This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
Moneyweb reports that according to Cosatu, reducing the mandatory audit firm rotation period from 10 years to five and entrenching it into law will be a critical tool in safeguarding against corruption in the public and private sector.
“Ten years is too long given the extent of corruption and incestuous relationships between many auditors and those they are paid to audit,” the trade union federation said on Tuesday. The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (Irba) instituted a rule requiring the rotation of auditing firms after 10 years. Published in 2017, it only comes into effect in 2023. The rule will however not be law. In its submission on the Auditing Profession Amendment Bill to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) select committee on finance, Cosatu said that without entrenching the rule into law, Irba could “simply delete that rule in the face of massive resistance from compromised auditors”. Cosatu went on to argue: “There is the risk that the Irba rotation rule could be rescinded. Placing it into law safeguards this critical anti-corruption tool … Reducing it from 10 to five years will help to begin to clean up the sector.” The bill was passed by the National Assembly last year and is now before the NCOP’s finance committee for a final stamp of approval before being sent to the president, who will then sign it into law. Cosatu also called for Irba to be adequately resourced in order to carry out its regulatory mandate.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thando Maeko at Moneyweb <https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/industry/mandatory-audit-firm-rotation-should-happen-every-five-years-cosatu/>
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page