SAIPA - October 2021 - Join the Accountancy Revolution by Independent Media Digital Magazines

OCTOBER 2021

Join the Accountancy Revolution Accounting iNdaba 2021 2 - 3 November

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CONTENTS

SAIPA’s “Accountancy Revolution” iNdaba - the virtual accountancy event of the year - is less than three weeks away.

Steyn City

In this, the second edition of SAIPA’s

Draftworx Cloud

digital magazine series, some of the

The future of accounting swaps figures for value

world-renowned experts and thought

SAIPA Accountancy Revolution iNdaba

leaders speaking at iNdaba 2021

Meet the iNdaba Speakers

share their insights into how AI and

Vusi Thembekwayo – This is the next

SYSPRO – What is ERP?

Jashwin Baijoo – Cryptocurrency taxation

IIE MSA – Progress your career in accounting

In addition, Professor Rashied Small,

IIASA

Executive of the Centre of Future Ex-

John Sanei – The Fourth turning

Hanlie Smuts – Information is a business asset

SYSPRO – Building a legacy

Hanlie Smuts - Information asset management

SAIPA

Helena Strauss - Sustainable Leadership

looks at the “heart knowledge” of

PPS Short-Term Insurance

sustainable and successful leader-

Steyn City

ship in the 21st Century.

corporate data management are shaping the future of the accounting profession.

cellence at SAIPA unpacks how the value of professional accountants will soon be determined by their ability to interpret corporate data produced and processed by AI tools. Closing the edition, Helena Strauss

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The future of accounting

swaps figures for value THE valuE of professional accountants will soon be determined by their ability to interpret corporate data produced and processed by Artificial Intelligence tools. “We might even see the position of Chief Financial Officer be replaced by Chief Value Officer – as the ultimate career goal of a Professional Accountant (SA),” says Prof Rashied Small, the Executive of the Centre of Future Excellence at South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA). “Traditionally responsible for the majority of accounting functions throughout the lifecycle of any business, a Professional Accountant (SA) needs to continuously add to their already extensive set of skills.” According to Prof Small, the latest skills that a Professional Accountant (SA) needs to learn revolve around infonomics and sustainability. “Infonomics refers to the economic value businesses can achieve by turning raw corporate data into a rich platform for strategic decision-making that allows for sustainability,” explains Prof Small. “Infonomics allows accountants to advise business leaders on producing profits while simultaneously benefiting society, the environment and the greater economy.”

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Experts speaking at the virtual SAIPA Accounting iNdaba 2021, scheduled for 2-3 November 2021, will unpack a variety of topics within the theme of infonomics and sustainability, including – among others – how to assess the integrity and quality of data, ethical use of technology, integrated thinking for business sustainability, the dream vs reality status of cryptocurrency, understanding sustainable value creation, taxation in a digital economy, and cybersecurity in a cloud accounting environment. Contributors to the technical sessions will include Dr Hanlie Smuts – Associate Professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of Pretoria, Raj Dhanlall – board member of the South Africa Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), Helena Strauss from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Jashwin baidoo – an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa, and Ettiene Retief – Chairman of the National Tax and SARS Committee at SAIPA. To add perspective and breadth to the technical depth of the iNdaba programme, business celebrity Vusi Thembekwayo, futurist John Sanei, legal expert Emma Sadleir, and sayit-like-it-is Prof Jonathan Jansen have also been secured as speakers. “We are grateful and proud that the SAIPA Accounting iNdaba is considered as an investment opportunity by several high-profile sponsors,” says Shahied Daniels, Chief Executive of SAIPA.

SAIPA ACCOUNTING INDABA 2021 2 + 3 November

ONLINE

“Standard Bank and Xero are the two platinum sponsors, Sage has taken up the gold sponsorship, Draftworx and Syspro are on board as silver sponsors, and bronze sponsors are Bridgement, PPS, and CAMAF. Other iNdaba sponsors include the Department of Accountancy at the University of Johannesburg, CaseWare Africa, AdaptIT, and AssetSure.” “With the ever-increasing speed of change, if you fall even just one step behind others, you will most probably not have time to make up for the lack of knowledge and experience later,” says Daniels. “It is the responsibility of each professional to fight against the so-called “Zoom fatigue” we’re all experiencing and continue to attend as many learning opportunities as possible.”

The SAIPA Accounting iNdaba 2021 will be held online on 2 and 3 November. More information and registration is available at https://www.saipa. co.za/accounting-indaba-2021/

ACCOUNTANCY REVOLUTION JOIN

THE

– INFONOMICS AND SUSTAINABILITY

2 & 3 NOV 2021

TWO DAYS ONE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE A HOST OF WORLDCLASS SPEAKERS AND DYNAMIC THINKERS The countdown to the virtual accountancy event of the year has officially begun. Catch all the action as we unpack infonomics and business sustainability by securing a front row seat to conversations led by some of the best minds in industry.

Secure your 2021 Accounting iNdaba tickets at 2020 rates

Not a member? Create your own profile and register

• A totally virtual experience, join us from anywhere in the world.

WHAT TO EXPECT

• Interact with world-renowned expert speakers and industry leaders, as they review the important role professional accountants will play as interpreters of corporate data to provide rich insight for strategic decision-making.

Listen to and engage with some of industry’s most brilliant minds as they unpack topics such as: • Tax and digitisation (4IR) • Understanding value creation • How to assess the integrity and quality of data that drives value change in organisations • The role of the professional accountant as Chief Value Oﬃcer (CVO) and the need for integrated thinking for business sustainability • Cybersecurity in a cloud accounting environment • Taxation in a digital economy, and the dreamversus-reality status of cryptocurrency • The role of professional accountants in reducing fraud and corruption • The value of information • The roles of future professional accountants

Visit the SAIPA website for more information

ACCOUNTING SAIPA

Y O U R W E A LT H

2021

MEET THE SPEAKERS | 2 & 3 NOV 2021

Vusi Thembekwayo Prof Jonathan Jansen

Faith Ngwenya

Ettiene Retief

Jashwin Baijoo

John Sanei

Helena Strauss

Hanlie Smuts

Emma Sadleir

Raj Dhanlall

Vusi Thembekwayo, Global speaker, venture investor and leader But the world is moving. And fast.

THE BUSINESS is strong and the economy is growing. The financials are complete. The client is happy. Not only this, but the financials are done in a tenth of the time at a quarter of the cost. The lead accountant is Maria. Maria is a robotic technology that runs on a DAO protocol built on Ethereum that enables the oracles on the project to ensure that client financials are done at phenomenal speed. Maria is not a 1s and 0s computer interface with dash-dash code on the screen. She has a face. A smile. And a protocol written into her code that enables her to develop human-like characteristics. Even a sense of humor. Maria has an API plug-in that sources data from platforms where transactions are originated. Bank accountants, online stores, social media data, google searches and even geo-locations are all written into Maria API and this enables her to understand not only the transaction that she is processing but also the context and reason for those transactions. That means that Maria can pass journals, allocate transactions end recon the notorious “Bank” without a single client query. TM

Maria has effectively replaced the bookkeeper, the client manager, the client accountant and the senior accountant. Not only this but because Maria is part of a networked system of like robotic intelligence using Machine Learning to augment their work, Maria is fed with a daily dose of the latest market trends, fresh industry data and anonymised competitor statistics, published market news, latest trends in legislated areas such as tax, most contemporary court judgments and the holy grail, competitor news. Basically, Maria is not just doing the books. But Maria is smart. Really smart. And getting smarter every single day. I know what you are thinking. I too run a business (several in fact) in South Africa. I get the pressures, the perilous state of our economy, the dire state of our politics and the senseless nature of chronic levels of theft clothed by the civilised phrase, corruption. I know that amongst your worries are the civil rest-inducing levels of youth unemployment, the insidious rate of crime and the parasitic levels of incompetence often seen in our public service. I know.

When I started my first business, you didn’t have online banking plugins that would update your accounting system with the latest transactions on your account. You certainly didn’t have automated rules for transactions so that transactions that met the same criteria will follow the same path. Today not only is this happening, but it is also happening for micro businesses for a subscription service of R350 a month. My sense is that robotic intelligence doing the task I have described above is about five years away. And it will be introduced not as a single robotic entity that is able to interface with people (what we call co-bots) but rather as a series of application features onto your current accounting system. It will start as a feature-led innovation (and if you pay close attention, you already see this happening). It will then become a competitive advantage for the accounting practices ready to invest in this technology. Soon, driven by the efficiency of these systems, it will be the standard for all professional firms.

This is not in the far-off future. This is in the NEXT. Are you ready?

723425 OSFF

Taxation and value creation in a digital economy: Cryptocurrency - fact or fable? The current speculation around the taxation of cryptocurrency in South Africa is something that keeps many South Africans up at night. even though the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has issued some basic guidance on crypto assets, being digital representations of value, and their underlying block chain technologies, there is still much uncertainty afoot. The Crypto Conundrum

Jashwin Baijoo

Currently, the most prevalent question of every crypto asset holder’s mind, is how SARS will make a determination on the value creation in the digital economy, and how will this impact the classification of cryptocurrency i.e. Is it an asset or revenue in the hands of the holder? This classification should, in the ordinary course, follow the ‘fruit versus tree’ analogy as set out in the case of Visser v CIR SATC 271, but then what of the staking of cryptocurrency, or arbitrage trading? With so many variables in play, the taxation of cryptocurrency, even though fact, may have some facets of a fable in its application.

How value creation in a digital economy impacts taxation of cryptocurrency For anything to be subject to taxation, there must be a value upon which the taxation is levied. When it comes to a wild card like cryptocurrency, the hardest part still may be obtaining this valuation, which, though directly proportional to supply and demand, consists of a multitude of CSVs, over any amount of time, as the time of taxation is only upon disposal. In order to even attempt to comprehend the above, and its impact of value creation in a digital market, we must first go back to basics, before delving into the complexities of crypto-taxation.

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Join us for the Premier Internal Auditing Event of the Year THE 24TH ANNUAL SOUTHERN AFRICAN INTERNAL AUDIT ONLINE CONFERENCE Themed:

Next Generation of Internal Audit 2-4 November 2021 | Online

The Institute of Internal Auditors South Africa (IIA SA) will be hosting the 24th Annual Conference from 2-4 November 2021, themed: ‘Next generation of internal audit’. Due to the impact of the global pandemic, the Conference will once again run as a Virtual Conference. The Conference is the premier internal auditing event of the year, and features plenary sessions as well as parallel tracks with several prominent speakers and experts in the ﬁelds of internal auditing, governance, risk management and business. To register please visit our website

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Ever heard about the fourth turning? It’s offered many of my corporate clients valuable context in crisis The question is: How are you preparing your business for the next turning? Doom, gloom - and room for new

BY JOHN SANEI AS A futures strategist, I know that the recent pandemic cannot be seen in isolation. The Saeculum is an ancient unit of time that spans 80 to 100 years. It’s about the length of a human lifetime. It is history’s four turnings or seasons: Growth, Maturation, Entropy and Destruction. All around I see people changing how they feel about themselves, their culture, their nation, their future. Uncertainty shakes economies, politics and realities. Millennials and boomers are jostling over the shape of the world to come, as one generation enters old age and the other enters adulthood. This happens every 80 years – and we’re in that Fourth turning now. It marks the beginning of the end of a cycle. And there’s another to follow: Growth, Spring, Renaissance.

As governments, regimes and corporates grapple with the way forward, let’s be honest – things, as they stand, are not looking so peachy. The pandemic raised the alarm for history to stir, but it is not the first time. World wars, the Bubonic Plague, the Spanish Flu, Covid-19 (and all its variants) have all signalled that a cycle is ending. Globalisation looks like it will end. Immigration restrictions will multiply. Isolationism looks like it is returning. Industrial policies might come back. Intrusive and dictatorial regimes are likely. As our world revolves and evolves, we need to be using this space between cycles to be aware of crafting a new history in order to enter a new cycle in our businesses and to allow the flow of new ideas. But critically, we also need to use this space to focus on inclusion, fair distribution of resources and sustainability.

What is your business doing to craft these principles into its story moving forward? Could education be holding your business back? Many of us are rehearsed in responding to the rules of a complicated world. These require an automated response to a system of patterns. But a complex world has no defining boundaries – just unpredictability. There is uncertainty around how to respond when the rules have changed so drastically. Ironically, the more educated a person, the less likely they’ll see a solution if it’s not in the framework of rules they were taught to think in. This could be the stumbling block to understanding the new world – and it is why intuition will far outweigh education going forward. So, I ask you, how is your business prizing intuition over education?

* John Sanei is a futures strategist, human behaviour specialist, author and keynote speaker. Faculty at Singularity U & Duke CE Faculty. Associate partner at Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. TM

INFONOMICS: THE ECONOMICS OF INFORMATION

Understanding the value of information as a business asset BY DR HANLIE SMUTS DECISION makers at all levels devote substantial efforts to making appropriate and applicable organisational decisions. Theorists and practitioners alike consider decision-making to be a core managerial function and as business decisions must often be explained, the best motivation for this is to have reliable and consistent supporting information that shows historical trends that may be applied to predict future business outcomes. When considering these outcomes, then it is suggested that an organisation should design its structure and business processes to facilitate information processing and enable an information processing capability. When an organisation accesses accurate and complete information about the interrelationship between choices and consequences, then the organisation will be empowered to generate viable organisational strategies and ultimately enhance organisational performance! Of all the organisational resources such as people, finances and fixed assets, information is hardly ever included and probably the least well

managed - if an organisation managed their finances as poorly as their information, they would probably be out of business. Traditional assets have application and transactional limitations which means they cannot be used simultaneously across multiple use cases or physical locations; fixed assets’ value decreases with usage. However, information assets are not impacted by these limitations, in fact, its value increases as it is applied and processed more, shared and manipulated. As information broadly meets the accounting definition of an asset, it is worth taking a closer look. Information, a misunderstood asset The organisational approach that measures the value of information by recognising, accounting and handling data as a business asset, is referred to as infonomics. Furthermore, organisations consider ways to optimally monetise the insights hidden in the data. They achieve direct monetisation through creating an informationbased marketplace and indirect monetisation by extracting value from information which informs

Dr Hanlie Smuts

the business and generates value within the organisation. Information drives these business processes and decisions.Gartner defines infonomics as “the emerging discipline of managing and accounting for information with the same or similar rigor and formality as other traditional assets and liabilities (such as financial, physical and intangible assets and human capital)”. Infonomics is the economics of information and it is increasingly inevitable for organisations to treat information as a real asset.

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...continued from previous page Account for information as an asset Infonomics provide organisations with a foundation and methods for quantifying information asset value and formal information asset management practices. Infonomics posit that information should be considered a new asset class in that it has measurable economic value and other properties that qualify it to be accounted for and administered as any other recognised type of asset. There are significant strategic, operational and financial reasons for doing so. In his work on Infonomics, Douglas Laney shared six information valuation models - three focused on non-financial valuations and three on financial evaluation models.

Non-financial information valuations

• Intrinsic Value – How accurate, comprehensive and exclusive is this information? • Business Value – How effective and relevant is this information for specific business purposes? • Performance Value – How does the information affect strategic business drivers?

Financial information valuation

• Cost Value – How much did it cost to collect the information and what would it cost to replace if lost? • Market Value – What could the business get from trading, bartering or selling this information? • Economic Value – How does this information contribute to revenue and expense savings?

Regardless of what financial reporting standards may dictate, quantifying the value of information assets offers a range of benefits to the organisation.

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INFONOMICS: THE ECONOMICS OF INFORMATION

7 Key factors for information asset management BY DR HANLIE SMUTS Although information assets may not formally be recognised on a balance sheet, it is good practice for organisations to begin valuing their information assets so that it can be managed and wielded more effectively. Here are 7 key factors for information asset management: 1. Recognise and manage complexity Organisations are complex environments with access to big data datasets. With access to so much data and information, it is sometimes difficult to identify the useful data; it is not an information gathering problem, it is a filtering problem. The starting point is to create a clear information asset vision with the desired outcomes of the information management strategy. This describes and communicates how the organisation will operate and manage its information assets. In addition, it enables each department in the organisation to align themselves to the ultimate information asset

management objective, and to make informed decisions about the best approaches. 2. Focus on adoption Successful information asset management is about organisational and cultural change, as information management systems need the active participation of employees throughout the organisation. The level of participation is based on achieving sufficient adoption to ensure that required information is captured. Through change management programmes the organisation can ensure a critical mass of usage, ensuring that the systems that are deployed are useful and usable for employees. Effort must then be put into generating a sufficient sense of urgency to drive the deployment and adoption of new systems and processes. Stakeholders must all be engaged and involved in the information asset drive to ensure that there is support at all levels in the organisation.

3. Understand and measure information ROI It is not enough to only improve information management “in the background”. While such improvement may deliver advantages, focus must be on demonstrating the return on investment (ROI) of information asset management, and how it delivers tangible and visible benefits such as the ROI that information delivers before and after investment in information technology. Understanding the value of information associated with organisational contracts, may assist to better assess a contract’s value and risks in order to set damage limits. Therefore, map the data application to business processes, technologies and organisational projects in order to create a basis from where ROI may be calculated. In fact, organisations that plan to become more information-centric and implement information-based business models, should make it a critical function to audit the actual and potential value of their information assets.

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...continued from previous page 4. Improve information governance

6. Mitigate risks

Ensure that the organisation understands what information assets are already in place, and properly classify and create information asset inventories for any other asset listed in the balance sheet. Leverage AI, machine learning and natural language processing to ensure both older and new information is organised properly. Set up information policies, including retention policies that align with compliance regulations and other business rules to manage the information. Such policies may include organising and classifying information assets into logical categories with relevant metadata, guidelines around cleaning out information assets no longer needed or that is past its retention period or value, better management of 3rd party data sources and identifying information liabilities where the retention cost outweighs the future value of the information asset.

Due to the intrinsic complexity of an organisation, there are many risks related to the implementation of information asset management solutions such as selecting inappropriate technology solutions, changing business requirements, integrating systems and failure to gain adoption by employees. Identify risks early on and determine mitigating action or risk avoidance strategies in order to manage information-based business models.

5. Secure information Apply and monitor security and permissions to ensure only the right people have access to the information wherever it resides and according to information sensitivity. This will reduce risks and costs related to cyber theft and improper internal – whether accidental or on purpose - information disclosure. While improving understanding and measuring of information assets, as well as establishing proper information governance, also establish an information security budget aligned to the probable economic value of losing or misappropriating the information asset. If the budget is more costly than the value of the information assets, it may not be worth investing in expensive security tools.

7. Demonstrate information asset value What you do, often is more important than what you say. When implementing your information asset management strategy, choose opportunities where the organisation as a whole would be interested in, and cares about. This will set the organisation on the right path towards better information management practices and application of technologies. In addition, it will build momentum for future activities, deliver tangible and visible benefits and generate interest and enthusiasm from both end-users and stakeholders. All information has a future economic benefit Supplemental balance sheets that include information asset value can be an effective tool for planning, measuring and demonstrating information management maturity. This will also give CEOs a better overall picture of business value, provide CFOs with a tool for gauging investments and performance and give CIOs a technology mandate to support the organisation in managing information as a strategic asset.

Successful information asset management is about organisational and cultural change

Business leaders need to keep this in mind when considering business strategies and options for acquiring, administering and applying information. Information-centred success is based on a number of factors, such as its completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness and business process relevance. And like any asset, information asset value depends upon the organisation’s capacity to deploy it – start with the first step today. TM

YO U R W E A LT H

Professional Accountant (SA) is not just a professional designation. SAIPA

Y O U R W E A LT H

IT’S A SEAL OF TRUST.

SAIPA members aim to provide the highest level of expertise and service to clients and are bound by the Institute’s Professional Conduct Standards and Ethical Pledge. They also act as trusted business advisors, assisting and driving businesses to not only survive but thrive.

SAIPA – DEVELOPING FUTURE-READY PROFESSIONALS www.saipa.co.za info@saipa.co.za

Sustainable Leadership in the 21st Century THE Covid-19 pandemic has once again highlighted the importance of leadership and the impact leaders’ actions can have on a micro and macro level. Leadership is a major responsibility, and our actions have consequences. William Shakespear wrote “Love all, trust few and do wrong to none”. I believe that the time has come for honest and authentic leaders to rise and help mend a broken world. Without focussing too much on the academic side of leadership, this article focuses on the “heart knowledge” of sustainable and successful leadership. Leadership can take many forms and inevitably, we are all leaders, irrespective of whether we are in leadership positions or not. A short summary of important characteristics of successful and sustainable leaders in the 21st Century follows. Honesty and Integrity: It’s not only what you say, but also what you don’t say Digitalisation enables leaders to communicate (and influence) freely and in real-time. Various platforms such as e-mail, social media, YouTube, mainstream news outlets, journals, and blogs can be used to communicate and influence. Honest communication is, however, key to any leaders’ success irrespective whether it forms part of her/his set of personal values. Integrity and honest communication include, however, not only what is said, but also what is not said. The omission of important facts that influence others’ behaviours and decisions are as important indicators of integrity and honesty as is transparent and honest communication. An excellent example demonstrating the use of the media to influence and the link to integrity and honesty are well demonstrated in a documentary called The Great Hack.

Helena Strauss

Authenticity: Be yourself Humanity evolved with digitalisation and some create digital “alter egos” of themselves. These are based on what people think society needs or expect of them and does not necessarily reflect who they really are. This also pertains to leaders. Building rapport is an important element of any leader – so is being true to oneself. Rapport is built when someone can, amongst others, relate to you as a person and your personal values. It has, however, become quite easy to manipulate this picture by creating digital “alter egos”. William Shakespeare wrote: “If we are true to ourselves, we cannot be false to anyone”. I believe history shows that the authentic leader will enjoy long-term success.

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Collaboration: Use quality data and value the opinions of others The 21st century allows leaders to collect, analyse and convert information from a large pool of data into knowledge and wisdom. This is an asset that historical leaders did not necessarily have. We also find ourselves in a world where people have specialised in various fields which enables leaders to obtain detailed and specialised knowledge and wisdom. Real-life interaction and collaboration to enhance decision-making and strategic alignment, however, remains imperative in a digital world. Collaboration and informed decision-making, however, requires leaders to manage their biases. “Confirmation bias” which inclines leaders to surround him/her with those that agree with her/his opinion is one of these biases to manage when collaborating and analysing data as it impacts on the benefits of data analysis and collaboration. Agility: Continuously re-evaluate decisions and intended outcomes Agility is described in the Oxford dictionary as the ability to move quickly and easily and ability to think and understand quickly. Although this is a requirement for leadership in the 21st Century, it is important to highlight that agile leadership also includes the continuous evaluation of one’s decisions and whether it is resulting in the intended outcome. The 21st century is associated with rapid change that is, in turn, associated with rapid decision-making. The risk of this phenomenon is incorrect decision-making and strategic alignment. Leaders need to be able to identify, admit and correct their mistakes to ensure a positive outcome for those she/he is responsible for and accountable to. An agile approach which continuously evaluates the impact of, and possible revision of decisions is thus imperative to sustainable and successful leadership.

Trust has become currency People have never been as thirsty for trustworthy leaders as now. People have also never been empowered to identify untrustworthiness as now. Ultimately a leader’s success is based on her/his trust relationship with her/his followers and stakeholders. As we know, trust is something that is built over time, but can be shattered in a blink of an eye. Digitalisation has made the process of building and breaking trust even easier. Although all the characteristics discussed above enhance the trust relationship between followers, stakeholders and leaders, the correlation between what we say and what we do also provide great insight into a leader’s trustworthiness. A correlation between words and actions builds trust while the opposite destroys trust relationships and negatively impacts on successful and sustainable leadership. One tool to demonstrate trustworthiness is transparency. 21st Century leaders in the accounting profession As accountants, auditors, tax professionals and consultants, we have insight into the heart of organisations, government institutions and global companies. We interact daily with leaders, fellow professionals, and others. We thus have a great sphere of influence that can be used to influence people to a better and sustainable future. Let trust be your currency as a sustainable and successful leader within the 21st Century.

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MBCHB University of KwaZulu-Natal

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SAIPA - October 2021 - Join the Accountancy Revolution

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