Andrew Fergus Marais

Attendance

Present

58

Leave of absence

6

Absent without leave

0

Arrived late

4

Left early

0

Reasons given for leave: Private business (2), Other (2), Party business (2).

"Absent without leave" means the signed minutes of a meeting held while they were on council neither list them as present nor excuse them, and no similar name appears that day, so misspellings in the minutes don't count against anyone. Each square links to the minutes.

In the chamber

From the 10 sittings transcribed so far in their term. Times are approximate, to the nearest transcript line.

Not present when called

0

Times given the floor

1

Average wait to start

6 s

Average greetings first

0 s

In their words

Every time the chair gave them the floor in a transcribed sitting (1), newest first. The words are the AI transcript of that stretch of the livestream (Argon), so they can include the chair or an interjection; the time link is the place to check.

• 27 Aug 2026 · 01:06:51Item 35: Academy for chartered accountants training policy · 7 min 16 s

  Read what they said (936 words)

  Thank you, speaker. Madam Speaker, residents of the City of Johannesburg, fellow councillors and council officials. The Group Governance Department is seeking council approval of the renewed academy for chartered accountants training program policy. The policy has had to be amended to accommodate changes in the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, SAICA, train

  training program, which the city is obliged to implement in order to remain compliant with the latest SAICA training regulations. Without these amendments, the city would lose its accreditation as a training office for chartered accountants. However, there is a far more fundamental question, does it make sense for the city to continue to operate a training officer office for chartered accountants at all? The Academy of Chartered Accountants was established

  in April 2016 in order to develop financial expertise in local government amid growing fiscal and regulatory complexity. Considerable human and financial resources have been invested in the chartered accountants training program since then. Unfortunately, it is difficult to establish the precise cost of the program as the department has not made this data available to councillors. However, what information has become available

  indicates that the return on that investment has been limited. Apart from the cost of employing trainee accountants at a not inconsiderable initial remuneration of R35,000 per month, SAICA requires a permanent appointment by the city of a fully qualified chartered accountant as the training officer. Qualified chartered accountants do not come cheap. Group governance

  has not divulged what the cost per chartered accountant retained on the program is to the city. Nor has it shared the reports which it is required to provide to SAICA for accreditation monitoring or the training office reports which SAICA provides to the city training officer with the trainees initial assessment of competence and assessment of professional competence results with councillors. The city

  is required to report to SAICA on, one, the IAC APC pass rates which should exceed the national rate which is about 60%. Two, the percentage of trainees absorbed into permanent finance posts in the city or its entities within 12 months. And three, the reduction in external cost consultant costs for the preparation of the annual financial statements versus the internal audit

  hours delivered by trainees. If these figures were made available to councillor to council, whether the academy is truly delivering value or is simply an expensive vanity project which should be jettisoned at the first opportunity could be determined. In 2022, it was reported that of a recent intake of 18 accountants, only two were retained. The department has not released the actual retention figures

  despite these being reported to SAICA, but it is estimated that only between 10 and 15% of the academy's trainees are retained after completion of their articles. Many trainees move to the private sector or to National Treasury. This means that the city expends considerable resources on training chartered accountants, but other institutions are the beneficiaries. Although the SAICA training office has been

  in place for 10 years, Auditor-General reports still contain material findings and the city continues to use external consultants to prepare its annual financial statements despite the availability of the trainee accountants. This is unlike the situation in eThekwini where considerable use is made of the trainee accountants. The recent 2026 business plan for the Group Governance Department

  revealed that the operational budget which covered all departmental programs, including the Academy of Chartered Accountants was projected at R72 million for 2026/27, R76 million for 27/28, and R80 million for 28/29. A considerable portion of the budgeted amounts can be attributed to the Academy of Chartered Accountants training program. There is debate within the

  accountancy profession whether it is desirable that chartered accountant training is done at a company, bank, or in the public sector instead of at an auditing firm. Although although there is the same ethics requirement, if you are working in the public sector for the city, you are inside the emp- the employer and thus exposed to ethical threat. It is not conducive to the development of an ethical and independent

  culture. If you are working in an audit firm, your client is not your employer and you have partner protection. The situation becomes even more awkward if your employer is subject to qualified audits as is the case with the city. A chartered accountant is not an internal bookkeeper. A chartered accountant is a professional who holds a public interest duty, to uphold ethics, to report irregularity,

  to qualify financial statements even when it embarrasses management. When you make the employer the training office, you make the fox the teacher of the guard dogs. Given the city's adverse audit reports

  Councillor Marais, can you just hold on? There's some noise there, and we can even hear how you arguing. Colleagues, no, it's not on. And it's somewhere there where Councillor Jwanis is, and the councillor that's laughing is with him in it.

  Again. Thank you, Councillor Marais, please carry on.

  Uh thank you, speaker. A chartered accountant is a pro- a professional who holds a public interest duty, to uphold ethics, to report irregularity, to qualify financial statements even when it embarrasses management. When you make the employer the training office, you make the fox the teacher of the guard dogs. Given the city's adverse audit reports, can we say that we

  are the right institution to teach ethics? It is time that the desirability of retaining the Academy of Chartered Accountants training program be reconsidered. This city cannot afford to maintain programs and projects which do not deliver real value. I thank you.

Spoke on

• 27 Aug 2026 · 01:05:25Item 35: Academy for Chartered Accountants training policy