently had with Professor Thuli Madonsela. ‘Integrity costs nothing, but if you lose it, you lose everything.’ |
