Bongani Ngubeni’s tale is as inspiring as it is heartwarming. The CA(SA) qualification is a symbol of pride and prestige for many, but for Bongani Ngubeni, it carries extra significance: it’s a sign that he has fulfilled his dream of creating a secure and stable life.
Having grown up in the Village of Hope, a children’s home in Bryanston, Johannesburg, these are attributes which matter greatly to Bongani. There probably aren’t that many CAs who would recall their first friends as the children of people who lived on the street but, says Bongani, the Village was far from a rough environment: because it was linked to the church, his childhood was immersed in that institution’s values and ideals.
Bongani is remarkably matter of fact about his unusual start to life: ‘There were good times and there were bad times. We looked out for each other, but to be honest, I didn’t think much about my circumstances. It was just the way things were.’
They didn’t stay that way for long, though: when Bongani was in Grade 8, the leadership of the home changed and with it, some key regulations. Among these was a stipulation that any child who had a family was required to leave – and because Bongani’s mother was still alive, he was included in this group. Luckily, when he told the principal of the school he attended (which was affiliated to the home) that he would shortly be leaving, he was assured that there was no reason to worry. And, indeed, it wasn’t long before a classmate’s family invited him to stay with them so that his schooling could continue without interruption.
This was the first time Bongani started to consider accountancy as a career because his classmate’s father was a CA. ‘I was impressed by the fact that he was able to support a family of five and live in comfort, and I thought that I’d like that for myself one day,’ Bongani recalls.
This goal became an even greater motivation when a decision was taken to relocate him to his aunt’s house and the steadiness he thought he had found was once more shattered. Again, Bongani’s fortitude shone out – but he attributes his steadfastness in the face of this new challenge to the support of his friends, with whom he remains uncommonly close even today.
Every journey starts with a single step
Bongani says that it was only after he had left school that he learned that his fees at the King’s School had been paid by a family which was close to him at the time. ‘My mother wouldn’t have been able to afford the school because it was private,’ he says.
The next step in Bongani’s education, studying towards accounting at the Pearson Institute of Higher Education, was just as much of a stretch financially, and so he relied on loans to get him through his undergraduate degree. But despite the battle so far, Bongani was determined to continue. ‘By now, my sights were set on becoming a CA, although I still had to complete my studies at a SAICA-accredited institution. And so I applied to UJ for the Bridging Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (BCTA), which is equivalent to third year.’
With finance still problematic, Bongani applied to the Tomorrow Trust after hearing about the organisation from a friend – although he nearly lost this funding after a difficult year. ‘I had only one friend from Pearson with me, because few of us had been accepted for the BCTA, but we lived far apart. The whole year was a struggle – from being at a school where I had lots of friends in my class and enjoyed the lectures, making it relatively easy for me to do well, I found myself dealing with a completely different animal. It was difficult to adapt to the environment, the style of lecturing and the Having grown up in the Village of Hope, a children’s home in Bryanston, Johannesburg, these are attributes which matter greatly to Bongani. There probably aren’t that many CAs who would recall their first friends as the children of people who lived on the street but, says Bongani, the Village was far from a rough environment: because it was linked to the church, his childhood was immersed in that institution’s values and ideals.
Bongani is remarkably matter of fact about his unusual start to life: ‘There were good times and there were bad times. We looked out for each other, but to be honest, I didn’t think much about my circumstances. It was just the way things were.’
They didn’t stay that way for long, though: when Bongani was in Grade 8, the leadership of the home changed and with it, some key regulations. Among these was a stipulation that any child who had a family was required to leave – and because Bongani’s mother was still alive, he was included in this group. Luckily, when he told the principal of the school he attended (which was affiliated to the home) that he would shortly be leaving, he was assured that there was no reason to worry. And, indeed, it wasn’t long before a classmate’s family invited him to stay with them so that his schooling could continue without interruption.
This was the first time Bongani started to consider accountancy as a career because his classmate’s father was a CA. ‘I was impressed by the fact that he was able to support a family of five and live in comfort, and I thought that I’d like that for myself one day,’ Bongani recalls.
This goal became an even greater motivation when a decision was taken to relocate him to his aunt’s house and the steadiness he thought he had found was once more shattered. Again, Bongani’s fortitude shone out – but he attributes his steadfastness in the face of this new challenge to the support of his friends, with whom he remains uncommonly close even today.
Every journey starts with a single step
Bongani says that it was only after he had left school that he learned that his fees at the King’s School had been paid by a family which was close to him at the time. ‘My mother wouldn’t have been able to afford the school because it was private,’ he says.
The next step in Bongani’s education, studying towards accounting at the Pearson Institute of Higher Education, was just as much of a stretch financially, and so he relied on loans to get him through his undergraduate degree. But despite the battle so far, Bongani was determined to continue. ‘By now, my sights were set on becoming a CA, although I still had to complete my studies at a SAICA-accredited institution. And so I applied to UJ for the Bridging Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (BCTA), which is equivalent to third year.’
With finance still problematic, Bongani applied to the Tomorrow Trust after hearing about the organisation from a friend – although he nearly lost this funding after a difficult year. ‘I had only one friend from Pearson with me, because few of us had been accepted for the BCTA, but we lived far apart. The whole year was a struggle – from being at a school where I had lots of friends in my class and enjoyed the lectures, making it relatively easy for me to do well, I found myself dealing with a completely different animal. It was difficult to adapt to the environment, the style of lecturing and the level of detail required in the assessments. Needless to say, my first year of the programme was dismal.’
It was his perseverance that impressed the Tomorrow Trust sufficiently to allow Bongani to try again – and, thankfully, he found his second attempt easier. But, he says honestly, only because there were just two modules to focus on. By the time his honours year came around and he had to stretch his efforts to four modules, he found himself struggling once more. ‘Failing that year broke me. I was sad for a very long time, but I had to push on. I was close to what I wanted to achieve, so I dedicated myself entirely to my studies the following year − and I passed.’
Bongani started his career with articles at E&Y. Following his articles, he joined the technical department, where he gained experience in various areas, including consults on going concerns.
Then, in January this year, he decided to gain international experience with a two-month stint in California; a sojourn which was unfortunately cut short by the outbreak of the coronavirus but which supplied some valuable lessons nonetheless.
Overcoming obstacles
The most important of these lessons is that auditing as a discipline is the same no matter where you practise it. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a different company or a different country, the basics are the same – what differs, though, is the culture of your environment and how hard the people work. And this is what makes some people excel where others lag, Bongani maintains: ‘There is nothing to compare to hard work if you want to get ahead.’
Bongani’s time in the United States also helped him grasp the essence and value of quick, concise communication. But, he adds pragmatically, there’s little doubt that the advent of the coronavirus crisis is set to change the way we communicate with each other. ‘I left for California in January and returned to South Africa in March, just when our country’s lockdown was being implemented. Because California had already been under lockdown, I essentially went from one to another. It was an interesting experience, because usually when people undergo a crisis, they reach out to one another for support. This time around, there seems to have been the opposite effect – people appear to have retreated into negativity.’
Not that he blames them. The post-coronavirus world is going to present us with some difficult challenges and for many, employment will be one of them. Bongani doesn’t believe that he will be immune to the trials of this new world, but he’s ready to approach them with an equanimity acquired, no doubt, by withstanding the seesaw of his childhood. ‘I think that we have a duty to ourselves to remain positive and optimistic, so that’s what I am trying to do. I work hard at this – I limit my exposure to negative information, for instance – but I also have a strong and innate belief that this too shall pass. Even the most unpleasant situations don’t last forever.’
Bongani’s approach to overcoming rough times is to focus on what he enjoys, rather than anything that has the potential to bring him down. Dwelling on negatives can be all-consuming, he points out, and so he strives to keep his mind busy and active by indulging in his favourite hobbies, like reading and exercising. Prayer is also important at such times.
It also helps to have a calm disposition. By his own admission, Bongani is not given to panic, believing that it’s futile to try to achieve something if your mind is in chaos. He prefers to take his time analysing an issue, tackling once his head had cooled.
Looking forward
If the world around us is changing, then so too is the accounting profession, according to Bongani – or, at least, it should be.
How, exactly, does the field need to evolve? ‘We’re facing the unfortunate reality that the industry’s name has been tainted through its association with scandals such as Guptagate. I think that this has changed how people view us.
They no longer believe us to be the stand-up guys they once thought we were,’ Bongani muses. Given that there was truth behind the claims made of certain companies, he can’t fault the public for holding these perceptions – but, he says, it’s sad that the industry’s image should have become tarnished by just a few poor decisions made by just a few people.
He’s hopeful, though, that this sullied image can be turned around. Granted, it will take a lot of hard work, and members of the industry must be seen to do what they do best – and being thorough while they’re at it. For Bongani, this means having the courage to ask (and find answers to) the difficult questions.
One of these involves the accountant’s role as a partner to a business. Bongani maintains that one of the best ways to avoid future scandals is by strengthening the accountant’s independence. Although many entities understand the value of such a stance and strive to entrench it through rigorous onboarding procedures, these may come to nought if the basic principles are not upheld throughout the relationship. Bongani offers a possible solution: if the outcomes of audits were owned by a regulatory body rather than an accountant’s firm, the practitioner’s responsibilities would be limited to execution, and their relationship would be with the regulator rather than the client. In essence, the accountant would become a middleman. ‘This would guarantee greater independence because I question if you can ever be truly independent from someone who is paying you a fee.’
Bongani also believes that both parties would benefit if the texture of the relationship between clients and accountants were to change. ‘At the moment, this relationship feels a little strained. It’s as if there is an uneven balance of power, with the client holding most of the clout because accountants feel grateful for their fees, and clients begrudge that pay. And so we tend to rush the job, getting it over with quickly so that we can get out of their hair. Actually, we would all gain if the relationship were rooted in cooperation. Clients need to understand that they need us just as much as we need them.’
The situation created by the COVID-19 crisis is likely to prove the validity of this theory, he continues, because everything has changed – including the risks companies face. Companies will need guidance as they try to navigate this new world, and this is where accountants can add value. ‘It’s unreasonable to assume that the same practices that have been used before will be effective now. We can’t imagine that the same shoe will fit, year after year,’ Bongani says. ‘Managers need to understand this just as much as their teams.’
It’s hard to predict what the future holds for the profession at this point because there’s so much that’s uncertain. However, Bongani thinks that with many clients forced to shut their doors, many audits will have to scale down and there will be a lot of conversations around going concerns.
Bongani believes that practitioners also need to increase their understanding of financial data sets and how to interpret them, as this will enhance their comprehension of entities and their environment. Auditing typically takes a backward view, he points out, seeking to make sense of the historic application of accounting and the accounting systems used, and analysing these to make sure that companies have reflected a fair presentation of the financial data set made available to the public or used in financial statements. However, companies are now forced to become more future focused. At the same time, a higher degree of automation results in finance roles being potentially scaled down; and so a greater emphasis on understanding forward-looking information (typically involving management judgement) is required. ‘The use of AI, robotics, blockchain technology and possibly even virtual reality must be considered to ensure that the estimates made by management are sound and reflect a pattern that should typically be expected, and that analysis should come through in the audited set of financial statements. In today’s world, data is everything, and I believe that our generation has the agility to make use of available technology to better understand the financial implications of decisions being made by a company as well as a deeper understanding of systems if we tap into that unconventional space. This, in my opinion, will enhance the integrity of the numbers being put forward – maybe this new emphasis will enable us to cut down on the contact time spent on the client sites,’ he says.
As for his own future: he’s currently planning to bulk up his qualifications by studying data science and data analytics. Bongani says that he can see himself making a leap across to the IT sector. ‘I’ve always had a love of technology. It’s something I can’t explain, but I can definitely see myself working in that field.’
