subject: Appointing An Accounting Officer To Your Existing Business [print this page] Once you begin your own company in South Africa, you will need to appoint an accountant to it, despite the fact that you may expect things to be sluggish at the start. A lot of individuals may perhaps be a little put off by this prospect, but it really is not that big of a deal. Any time you appoint an accountant to a business, you in some way move away from the 'dream' or idea, and suddenly the business turns into a 'real' business immediately after an accountant is designated. Suddenly things become formal. At the least this is certainly the assumption that we typically have.
As stated above, for any new company, an accountant has to be named. Some may hear this word and without delay think that it is going to cost them thousands right off the bat. This is often not true. It is important to distinguish between accountants and chartered accountants or auditors. The latter is of course considerably more expensive, but is only necessary for larger companies with extremely greater income and cash flow.
Normal accountants on the other hand, are normally far less expensive and more adaptable in their methodology to your business. Their month to month fee structures usually also vary from one to another. All things considered, what this boils down to is that although you would need to assign someone like this to oversee your business activities as far as cash flow is concerned, it doesn't have to be an expensive exercise. Having said that, important to remember is always that any financial officer in this capacity should have the obligatory certifications and accreditation so as to be successfully appointed and recognized by the CIPC.
The CIPC is the organization accountable for all company registrations in the South African business place, and just about every new company formed in the republic will have to be registered via this governing body. The Companies And Intellectual Property Commission office works to make sure the formalization of any and all companies in the nation. Essentially they make certain that, among other things, your business name is unique enough to be able to be used in the industry. Other duties include the regulation of Intellectual Property, patents and so on.
Coming back back to the topic though, the following accounting professions for purposes of appointment as accounting officers to companies are in this article. As it turns out there exactly 10 at the moment:
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), Auditors registered in terms of the provisions of the Auditing Profession Act, 2005(CA), The Southern African Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA), The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA), THE IAC who have obtained the Diploma in Accountancy (IAC), The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), The Chartered Institute of Business Management (MCIBM), The South African Institute of Business Accountants (SAIBA), The South African Institute of Government Auditors (SAIGA)
If the person you wish to appoint to your business as accounting officer is part of, or an active fellow member of any one of the bodies pointed out above, you should not have any problem in appointing them, and getting your business registered without this as a possible challenge. Have a look at some great tips for business
