In 2025, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants became the security guard this writer kept mistaking for the police. Its leadership was at pains to correct the record: it is not a statutory regulator, and it certainly is not the police. The South African machinery of justice is running on fumes.
The Hawks are overburdened, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is painfully slow, and the path from prima facie evidence to an orange overall can take a decade. Into this vacuum of accountability, this writer projected his desperation onto professional bodies. Specifically, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) to be the arbiter of morality in the boardroom.
When a CFO – more often than not a registered chartered accountant (although this is not a JSE listing requirement) – allegedly cooks the books or a CEO loots a VBS, we don’t just want them fired; we want them stripped of the CA(SA) title. But there is a growing dissonance between the swift justice the public demands and the operational reality of a voluntary membership body. To understand why Saica disciplinary action seems to move at a glacial pace, you have to look at the tools in its belt.
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Alicia Daniels, Saica project director for legal and discipline,previously told Daily Maverickabout the structural limitations they face compared to bodies like the IRBA (Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors) or the Zondo Commission. “We’re not a regulator. We’re not, you know, law enforcement,” Daniels explained.
“And so that comes with limited powers… we don’t have powers of subpoena.” This is the subpoena deficit. A police officer has a badge, a gun, and the legal right – when granted by a court official – to kick down a door to seize a hard drive.
Saica describes its position essentially as a private security guard. A security guard can enforce rules on the property, in this case, the CA(SA) profession, but if a crime is committed, they cannot force anyone to talk or hand over evidence. “We can’t demand reports,” Daniels said, which forces the institute into a reactive corner.
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