SAIPA Aids Government’s

South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) provides the skills and ethical standards to stabilize Public Sector

Johannesburg, 01 November 2022

The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) has committed its support of South Africa’s economic recovery and following Finance Minister Encoh Godongwana’s maiden Medium Term Budget Policy Statement delivered in parliament on Wednesday 26 October 2022.

Although the MTBPS is less detailed than the February Budget Review, the speech is usually utilised to introduce legislation for signature into law that gives effect to the Budget Review of 2022 and to address risks that may have an effect on the country as a whole.

“While there are no major surprises in the Ministers speech or the presentations prepared by National Treasury, there are a number of items of importance to note as these would affect the economic growth and stability of the country, particularly governance, legislation and ethics,” observed Phillip Joubert, Manager for the Centre for Tax Excellence at SAIPA.

Governance

The Minister touched on governance in a few instances, these include addressing a number of recommendations from the State Capture Report.

Problems were further exacerbated by poor governance from a local government (or municipal) level. The Ministry, Treasury and other stakeholders will be working with local government to improve the various processes and root out ‘corruption and graft’.

“SAIPA is in a fortunate position where we have been working with other government stakeholders to upskill and improve the levels of competence and ethics within the public sector,” Joubert says. “We currently have projects underway in two provinces, which will result in a number of accounting officers and other financial officers within government attaining the globally recognised Professional Accountants (SA) – Public Sector professional designation and accreditation.”

Legislative changes

“There were very few surprises in the legislative amendments tabled,” Joubert observed. “However, during the consultative process on the Tax Laws Amendment Bills, SAIPA noted a few concerns regarding the Tax Compliance Status changes.”

These proposed changes include situations where Senior SARS Officials may revoke access to the Tax Compliance Status (TCS) system if the official suspects that the compliance level was attained through fraudulent or misrepresented means.

Another change to the TCS system is the endorsement of TCS of newly registered taxpayers.

“SAIPA believes that various institutions may use this endorsement to prejudice newly registered SMME’s, which in turn has a negative impact on the SMMEs growth, and employment capabilities,” Joubert adds. “Another concern is the omission from the legislative changes that will assist companies under Business Rescue to obtain a compliance status during the initial stages of the rescue process.

“SAIPA has also noted again the glaring omission from the legislative changes regarding the deduction of various home-office expenses. As a professional standards body, we are fully prepared and committed to not only provide the necessary skills for public administration, but robust ethical codes and practices to ensure that, as a country, we can effectively eliminate a large amount of risk of abuse of the system,” he concludes.