This article has been prompted by a report that first appeared in the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors’ newsletter, IRBA News 58. That report noted that the IRBA had noted an increasing trend of deficiencies in the evaluation of uncorrected misstatements. In addition, the enforcement committee (ENCOM) has concluded on a number of matters in…
In previous articles, we have explored the questions triggered by corporate failures about what went wrong and who is to blame. Some suggest that a holistic approach to all the participants in the financial reporting process is needed to prevent corporate failure from happening in the first instance. Fragmented pieces of legislation regulate only some…
There seems to be an ill-conceived belief that placing a company in business rescue should be delayed for as long as possible. Some quarters may believe that you should never use business rescue as it will result in the business losing customers and supplier support. The 2023 Deloitte South Africa Restructuring Survey1 indicated that early…
Medical aid schemes help people to pay for healthcare needs and medical expenses in exchange for monthly contributions. Sometimes medical schemes in South Africa enter into capitation agreements with another party whereby the medical scheme pays, to such party, a pre-negotiated fixed fee in return for the provision of specified benefits to the members. The…
Corporate failures trigger pressing questions about what went wrong and who is to blame. Laws and enforcement mechanisms are questioned, and attempts are made to solve for problems without exploring the core issues. Compliance requires improved scrutiny of the entire ecosystem, particularly in the case of public interest entities and entities with increased technological complexity…
In March 2022, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released guidance on its 15% global minimum tax proposed as the second ‘pillar’ of a project to address the tax challenges arising from the globalisation of the economy specifically as it relates to the impact on the way of working, referred to as the…
A common response to factual insolvency is for a parent company or fellow-subsidiary to provide a so-called ‘letter of comfort’, also known as a ‘letter of support’. The value and benefit of such letters to an auditor (and indeed to the company itself and to its creditors) depend on the specific wording thereof, and in…
The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission’s (CIPC) Corporate Compliance and Disclosure Regulation unit, as part of its functions per section 187(3) of the Companies Act 71 of 2008, covered various areas of enforcement during the past few months. These included qualitative reviews of annual financial statements submitted in iXBRL and proactive monitoring and enforcement of…
Ten Key Challenges for Assurance Engagements IAASB: Feedback on discussion paper AUTHOR │ Hayley Barker Hoogwerf, Project Director: Assurance at SAICA After a board meeting held in December 2017, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) issued a feedback statement to inform stakeholders of the key messages received in response to their outreach activities…
The amendments to the IRBA Code of Professional Conduct for Registered Auditors (IRBA Code) relating to Non-compliance with Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR) may still be relatively new, but have you already been a victim of a myth or two? It happens to all of us. A standard or legislative amendment is released and before you’ve…