Get up to speed on Caseware Working Papers fast, easily and for free!

Class of 2018 is available to first year articles clerk (and anyone else who is interested) and provides all you need to train up on CWWP to future proof your career.

Like all great software, getting real value from solutions depends substantially on knowing how to use the products. That’s why Caseware has created “Class of 2018”, a fit-for-purpose training programme to get you up and running on Caseware Working Papers (CWWP) fast.

Class of 2018 is available to first year articles clerk (and anyone else who is interested) and provides all you need to train up on CWWP to future proof your career. The course is designed to help Caseware build a community of champion users, while taking care of the all-important induction and upskilling of new users to start a journey towards success when using Caseware Africa products.

Best of all, the training is free of charge and you can sign up and download it right away to get started.

Why is training in CWWP important?
The work of the modern professional and chartered accountant has changed drastically in a short space of time. With the introduction of modern technology like CWWP (and the broader Caseware portfolio), much of the repetitive, time consuming work is being automated.

This frees up trainees to focus on adding value rather than capturing figures, and enables greater transparency as financial results can be accessed easily as frequently as desired, not only at year-end.
Proficiency in tools which accelerate productivity and improve efficiency is crucial for the success of the trainees of today and tomorrow.

What can you expect out of Class of 2018?
Go ahead and sign up and you’ll receive the eLearning module via email. The application works offline, so you don’t have to be connected to the internet to use it. With a blended learning approach, Class of 2018 combines weekly e-mails, videos and social media engagement, making the learning process engaging and rewarding.

Consider Class of 2018 a way to jump start your drive to achieve career goals. It is an ideal way to start learning the technical functionality of the software you’ll be using without having to wait on, or rely on, internal training processes. You’ll find it will supplement and fill any gaps in on-the-job training, aligning to the audit processes/cycle. Because the content on the module can be accessed at any stage in your audit, review and compilation cycle, it serves as a handy reference should you need help.

Join us online: LinkedIn Group
We’ve established a closed LinkedIn group for audit, accounting and finance professionals who are learning about and using Caseware Africa products. Join us to start conversations with peers, ask questions, get guidance and contribute to the Caseware community, which includes Training Facilitators and Caseware Champions.

Leveraging the machine

CaseWare Africa reveals five ways for finance professionals to seize the technology opportunity.

African finance professionals must not miss the golden opportunity technology offers to enhance their ability to compete successfully in the continent’s growing business sector, says Theuns Holtshousen, Divisional Business Leader, CaseWare Africa.

“As Africans we are using technology freely in our private lives, but as finance professionals, we are not yet capitalising on the opportunities it offers to streamline our businesses, improve profit margins and compete with big firms,” he says. “If we do not begin to make the move now, we risk falling behind even the smallest tech-savvy competitors.”

Holtshousen says that while technology offers a significant upside for finance professionals wanting to enhance their service offerings, they should take a strategic approach when digitising.

“Five crucial issues must be considered, starting with the key concept driving the use of technology within the finance industry and that is – automation. It will reduce duplication and enhance accuracy and speed. Automating their own processes will also free up staff to perform higher margin consulting work.”

Next he says legacy systems and data must be taken into account. “The technology-adoption road map must incorporate existing technology investments and, crucially, data stores.”

Thirdly Holtshousen urges finance professionals to give cloud careful consideration. “Cloud can help reduce capital costs and provide a platform for collaboration and automation, among many other benefits. But for most finance professionals, a phased approach using the hybrid cloud makes good sense.”

“Hooking up an existing desktop application to the cloud can add great value by enabling better collaboration and the creation of a single data store. The latter will immediately eliminate the problems that come with re-entering information, and set the stage for further automation initiatives,” says Holtshousen. “It also immediately enables a practice to collaborate with other firms to service clients across a much wider geographical area. Indeed, this ability to compete on equal terms with competitors, big or small, is a general technology benefit,” he adds.

Fourth on the list is the importance of not automating sub-standard processes. “It is surprising that so many companies simply automate their existing manual processes, failing to seize the opportunity to improve procedures during automation. When automating – finance professionals must look at where they want to be in the future, and design their processes with the end goal in mind. That way, they will begin to build a company that is future-proof.”

The fifth key issue is – integration. “It is the key to successful technology adoption. It is implicit in all these points, but because it is so important it needs highlighting. The aim must be a single file across the full life cycle of any client. Thus, for example, the data in clients’ accounting packages must automatically populate the software used to produce the annual financial statements, thereby avoiding the errors and time required to transfer them manually. Cloud-based storage can be used to hold the supporting documents, and for collaboration with multiple branches. The task of consolidating the financials can therefore, also be automated.

“All of these considerations will help ensure that financial professionals ‘leverage the machine’ effectively, and get the biggest return on their technology investment. Also, never forget that adopting technology is only valuable if it is done in such a way as to leverage humans as well. In the end, people do business with people, so the trick is using machines to maximise the benefits of that contact for both parties,” he concludes.

Caseware Africa bringing opportunity to accounting firms across the African continent

Technology is bringing immense changes to the auditing profession which are predominantly being driven by automation and cloud.

Caseware Africa business leader Theuns Holtshousen, says it is predicted that robotics and artificial intelligence will replace up to 5% of all jobs globally by 2020. “Even though we think that the African continent will be lagging a few years behind the developed world, we have to acknowledge that technology is already impacting nearly all areas of our lives in one or another way. When it comes to accountants and auditors, technology offers a platform on which small and medium practices can compete on the same level as their network firm counterparts.

Caseware’s Working Papers and add on modules delivers these capabilities.

“Caseware’s solutions provides more growth opportunities than ever before for financial professionals of any size firm. It not only automates, but ultimately reduces complexities, creating a simple, transparent process, one that allows financial professionals to spend less time compiling, and more time interpreting information,” says Holtshousen.

He adds that some financial professionals develop their own solutions. “These home-grown solutions are difficult to keep updated in line with legislative changes, while managing the change in formulas with multiple contributors making it challenging to deliver a set of financial statements on time. It makes more sense to tap into the benefits of existing global solutions that can be localised, for: small, medium and large practices; medium to large corporate organisations, and even public entities across the continent.”

Ultimately, financial professionals want to save time and increase profitability. Automation offers just that. “It provides new ways of working that boosts the performance of the firm, business or public entity and drives prosperity through efficient and compliant reporting and auditing tools.”

According to Holtshousen, businesses often look at automating their manual processes by replicating them digitally. “There is no true value in doing this. It’s tantamount to digitising a broken process, better to re-engineer it whilst investing in automation.”

“Drafting solutions in the market today should facilitate the importation of trial balance from any accounting system out there, or even from Excel. Once the trial balance has been allocated to compliance reporting categories, via a pre-defined set of accounts, Caseware can instantaneously produce a set of financial statements—something that used to take days, even weeks. Should there be a requirement for consolidation between multiple company data into a single set of financial statements, Caseware allows for hierarchy set-ups that can produce consolidation structures with true aggregation and elimination capabilities.” He adds this is all available at the click of a button.

“These financial statements become the starting point of informed decisions in business today and directly impact the business in the future. Whereas an audit report proves the health of the organization for investors, institutes recognition for the organisation’s efforts and promotes market trust. Once submitted to the auditors, the electronic file will live in that part of the ecosystem, allowing them to apply an automated audit methodology that facilitates collaboration from anywhere, at any time, through the power of the cloud.

“Cloud technology is a model that is driving behaviour globally. The increasing trend in online shopping is one of many examples. The concerns around cloud security have been addressed by a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls deployed to protect data, applications, and the associated infrastructure of cloud computing.”

Holtshousen says that by using the cloud companies can collaborate and store data in a secure environment, thus significantly reducing risk. “Technology suppliers normally offer hosting as part of the cloud solution. This means no more shared folders, local server costs and multiple versions of one file – just one central data repository with version control in a secure cloud environment which is access-controlled.”

“These changes are driving a significant shift in the roles of accountants and auditors. This shift may even accelerate as more businesses adopt the cloud. The beauty about cloud computing is that ever-evolving organizations are supported by developing tools, as updates are pushed out as and when they happen, giving end users access to new features and functionality almost immediately,” he concludes.

Bridging the COVID-19 knowledge gap is critical for accounting profession

An existing skills deficit has now become an urgent problem in search of a solution.
By Christiaan Steyn, Product Manager: Assurance, Caseware Africa

Lockdowns and the emergence of the work-from-home (WFH) model is exacerbating a competency problem in accounting and auditing.

Before COVID-19 struck, it was already apparent that students taking the Initial Test of Competency given by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) were deficient in the requisite skills needed to perform well as accountants or auditors, among them logical and reasoning skills.

The profession is taking steps to remedy a state of affairs that has now become serious. One initiative is the introduction of the new CA2025 training program by SAICA. This includes an updated competency framework that incorporates stronger emphasis on digital and decision-making acumen.

In the past, this lack of skills on the part of those entering the profession was not such a serious issue because they were able to learn on the job as first-year trainees, both from the second and third years with whom they worked daily and, of course, from the senior members of the firm with whom they would have come into contact intermittently. Thus, by the time they had completed the final year of their training contract, they had an acceptable level of competence, and the business world could employ them with confidence.

Research shows that working on projects—the archetypal on-the-job training—is the most effective way of obtaining the professional skills required to be a Charted Accountant. Much of this learning is acquired “by osmosis” through contact with more experienced colleagues, an informal way in which enabling competencies are passed on, as well as subtle lessons about how to conduct oneself as a professional, including the all-important ethical stance so important today.

When the state of emergency was initially declared and the country went into level 5 lockdown in March 2020, this cycle of gaining learning and experience over three years was broken for the 2020 first-year cohort, who began work in February. They had little or no induction and, with clients only being available through virtual channels and audits having to move to online platforms, these trainees were denied any of that vital on-the-job learning and experience. The second and third-year cohorts also would have suffered a proportional diminution of workplace training and experience. In addition, they were struggling themselves – learning how to cope with the virtual audit, the technology and how to support the juniors and how to get support from their superiors.

But of course, the vicious cycle did not end there. Although the lockdown levels were reduced, social distancing remained mandatory, office capacity constraints remained in place and working from home or hybrid work models became normalised. In an effort for clients to minimise exposure, some explicitly requested that audit teams do not visit their premises unless absolutely necessary such as for inventory count procedures.

Much of the audit process, as well as training, remains virtual. In short, opportunities for the traditional, largely effortless but highly effective on-the-job training and experience remains scarce and diminishes each year as the more senior cohorts are less and less equipped to pass on skills to the first years. Of course, one should also not overlook the lost opportunities to interact with clients and to deepen one’s knowledge of how businesses actually function.

In fact, this year’s third years who will enter the financial services profession at the start of 2023 will thus be the first cohorts to miss out on the traditional hands-on training across the whole period of their training contract, with significant consequences for the business world. In addition, those that are behind them—2022’s first and second year trainees—will suffer from the lack of skills and experience the years above them possess.

Anecdotal support for this analysis is offered by the significant rise in calls to Caseware’s support centre. In addition, for the first time, basic audit rather than purely technical questions are being asked.

Looking for solutions

One should not fall into the trap of seeing the pre-COVID period as a sort of golden age. As noted above, there were already signs that skills levels at the entry stage were not what they should be, and possibly also at the exit stage.

One of the reasons for this is the increased burden on partners to not only manage engagements, but also run a business in a difficult economic climate. Increased economic and audit fee pressures saw partners and other senior personnel increasingly less involved in the audits to keep costs down.

I see that part of the solution to the growing skills crisis in accounting and auditing will lie in reversing this trend and finding ways for more senior people in the profession to increase their involvement in audits and the contact they have with trainees. A complementary approach would be for audit firms to establish exactly what the skills levels of their junior staff are, and to put in place targeted training programmes to bridge identified gaps. Professional bodies also have a role to play in working with the audit firms to establish what the future skills gaps are and how best to bridge them—after all, they will certify the competence of those completing their training contracts and entering the broader financial services sector.

It’s not a full-blown crisis yet but that is where we are headed – action is required now.

CQS Holdings set to rename to Caseware Africa

The acquisition of CQS Technology Holdings, which was announced at the end of 2015 by Adapt IT, will move into its final phase on 1 July, when the CQS name will be replaced by CaseWare Africa, a division of Adapt IT.

Ross Hampton, MD of the division, and long standing Director of CQS, is enthusiastic about the move.

cqs-blog-lg-37

“The acquisition has been carefully planned to cause minimum disruption to our clients. The leadership and team remain the same, and the way we engage with our clients will stay unchanged but with the added benefit of having the resources of a much larger, JSE listed, entity behind us,” he says. “CaseWare is the world leader in financial reporting and audit software, and has achieved dominance in South Africa because of the local team’s passion for what they do and their obsession with delivering the highest level of customer service to all clients, regardless of size. All of that remains in place, as it has done since the acquisition was announced.”

Hampton confirms that the move into a larger group will yield substantial benefits to the company’s current customers. “Being part of a large group is a significant advantage as the cloud era dawns. Technology is disrupting the accounting and audit profession by driving automation and supporting the creation of an ecosystem across the reporting value chain.

“Cloud enables seamless collaboration irrespective of geography, common stores of big data and powerful analytics to derive deeper insight and so add value to customers. The role of the finance professional is transforming,” Hampton says. “All of this requires considerable infrastructure and, as part of a bigger group, CaseWare Africa is even better placed to partner with its clients as they face the challenges and seize the opportunities new technologies present.”

CaseWare Africa has an existing team of local developers as well as audit and accounting specialists devoted to localising the software in line with relevant government and other regulations and standards.

This localisation effort will be strengthened further via access to the resources of the Adapt IT group, particularly as CaseWare’s drive into other African companies gains momentum, and the software needs to be localised for each country.

“Africa has been a growth focus for some time, and Adapt IT’s existing footprint in Mauritius and Botswana, with Kenya soon to come, will allow us to offer in-country support and service more rapidly,” says Hampton. “This acquisition adds a considerable upside for enhancing what we already offer our clients

We use cookies to determine how our website is used and help provide tailored online content. For more information see our Cookies Policy.

Caseware + Adapt It Logo

Ask about the Caseware cloud solutions that are empowering firms and organisations to collaborate remotely with clients and colleagues.