CAs are variable item value custodians and constant item value destroyers

Tito Mboweni is the custodian or guardian of the real value of the Rand. 

Accountants value all economic items in a business.

How they value those economic items is very important. Ultimately, there is only one correct value for any economic item.

They are thus all custodians or guardians of the real values in a business.

That is why they are paid such high salaries. They are paid for financial integrity.

It does not mean they are little value-gods.

There are some items still to be sorted out.

They do look after value very well (variable items that they value in terms of IFRS) - with the one exception of the real value of balance sheet constant items, eg. issued share capital of companies with no fixed assets and retained profits of all companies. These they unknowingly destroy at a rate equal to the inflation rate to the tune of about R200 billion per annum in the SA real economy.

CA´s unintentionally do this with their implementation of the stable measuring unit assumption.

In fact International Financial Reporting Standards reject the stable measuring unit assumption on two occasions:

1. In IAS 29 Financial Reporting In Hyperinflationary Economies.

2. In The Framework, Par. 104 (a) which states: "Financial capital maintenance can be measured in either nominal monetary units or in units of constant purchasing power."

When CAs start thinkging for themselves about what they are - unknowingly - doing to the SA real economy they will realize that by freely choosing to measure financial capital maitnenance in units of constant purchasing power as authorized by the IASB 20 years ago, they will boost the SA real economy by at least R200 billion per annum for an unlimited period of time instead of unknowingly and unintentionally destroying about R200 billion PER ANNUM for an unlimited period of time - each and every year - in the SA real economy (ceteris paribus) as they are unknowingly and unintentionally doing this year.

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