Accountants, a group not known for blunt political commentary, have delivered some for South Africa ahead of a year of uncertainties.
Following a convention of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in Mombasa, Kenya, one of their key messages was that South Africa’s future depends less on Washington and more on Africa.
Discussions at the convention of about 1,000 finance professionals, public sector executives and businesspeople from across the continent ranged from trade and geopolitics to corruption, skills shortages and sustainability regulation.
Farooq Ronnie Shumba, owner of FRS Accountants in Joburg, says South Africa has been slow to treat the continent as a serious economic partner. “A lot of people are worried about Agoa [the African Growth & Opportunity Act], and rightly so,” Shumba says. “But Africa is a large market. We need to stop acting like the West is the only place where opportunity exists.”
Shumba says the gap is visible even in everyday trade. “One of South Africa’s biggest exports to the US is wine. But when I came to Kenya, I saw very little quality South African wine. We can’t put all our eggs in the American basket. Africa has money, Africa has people, and Africa has demand.”
South Africa’s foreign policy, in tension with the US, has unsettled parts of business, but Innocent Gumbochuma, CFO at the South African Qualifications Authority, says the risk is often overstated. “Investors don’t invest based on Twitter [X] or headlines. They look at whether institutions work.”
He points to the increase in US tourist arrivals in South Africa last year. “That tells you something. If there was real instability, people would not be coming. We are not perfect, but our checks and balances are stronger than many. That counts when capital is deciding where to go.”
Image of a man seated in front of the South African flag with a calendar, papers, tablets and a plant (Vuyo Singiswa)
He says the pressure from Washington has had a silver lining. “When big powers try to push South Africa away, they often push others closer,” he says, citing renewed engagement from Canada and broader support at multilateral forums such as the G20. “No single country dominates any more.”
If there was real instability, people would not be coming. We are not perfect, but our checks and balances are stronger than many
— Innocent Gumbochuma
For finance executive Manenzhe Manenzhe, the country’s biggest weaknesses are closer to home, particularly in the public sector. “One of the biggest problems is that budgets are not properly informed by strategy.”
He says government planning typically operates on five-year strategic frameworks, while budgets are set over three-year cycles, creating misalignment that undermines delivery. “When the budget drives the strategy instead of the other way around, service delivery suffers,” he says. “You end up missing performance targets and then asking why.”
Manenzhe says the risk is compounded by skills shortages and weak implementation. “It’s one thing to attract skilled people and another to retain and use them properly. If skills are underutilised, you lose them.”
He warns that rising borrowing costs pose a long-term danger. “If we don’t manage public finances carefully, we are passing debt on to the next generation.”
Corruption emerged as an uncomfortable theme at the convention. Shumba and Gumbochuma acknowledge that the accounting profession is often caught between responsibility and risk. “People expect accountants to be investigators,” Shumba says. “We’re not. We report what is there.”
Not that it absolves the profession. “There are corrupt accountants,” says Shumba. “We’ve seen it: VBS, KPMG, all of that.”
Gumbochuma points to a darker reality. “We’ve seen finance officials intimidated and even killed for doing their jobs,” he says, citing cases such as that of murdered Tembisa Hospital whistleblower Babita Deokaran. “Fear destroys integrity.”
Still, he is clear about accountability. “If money leaves an organisation, an accountant enabled it. Trust is our currency. Once trust collapses, everything collapses.”
Technology — especially AI — was another recurring theme. The consensus was that AI is not eliminating human accountants but is causing rapid change in the profession. “Accounting is not dying,” says Gumbochuma. “What’s dying is refusing to upskill. AI can give you numbers; it can’t tell you what they mean.”
Sustainability regulation is another shift gathering momentum. Lebogang Senne, a South African regulatory adoption consultant and sustainability specialist, says mandatory climate and sustainability disclosures are inevitable. “South Africa hasn’t formally adopted the international sustainability standards yet, but the direction is clear.” She says African countries have already begun mandating sustainability reporting, particularly for large and public interest entities. “At some point, it will become compulsory. And once that happens, assurance requirements will follow.”
Senne urges finance teams to start treating sustainability data with the same discipline as financial data. “Auditors want evidence. If it’s not documented, it doesn’t exist. Track energy use, water consumption and waste — even on a simple spreadsheet. This isn’t just compliance; it’s good business practice, especially if you’re part of a larger supply chain.”
Despite the challenges, the tone at the convention was not pessimistic. Shumba says accounting remains one of the most powerful routes into the economy. “There is no business without an accountant. If you want to be close to economic decision-making, this is where you belong.”