Small companies (with “(Pty) Ltd” after their names) may in future be allowed to present simplified, more easily prepared accounts, according to the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica).
Saica's technical director Linda de Beer said South Africa's accounting standards had been harmonised with international financial reporting standards over the last 10 years, placing a "massive reporting burden on small- and medium-size enterprises."
"Those standards are for the big boys," De Beer said.
Large companies, especially those trading abroad, had to meet complex financial reporting requirements because their underlying transactions were so complex. Smaller companies, of which there are tens of thousands in South Africa, do not have such complex transactions and a "differential reporting framework" would enable them to draw up simpler accounts.
