Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has announced a team that will review the Accounting Professions Bill, SABC news reported on Thursday.
The 16-member panel was set up in response to recent accounting scandals in the United States which rocked the global accounting industry.
This move makes South Africa the first emerging market to review its regulation of accounting professionals.
US energy giant Enron was the first to fall. Creative accounting eventually led to the company’s demise sending shock waves across the globe. The panel of accounting professionals has been tasked with making sure this scenario does not play out in South Africa.
Manuel said the panel’s mandate was to raise standards within the profession.
”I think that there is an exciting menu of work ahead for the panel,” Manuel said on Thursday.
”Whether that produces major shake-ups, I cannot say. We do not want to chase people out of the profession, and we also want to attract others in.”
Len Konar will head the panel and his team will make
recommendations on how to regulate auditors and company directors.
They will scrutinise the draft Accounting Professions Bill, which has been 11 years in the making. Said Konar: ”The importance of the work that we will be engaged in underlines the work internationally… done on corporate governance… and the importance of having companies that are properly run, and having individuals that have integrity, so that we can attract capital to this emerging market.”
It is hoped that the panel will have draft legislation
fine-tuned and in place by July next year. – Sapa