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Business Accountants in Practice (BAPs) may be requested by their clients to prepare financial statements on their behalf. In most instances the client will also require the BAP to issue a report on the prepared financial statements.
All such reports should be performed in terms of:
A report may only be issued once all the above requirements are met.
However, reporting engagements that are classified as an audit, review or compilation, should in addition to the above requirements, adhere to:
IFAC is recognised as a worldwide organisation that represents the accountancy profession. Founded in 1977, its mission is to serve public interest by continuing to strengthen the worldwide accountancy profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies by establishing and promoting adherence to high-quality professional standards, furthering the international convergence of such standards, and speaking out on public interest issues where the profession’s expertise is most relevant.
IFAC established the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) to establish:
CIBA is not a member of IFAC, but has adopted the Codes and Standards as issued by them, except as noted in the CIBA Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI). CIBA members are therefore obligated to adhere to the requirements as detailed in the Code, ISQC1 and the ISAs, ISREs and ISRSs where relevant.
The International Auditing and Assurance Board (IAASB) requires that:
The following acts, regulations and policies require the appointment of an auditor or members of a particular professional body to issue a report on financial information.
(The list is not complete and will be updated. CIBA continuously engage with relevant regulators and departments to obtain additional recognition for CIBA members.)
CIBA Member Guide to Accounting Officer Reporting Engagements
CIBA members that have obtained the designation Business Accountant in Practice (BAP) are recognised as accounting officers.
An accounting officer is a person who meets the qualification requirements as detailed in section 60 of the Close Corporations Act, 1984 and as a result, may issue an accounting officer and other reports on the financial statements and information of close corporations and other entities. Broadly speaking, to qualify as an accounting officer, a person must be a member of a recognised professional body, which, as a condition of membership, requires relevant subjects in accounting and enforces a code of conduct.
Accounting officers have statutory recognition to issue specific types of reports on financial statements and other information. The various statues that provide this recognition are explained and discussed in this Guide.
However, most, if not all of the relevant statutes do not stipulate how a member in practice should perform a reporting engagement. A member and his/her client should therefore determine the scope, extent, and result of the work by way of a contract.
In the absence of a clear agreement a member’s engagement risk will increase significantly.
The purpose of this Guide is to assist members in practice to establish an engagement framework that can be applied when issuing accounting officer or similar reports on financial statements.
A BAP(SA) may be appointed to act as accounting officer for multiple types of entities including close corporations, schools, sectional titles, and many others. The attached Guide explains these appointments in more detail. In addition, an accounting officer appointment may be either a statutory requirement or a voluntary appointment. This means that, for example, a company may request a BAP(SA) to perform accounting officer duties for the company. This is not a statutory requirement, but a voluntary contract entered into between the company and the BAP(SA). In such cases the engagement letter will stipulate that the BAP(SA) is requested to perform the same duties as he/she would perform for a close corporation. The accounting officer will simply report to the company and not the close corporation.