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A Professional Accountant (SA) doesn’t just advise on the financial aspects of a business. Their unique skills set enables them to provide holistic advice to their clients or employers in line with strategic objectives.

When unforeseen circumstances arise, a Professional Accountant (SA) might be required to take the lead on creating a structure for the response to and recovery from the situation.

SAIPA created this guide to support its members in executing their duties as business advisors during and after times of crisis.

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About SAIPAThe South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) is a Professional Accounting Organisation committed to serving and protecting the public interest.

We represent qualified Professional Accountants (SA) in practice, commerce and industry, academia and the public sector and are committed to putting our mem-bers interests at the heart of all we do.

We actively advocate and promote ethical and responsible behaviour within the profession in order to retain public trust and confidence.

Damage to or the loss of a business triggers a period of grieving for most business owners and business leaders.

Grief is a universal human experience, yet workplace culture is often inhospitable to people suffering profound loss. The default approach is to try to spare the office from grief, leaving bereaved people alone for a few days and then hoping they’ll return expediently to normal.

1. PERSONAL NEEDS

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According to Gianpiero Petriglieri “grieving takes stamina and space”. As a Professional Accountant (SA) you can create this space for your clients or employees that suffered losses because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the looting that affected parts of South Africa in 2021, or any other unforeseen circumstances.

Without the routine and comfort of togetherness that helps people to grieve under normal circumstances, “a lot of grief will remain frozen because many people won’t have enough support, enough ritual, to grieve” according to British psychotherapist Julia Samuel.

The normal and healthy experience of grieving can in times of ongoing disruption take a debilitating turn known as “complicated grief.” The term refers to the persistence of acute pain, apathy, and disorientation long after a loss.

It is therefore imperative that you support your clients or employer as they experience grief over the loss of parts or the whole of the business.

Mourning a loss ebbs and flows between three phases:• defiance and anger• pain, despair, and disorganisation• slow reorganisation and reinvestment in life.

The most helpful supporters during periods of grief are not those who captivate others with a hopeful vision of the future. They are those who listen and support as they craft a new way forward, carving out space for meaning making in the present.

You have to listen to your clients or employer and offer them permission to be both a functioning business owner or employee and an incredibly sad, grief-stricken human being at the same time.

The actions listed below can help to you to ground your clients or employer in reality and orient them to the present rather than becoming consumed by the uncertainty of the future.

ACKNOWLEDGEFirst, acknowledge that people will be anxious, vulnerable, and disoriented — and that you might be too. Don’t just pretend that things are normal; show that you recognise the loss they have experienced. Share your experience, invite people to share theirs, and make that behaviour normal. Even just sharing what you miss most about what was lost, and how you are struggling to learn how to deal with it, might be liberating.

OFFER TRUTHSecond, right after sympathy, offer truth (here is what we are dealing with right now). Take questions. It will soothe people’s anxiety to be heard, even if you don’t have answers to their queries. If it is hard to make long-term predictions, better not make any. Sharing facts about the current situation will be more honest and useful than giving people a pep talk about how bright the next quarter might be.

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View the latest SAIPA Journals online: https://www.saipa.co.za/saipa-professional-journals

SIMPLIFY THE WORKThird, simplify the work and do everything you can to make it more manageable. This helps everyone to focus on clear and concrete goals, to know what is expected and what is enough. Grief erases our sense of purpose and meaning, and work can help restore it.

There is no timeline for the emergence of hope and resolve after loss, but when signs of them appear, you can nurture those you are supporting through affirmation and a gentle interest in what they might be discovering about their attitudes to life and work.

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This section of the guide is based on https://hbr.org/2019/07/when-a-colleague-is-grieving and https://hbr.org/2020/12/make-space-for-grief-after-a-year-of-loss

Download your POPI Handbook here: https://www.saipa.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/popi-hand-book.pdf

Providing advice to a business during or after a crisis could be as straightforward as implementing the existing disaster management or business continuity plan. Businesses without these plans in place will however look to you for guidance on where to start and what to do next.

START WITH THE BASICSStart by reviewing the current situation. Is the business a company, a partnership, a trust or a sole proprietor? Each type of business will have access to different types of insurance cover, recovery funding, assistance etc.

Then have a look at the business’s insurance policies and assist your client or employer with contacting the relevant insurer to set the claims process in motion. If the business is uninsured or a sole proprietor, all is not lost!

SASRIA SOC Ltd is the only non-life insurer that provides special risk cover to all individuals and businesses that own assets in South Africa, as well as government entities. This is unique cover against risks such as civil commotion, public disorder, strikes, riots and terrorism. Source: https://www.sasria.co.za/

Businesses that are uninsured or a sole proprietor might be covered to some extent by SASRIA cover included in the business owner’s personal insurance policies.  Once you’ve reviewed the options available through the insurance policies, the business owner must decide if they are going to close the business or grow it again. If they decide to close the business, advise them on the correct way to do so.

If their decision is to continue operating, there are several accounting and business considerations that need to be considered.

2. BUSINESS NEEDS

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MANAGE THE ASSETS If the business sells goods, start by taking stock of the inventory that is still available. Compare the actual inventory with the inventory that was stated in the businesses’ books. Write down any losses as normal inventory loss and remember to make a special disclosure in the financial statements.

Once the inventory has been counted the business will know what it has available to trade with. The insurance company and SARS might also require this information and might require it to be verified. If this is the case, you can physically inspect and count the stock and write an agreed-upon procedure report confirming the number of items available.

Some businesses might be offered donations to assist with their immediate needs. Whether these donations are in cash, goods or services, they have to be accounted for as donations income.

Recovery funding through, for example government grants, must also be accounted for and declared to SARS. If the business receives recovery funding you must do everything you can to ensure that the funding is used according to the requirements specified by the funder.

MANAGE THE LIABILITIESOnce your client or employer knows what they have to work with, you have to turn their attention to managing the liabilities of the business.

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Get your Stakeholders Updates here: https://www.saipa.co.za/resources/stake-holders-updates/

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If the business has employees, they will need to be informed of salary payment delays, UIF claims, or leave days available during the initial recovery period. If your client or employer has decided that they will not continue business operations – or will be making significant operational changes to the business – advise them on the correct retrenchment procedures to follow.

Proactively inform SARS of the impact of the crisis on tax payment due. They might be able to assist with payment plans and might be lenient on penalties, fines, and interest on late payments.

Also keep creditors informed about the impact of the crisis on the business and the recovery and payment plans in place. Good relationships with creditors might just give the business an edge when it’s back on its feet and ready for growth again.

Advise your client or employer to let their clients know what has happened and what they can expect from the business in the short and medium term. It is incredibly important for a business to keep the relationship with clients going even though there might be product or service delivery delays.

Assist your client or employer with contacting the bank that holds the business accounts to inform them of potential payment delays and continuity plans. Even if the business will be receiving an insurance claim payment, the bank might be able to assist during the time delay between filing the insurance claim and receiving the payment.

LOOK TO THE FUTUREOnce the immediate personal and business needs of your client or employer have been managed, turn their attention to the future.

Despite its devastation, a crisis might create an opportunity for the business to look at different models that allow for reduced expenses, leaner operations, or alternative distribution channels.

Lastly, assist your client or employer in implementing the lessons learned during the crisis. Work with them to create disaster management and business continuity plans, and to fill any gaps that you discovered in the business during your initial review process.

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This section of the guide is based on information provided by Leana van der Merwe, SAIPA Accounting & Assurance Specialist.

Stay up to date with the latest news here: https://www.saipa.co.za/resources/latest-news/

PRESS RELEASE

JOIN THE INSTITUTE OF TRUSTED BUSINESS ADVISORS

As most of our members act as business advisors to many businesses, SAIPA is now introducing speciality designations for those members wishing to add to their basket of services.

We are also extending our business advisory offering to non-accoun-tants as affiliate members in recognition of the role they are playing in the survival and revival of the South African economy.

SAIPA has established the Centre of Business Advisory (CoBA), and non-accountants are now invited to apply for affiliate membership. This will enable them to become part of our concerted efforts to ensure not only the survival of small businesses, but to help them grow and expand in the interest of the South African Economy.

We believe that our extended business advisory offering through our newly established Centre of Business Advisory will enhance the value non-accountant business advisors are already adding in the business advisory space.

Ü Ü Ü https://www.saipa.co.za/centre-of-business-advisory/