Serious industrial nations don’t take accountants as seriously as South Africa does.
In industrialising nations, like Vietnam and surrounding states, for instance, the most prestigious roles are found in engineering or industrial management because the economy is physically building things.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, SAICA’s CA(SA) is viewed as the ultimate golden ticket.
But it’s not only in developing/industrialising nations where accountants take a back seat. In the US, Germany and Japan, CEOs are generally product people or engineers, while in South Africa, a massive percentage of JSE-listed CEOs are chartered accountants.
The reason for this is that the South African economy has been deindustrialising for decades, so the existing companies don’t grow by inventing new things or expanding production. They “grow” through the financial engineering of mergers, acquisitions, cost-cutting, and “tax optimisation”.
The consequence of this is that if you compare SA to an employment-dense industrialiser like Vietnam, you find that the latter focuses on vocational excellence. Over there, an accountant is just a back-office functionary who supports the factory. The hero is the plant manager who meets a production quota.
But South Africa, to its detriment, is obsessed with compliance excellence. The factory, if it even exists, is a “risk” to be managed, and the chartered accountant is the high-priest who tells the board if that risk is acceptable.
By taking accountants this seriously, South Africa has perfected the art of measuring value, but has neglected the art of creating real tangible value.
The worship and adoration of the CA(SA) is a symptom of a services-led economy that has skipped the labour-intensive industrialisation phase, and this is primarily why the unemployment epidemic cannot be resolved.
Investing Terms Made Simple
ETF = A basket of stocks
Stock = Slice of ownership
Portfolio = Everything you own
Asset = Things that make you $
Liability = Things that cost you $
Bond = A loan to a business/gov
Dividend = Profits shared with investors
“Prayer is a two way communication”
This sermon changed the way I use to pray.
If you listen to this full sermon, you’ll pray differently and get results faster.