See full profile: Randburg Chartered Accountant - Tumelo Makgakga
Were you always planning to be an accountant and why?
Yes, I have always been good with numbers from high school. This kept me interested in the field of accounting, I then studied Accounting in University and ultimately became a Chartered Accountant.
When meeting with clients do they mostly come to your own premises or do you mostly go theirs?
I mostly go to my clients
What is your preferred mode of communication with your clients?
Email, Phone, Face to Face, Skype, WhatsApp
Have you ever done an online video call with a client?
Yes
What do you love most about accounting?
Accounting unlocks a lot of value for businesses, it is the backbone to which businesses are built. And I get to help clients with accounting and show them how they can best realise their business full potential
Would you recommend accounting as a career for school-leavers, and why?
Yes, if you are passionate about numbers and you enjoy accounting then it will be fulfilling as a career.
What qualities should South African business people be looking for in their accountant?
Ability to add value. A good accountant doesn't just tick numbers but helps their clients with necessary and relevant insights.
What is the biggest challenge facing accountants today?
Accountants are struggling to provide clients with solutions that are unique to their businesses thus they end up not providing maximum value to clients
What aspects of accounting do you focus on most?
Cloud Accounting/bookkeeping, Tax Compliance and Business Advisory. We are using accounting and data analytics to provide insights for clients thereby assisting them to grow and scale their businesses.
Describe your average client:
Our average client is a business owner who has partnered with us to ensure that their business stays on top of compliance matters and that they can always have a handle on the business finances with our real time accounting solutions which allows them to make key decisions quicker and stay up to date with market changes.
How far away from your premises is your furthest client?
We have clients that interact with us completely remotely that are in other provinces.
From your accounting experience, if you could cite one of the biggest reasons SME's in SA fail, what would it be?
Mixing personal finances with business finances
What accounting software do you like best?
Xero Accounting for cloud accounting solutions and Draftworx for performing statutory audits as well as independent reviews.
What other software, online services or apps do you use?
SimplePay for payroll solutions
Do you think the coming wave of automation in the next few years will steal some accounting jobs and why/why not?
Not necessarily, machines will never be able to replace the human interaction that is required. There are a lot of aspects of accounting that require exercising judgement and analysis of specific circumstances of each scenario and that will always require skillful human interactions. Automation makes our job easier as accountants it comes to take away the more administrative and mundane tasks like data capturing (i.e. the manual part) thereby allowing us to save time and money and to focus on the real adding of value as accountants.
What is your opinion on Bitcoin?
I think it has come a long way, but it will be more acceptable as soon as local banking regulations start dealing with it directly, At the moment there is a lot of uncertainty about Bitcoin and the lack of regulation thereof.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Cycling and Playing Bass Guitar
What is the most interesting thing on your bucket list?
I would like to watch a UEFA Champions League final live at the stadium.
See how our other local South African accountants have answered the above questions.
