SAICA - The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants

About

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) is the professional home of Chartered Accountants [CAs(SA)] who are leaders in business, government and the communities they serve.

Description

The institute provides a wide range of support services to more than 38 000 CAs(SA) who hold positions as chief executive officers (CEOs), chief financial officers (CFOs), managing directors, board directors, entrepreneurs, academics, auditors and leaders in their spheres of business operation. Most of these members operate in commerce and industry, and play a significant role in the nation’s highly dynamic business sector and economic development.

Recent research conducted by SAICA revealed that nearly a quarter of the CEOs of the 200 largest listed companies are CAs(SA) and in those companies 78% of the CFOs also hold this prestigious designation.

SAICA serves the interests not only of the Chartered Accountancy profession, but also of society in general through its key objective of upholding professional standards and integrity. The pre-eminence of South African Chartered Accountants [CAs(SA)] nationally and internationally attests to the successes achieved by SAICA on a broad global canvas. SAICA’s members enjoy the privilege of using the highly regarded and prestigious CA(SA) designation. Members of SAICA are subjected to a Code of Professional Conduct, which provides guidelines for ethical and professional behaviour. Fundamental ethical principles to which CAs(SA) are expected to achieve include:

* Integrity;
* Objectivity;
* Professional Competence and Due Care;
* Confidentiality; and
* Professional Behaviour.

Regional representation:

SAICA is constituted of four local regional offices as well as two international representative offices, which serve members based in those respective regions. The regions are as follows;

* Northern Region (Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces);
* Eastern Region (KwaZulu-Natal province);
* Southern Region (Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces);
* Central Region (Free State, North West and Northern Cape provinces);
* SAICA Australia; and
* SAICA United Kingdom (UK).

Transformation and Growth:

One of SAICA’s prime goals is to strengthen the country’s economy by playing a significant and leading role in transformation and skills development. The Thuthuka Education Upliftment Project, a pioneering initiative to promote transformation in the profession, was launched in the Eastern Cape in 2002 and is fast growing into a national project. Thuthuka’s objective is to transform the demographics of the profession to reflect those of the country in terms of race and gender, and provide educational support to African learners and students for the benefit of the profession while simultaneously helping to uplift communities.

SAICA prides itself in leading the chartered accountancy profession as a socially responsible driver of business and skills development by supporting and encouraging enterprise development initiatives.

Enterprise Development:

In 2005, The Hope Factory, one of SAICA’s enterprise development initiatives, won a Sowetan/Old Mutual/SABC Community Builder of the Year Award for providing employment and career opportunities to the unemployed, previously disadvantaged and youth. The Hope Factory also recently won the 2007 GIBS Social Entrepreneur on the Brink Award and was runner up in the 2009 Southern African Social Entrepreneur (SASE) of the year awards.

The Hope Factory designs a wide range of beautiful, handmade corporate gifts and conference materials tailored to suit the corporate market. More than 650 formerly unemployed women have directly benefited from The Hope Factory’s job and wealth creation efforts. Hundreds more have derived indirect benefit.

Founded in 2001, The Hope Factory provides a holistic 15-week training programme in:

• Technical skills: sewing, pattern marking, beadwork and other crafts;
• Business skills: entrepreneurship and small business;
• Life skills: time management, CV writing and HIV/AIDS.

Throughout the Job Creation and Training Programme, The Hope Factory provides mentorship, evaluations, advice and support. Mentorship also offers networking opportunities, contacts with other training centres and further employment opportunities. During the training course, learners meet with their mentors on a monthly basis to discuss their future options and have follow up session for two years after graduation for sustainability. For more information visit www.thehopefactory.co.za

The purpose of the group is to reach out to members of SAICA all over the world and enable entrepreneurs as well as business owners or anyone in business needing advice from South Africa’s business leaders, CAs(SA).

For more information on SAICA visit www.saica.co.za