Is your accountant qualified?
Have you ever wondered what the abbreviations next to your accountant’s name mean? And does that mean he or she is properly qualified? Hopefully after reading this post you will have a better idea.
The sad truth is that many members of the public believe that a person who advertises accounting, bookkeeping and tax services is properly qualified.
They convince the public through innovative letterheads and websites of their accounting services that they offer. Some of them also offer their tax services under the name and style of compliance officers, a title which is carried by some officials of government departments who are enforcing legislation.
All tax practitioners do not have accounting and tax knowledge.
Tax practitioners doing efiling and receive fees for consultations must be registered with SARS and a controlling body or else face criminal sanctions, including the taxpayer.
The mere fact that a person has worked for SARS does not guarantee they can do taxes or that they can do anything special for you at SARS.
Accounting and taxes are a specialised field and all registered accountants and auditors are extensively trained.
The qualifications of a medical doctor are equal to a NQF level eight or higher, well-trained accountants (CAs, MBAs and post graduates ) also equate to a NQF level eight or higher.
The problem is that the term accountant is used very broadly.
Some people call bookkeepers accountants, others call accountants bookkeepers and others refer to accountants as auditors.
Who is to blame? We, the accountants of course. With the exception of the term CA(SA) and perhaps Professional Accountant (SA) do you know what AGA(SA), MIAC, FIAC, Business Accountant, CJBIcb (SA), CSBIcb (SA) CTFAIcb (SA), ACMA, FCMA, AAC,RAA, ACIS, FCIS,CAT, IACAO, IACAT stands for?
Needless to say anybody qualified as an auditor or accounting officer should be more than capable of doing bookkeeping work.
The bottom line is if you get a person to do your bookkeeping, accounting and tax work and you do not see any of the above qualifications next to their name, you increase the risk to burn your fingers.
Unqualified bookkeepers do not go for on-going training, can not be disciplined and do not have indemnity insurance and can not be verified at all, as opposed to registered accountants (who are members of a professional body ).
You may find a capable person to handle your books who does not belong to one of the above bodies. They do exist. But they are in the minority in my experience.
What should the public do ? Ask your accountant to reveal his membership of one of the controlling bodies in South Africa and even make a phone call to the accounting body to verify details.
If he/she can not be verified, stop making use of the tax practitioner’s services immediately.
As professional accountants we embrace the fact that the tax profession is also now regulated as in the case with the insurance, legal and property industry.
Johan Vosloo can be contacted on 011 918 5958/3321 and is a professional accountant from Vosloo and Associates in Boksburg with a B. Com (Hons) and M. Com (Financial Management).
