The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) today confirmed that registered auditors may conduct Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) verification and issue certificates.
This follows confusion around the release of reports to the portfolio committee on trade and industry recently that implied that registered auditors are not yet approved to conduct B-BBEE verification.
IRBA confirmed that, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) Statement 005, the IRBA is empowered to approve registered auditors who meet certain requirements, to provide B-BBEE assurance services and to issue valid B-BBEE certificates with effect from 1 October 2011.
“And this provision in the statement still applies. We have approved over 160 registered auditors to provide the much needed verification assurance services to the public as they meet the required criteria. Obviously, given auditors’ training and education in areas such as verification and assurance, they are ideally placed to provide the required comfort in the B-BBEE verification industry,” says Bernard Agulhas, CEO of IRBA.
Registered auditors have to comply with the IRBA code of professional conduct, the B-BBEE Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements established by the IRBA, auditing pronouncements prescribed by the IRBA, evidence of superior contributor status and confirmation that the registered auditor has completed the post graduate B-BBEE Management Development Programme satisfactorily.
“B-BBEE is a national imperative to achieve government’s goals to transform the country’s population. It is important that auditors and the IRBA contribute to these goals by providing the necessary comfort and assurance on which business can rely, particularly because the B-BBEE industry has been fraught with conduct which is less than desirable,” says Agulhas.
Processes to give the IRBA the mandate to regulate all B-BBEE verification agencies, in addition to auditors who are already registered with the IRBA, is under discussion. In the meantime, all approved registered auditors can continue to offer verification services.
