Arno Daehnke, Sean Doherty, Buhle Hanise and Yusuf Bodiat reveal the makings of an ethical organisation.
Accountants and auditors are the drivers and conductors of South African business. More and more CFOs are becoming business partners to the organisations, providing the necessary insights and guidance to achieve success with integrity. But how do we ensure that professionals working in this space are indeed the custodians of business excellence and ethics in a fast-changing landscape and with many economic, social and educational challenges?
On 20 October, starting at 2pm, IRBA CEO Imre Nagy, Fasset CFO Zakariya Alli and IIA SA CEO Julius Mojapelo will reveal how finance leaders can drive excellence and ethics in the profession.
Rebuilding trust`
South African institutions are dealing with reputational damage from many years of corruption and greed. Now, the question is no longer how we fix a profession or a nation, but how to bring back integrity to the people who make up the fabric of South African industry, government and society.
In another panel discussion, starting at 1pm, FEM CFO Yusuf Bodiat, AWK Agriculture FD Eddie Fivaz and BAIC SA CFO Buhle Hanise will share their tips on how to fix a generation of unethical people.
Buhle Hanise, president of the African Women Chartered Accountants (AWCA) and CFO of Beijing Automotive Group Company (BAIC) South Africa, believes that good progress has been made in transforming the accounting and audit profession in South Africa, and that it’s important to highlight success stories to continue this important work.
ESG’s role in ethics
Environmental, social and governance concerns have become central to business. But rather than responding to the obligation to ‘do the right thing’, organisations are finding that the implementation of focused and relevant ESG policies has actually contributed to business growth, and shaped a vision for a sustainable future.
Arno Daehnke, chief finance and value management officer at Standard Bank, Dzunani Makhopa, the head of finance and corporate services at the Independent Power Producers Office (DBSA), and Sean Doherty, CFO at Transaction Capital, will discuss how ESG is actually driving value in their organisations. This session will start at 2pm.
“I see investors really bringing up ESG-related matters on the roadshows that I go on, and how they are thinking about ESG and holding companies accountable,” Arno said in a recent CFO South Africa webinar.
“Africa is disproportionately impacted by climate change and the recent floods in KZN are one example of how ignoring our impact on the environment will result in similar types of events occurring. While these floods might have not been a direct result of climate change, they are cause for concern nonetheless.”
Arno said that investors overseas are very vocal about the fact that companies need to make ESG a core criterion in order to attract investment.
The Finance Indaba Live is the biggest finance and accounting conference and expo on the African Continent. More than 3,000 CFOs, FDs, accountants, business leaders, and professionals are expected to visit this world-class networking, learning, and career event.
