Find Accountancy, Audit and Tax expertise in South Africa
- Overview
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Overview
The accountancy profession in South Africa is well established and respected by the international business community. Local branches of the ‘Big Four’ international accounting firms audit most of the public listed companies. Domestic accounting firms dominate the small and medium enterprise sector. Responsibility for accounting standards is taken by the African Accounting Practices Board (APB) which works within the framework of the Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP). These are issued by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). Companies in South Africa can follow either IFRS or South African Statements of Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (SA GAAP). Auditing requirements in the country are set out by the Companies Act (2011). This latest version of the Act sets out the minimum level of accounting records which must be kept by companies. It was hoped that the 2011 amendments to the 2008 Companies Act would clarify some points concerning auditing standards which had proved problematic in previous acts. The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report (2012-2013) ranks South Africa first out of 144 countries with regards to strength of auditing and reporting standards with a score of 6.6 out of 7, well above the world mean of 4.6.
