September 2021 Issue

BEING OTHER-CENTRED In one of the many books about great leaders and their qualities, The art of leadership, Donald Walters writes about lessons we could learn from George Washington. He gives one profoundly positive example showing that leading others isn’t about driving them, directing them, or coercing them, but about compelling them to join you…

Recommend: Principles versus rules in professional ethics

By adopting a principles-based code, SAICA requires all its members to apply professional judgement at all times to identify, evaluate and address threats to professional accountants’ compliance with the fundamental principles of ethics. These principles determine the standard of behaviour that the public can expect of members of the profession, and adhering to the code…

Recommend: On the relevance of IFRS financial statements

Although billions are spent every year preparing and auditing financial statements, many people question the relevance and usefulness of IFRS-compliant financial statements. In this article I interrogate two common reasons given for IFRS’ declining relevance, discuss two additional considerations, and make a few suggestions I love IFRS. I think it is amazing what one can…

Focus: The digitisation of assurance

Buzzwords like automation, mechanisation and digitisation can sound like the end of the human workforce and the loss of personalisation, but they offer a bright and efficient future for the assurance industry Digitisation, automation and transformation. Machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). The lexicon of technology buzzwords has become, for many sectors, representative of…