On 24 September, BDO will mark Auditor Proud Day 2026 across our global network.
I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to all our auditors across BDO.
This year's theme, “Different markets. Different challenges. One standard of excellence," reminds us that while the environments in which we operate may differ, our commitment to quality, integrity and professionalism remains constant.
What makes me most proud of our auditors is not only their technical expertise, but their dedication to building trust. Every day, our people apply sound judgement, uphold the highest professional standards and help create confidence for businesses, investors and society.
As technology, data analytics and artificial intelligence continue to reshape our profession, the role of the auditor remains as important as ever. While innovation enhances the way we work, it is our people, their integrity, critical thinking and insight, that continue to make the difference.
At BDO, we are committed to developing future-ready professionals by investing in learning, mentorship and innovation, ensuring our auditors are equipped to meet the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.
Today, we celebrate the contribution our auditors make to our clients, our firm and the broader business community. Thank you for your dedication, professionalism and commitment to excellence.
Happy Auditor Proud Day.
What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?
What makes me most proud of our auditors is their unwavering commitment to quality, integrity and continuous improvement. Despite an increasingly complex business environment, they consistently demonstrate professionalism, resilience, and a dedication to serving the public interest. We are helping them prepare for the future by investing in technical excellence, critical thinking, professional judgement and emerging technologies, ensuring they have the skills needed to adapt, innovate and succeed.
Integrity is at the heart of everything auditors do. What unique role do they play in creating confidence for businesses, investors, and society?
Auditors play a unique role in building trust and confidence by providing independent assurance on the quality and reliability of financial information. Their work helps businesses make better decisions, enables investors to allocate capital with confidence and supports the stability of financial markets. Through integrity, objectivity and professional scepticism, auditors contribute to greater transparency, accountability and trust across society.
How is innovation changing the way we audit, and why will human insight remain just as important as technology?
Innovation is transforming the audit profession through advanced data analytics, AI-enabled tools and automation, allowing auditors to analyse larger populations of data, identify risks more effectively and focus their efforts where they matter most. While technology enhances efficiency and insight, it cannot replace the human qualities that underpin audit quality. Professional judgement, critical thinking, ethical decision-making and professional scepticism remain essential to interpreting results, challenging assumptions and delivering meaningful assurance.
People First — What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?
What makes me most proud is seeing people grow from technically capable auditors into confident professionals who can think beyond the audit file.
In financial services, our auditors work in an extremely complex environment—banking, insurance, regulation, technology, risk and rapidly changing business models. I encourage our people to be curious, to understand the business behind the numbers, to ask difficult questions and to have the confidence to engage with senior management at clients.
I have always believed that the best development happens through a combination of coaching, exposure and trust. I try to give people opportunities to work on complex engagements, interact with decision-makers and take ownership of areas beyond what they initially believe they are capable of. My role is then to challenge them, support them and create a safe environment in which they can learn from mistakes.
I am particularly proud when someone I have mentored reaches a point where they no longer need me to give them the answer—they come to me with their own view, supported by sound judgement and evidence. What makes me even prouder is to witness some of the people I have mentored through the years in top executive roles.
The auditors of the future need more than technical competence. They need commercial understanding, digital fluency, critical thinking, communication skills and the courage to exercise professional judgement. Our responsibility as leaders is to develop those capabilities while never losing sight of the human side of our profession.
For me, developing people is ultimately about creating auditors who are trusted not because of their title, but because of the quality of their thinking, their integrity and the relationships they build.
Integrity Driven — What unique role do auditors play in creating confidence for businesses, investors and society?
Auditors occupy a unique position in the financial ecosystem: we are able to ask the questions others may be reluctant or unable to ask.
In financial services, that responsibility is particularly significant. Our work sits at the intersection of businesses, regulators, investors, depositors, policyholders and the broader economy. When we provide assurance, we are not simply expressing an opinion on financial statements — we are helping stakeholders make decisions based on information they can have confidence in.
Having had the privilege of leading audits of institutions such as the South African Reserve Bank and banks across different parts of the financial services sector, I have seen first-hand that the value of an auditor extends well beyond technical compliance. Our independence allows us to challenge management constructively, bring an external perspective and identify issues that may otherwise remain unseen.
Trust is earned through consistency, independence and the courage to exercise professional judgement. It means being prepared to have the difficult conversation when the evidence requires it, even when that conversation is uncomfortable.
I believe that is what makes our profession so important. We don’t create the information on which markets depend - we help create confidence in it. And in a financial system where confidence can be as important as capital, that is a responsibility I take very seriously.
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What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?
I am most proud of our auditors' ability to adapt, learn, and uphold standards of integrity and quality. The profession is evolving rapidly, with technology and AI transforming how we analyse data and identify risks, and our people have embraced these changes exceptionally well. Through training, coaching, mentorship, and hands-on experience, we are helping them build the technical, digital, and leadership skills needed for the future. The most successful auditors will be those who combine technological capabilities with professional scepticism, sound judgement, and strong relationships with clients and stakeholders.
Integrity is at the heart of everything auditors do. What unique role do they play in creating confidence for businesses, investors, and society?
At its core, audit is about trust. Our role is to independently verify and challenge information so that stakeholders can rely on it with confidence. Integrity and independence are the foundations of our profession, and by promoting transparency and accountability, auditors help build the trust that underpins investment, business growth, and economic stability.
How is innovation changing the way we audit, and why will human insight remain just as important as technology?
Technology is changing audit for the better by helping us analyse entire populations of data, identify exceptions more quickly, and focus our attention on the areas of highest risk. AI and automation improve efficiency and audit quality, but they cannot replace the professional judgement, industry knowledge, and critical thinking that auditors bring to every engagement. As audit continues to evolve, our greatest strength will be the combination of innovative technology and experienced professionals who can turn data into meaningful insights.
What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?
What makes me most proud is the calibre of people we have in our profession. Audit is not an easy career. It requires intellectual curiosity, resilience, integrity and a willingness to continually learn and adapt.
What I see every day is people stepping up for clients, supporting each other and tackling increasingly complex business challenges. While technology is changing the way we work, we are investing in developing well-rounded professionals who combine strong technical skills with critical thinking, business understanding, communication and leadership. Those are the skills that will continue to differentiate great auditors in the future.
Integrity is at the heart of everything auditors do. What unique role do they play in creating confidence for businesses, investors and society?
Trust is the foundation of any successful economy and auditors play an important role in strengthening that trust.
Businesses, investors, lenders and regulators make important decisions based on financial information. Our role is to provide independent assurance that this information can be relied upon. Beyond the numbers, auditors help promote transparency, accountability and good governance.
In a world where confidence can be lost very quickly, auditors provide an important layer of credibility that benefits businesses, markets and society as a whole.
How is innovation changing the way we audit, and why will human insight remain just as important as technology?
Innovation is fundamentally changing the audit profession. We have access to better data, more advanced analytics and increasingly powerful tools that allow us to focus our attention on the areas that matter most.
However, auditing has never simply been about processing information. It is about understanding businesses and people, evaluating risk, exercising professional judgement and asking the right questions. Technology can help us analyse data faster and more effectively, but it cannot replace experience, scepticism or integrity.
The future auditor will be highly enabled by technology, but the human element will remain at the centre of what we do.
What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?
What makes me most proud of our auditors is their unwavering commitment to quality, integrity, and serving the public interest. Every day, they navigate increasingly complex business environments, evolving regulations, emerging technologies, and heightened stakeholder expectations while continuing to deliver trusted assurance.
As leaders, our responsibility is not only to develop technically strong auditors but also future-ready professionals. We are investing in continuous learning, industry specialization, data analytics, digital tools, critical thinking, and leadership development. At the same time, we focus on developing the skills that technology cannot replace—professional judgment, relationship-building, communication, adaptability, and ethical decision-making. The auditors of the future will be those who successfully combine technical excellence with business insight and human leadership.
Integrity is at the heart of everything auditors do. What unique role do they play in creating confidence for businesses, investors and society?
Auditors play a unique and vital role in building trust in the economy. By independently evaluating financial and non-financial information, auditors provide confidence that stakeholders can rely on the information used to make important decisions.
Investors need confidence before allocating capital, regulators need confidence that organizations are meeting their obligations, and society needs confidence that businesses are operating responsibly and transparently. Auditors serve as independent professionals who bring objectivity, scepticism, and integrity to this process. In doing so, they help strengthen governance, support sustainable economic growth, and contribute to the credibility of the broader financial ecosystem.
How is innovation changing the way we audit, and why will human insight remain just as important as technology?
Innovation is transforming the audit profession in exciting ways. Technologies such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, automation, and advanced visualization tools are enabling auditors to analyse larger volumes of data, identify risks more effectively, and gain deeper insights than ever before. These tools allow us to enhance audit quality, improve efficiency, and focus our attention on the areas that matter most.
However, technology is only part of the solution. Auditing remains fundamentally a profession built on professional judgment, ethical decision-making, scepticism, and understanding human behaviour. Technology can identify patterns and anomalies, but it cannot replace the auditor's ability to challenge assumptions, understand context, engage with stakeholders, and make balanced judgments in complex situations. The future of auditing will not be driven by humans or technology alone—it will be shaped by professionals who can effectively combine the power of both.
Closing message:
As we celebrate our auditors, we recognize that their role has never been more important. They are trusted advisors, guardians of confidence, and champions of integrity. By embracing innovation while remaining grounded in professional values, they will continue to create lasting value for businesses, investors, and society for generations to come.
What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?
The training period is critical to the development of any future CA(SA), it is the breeding ground for critical thinking and using the technical knowledge built up over the 4 years of university study to practical uses. It is key for trainees to link the technical knowledge to their daily work to evolve from a student to a professional of the highest quality.
Integrity is at the heart of everything auditors do. What unique role do they play in creating confidence for businesses, investors, and society?
The business world relies completely on the audit report. A set of financial results of a company carries limited to no value without the audit report. A set of financial statements with the BDO audit report carries the highest value. Companies pay a premium to have the BDO brand on their financial statements. We need to protect the BDO brand at all cost as our reputation as a top quality audit firm is at risk with every audit opinion. Every audit is key to building this reputation that industry, investors and lenders depend on.
How is innovation changing the way we audit, and why will human insight remain just as important as technology?
Just as in the past, at the invention of Excel/Lotus123, it was noted as “the death of the accountant” which turned out to be not true, will AI merely enhance the value of the auditor. AI will do the mundane tasks and allow us as auditors to focus on the most critical aspects of the audit and areas of judgement and estimation.
What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?
What makes me most proud is how our auditors show up every day with curiosity, resilience, and a real commitment to doing quality work. They do not just focus on the numbers; they ask the right questions, use their judgement, and understand the responsibility that comes with being an auditor. I am also encouraged by how willing they are to learn. They are becoming more confident with technology, building a stronger understanding of business, and learning how to deal with increasingly complex risks. We are supporting that growth through strong technical training, hands-on experience with data and new audit tools, and a better understanding of the industries our clients operate in. Just as importantly, we are investing in coaching, honest feedback, communication, and leadership skills. We want our auditors to be ready for what comes next, but also to stay grounded in the qualities that matter most: sound judgement, courage, integrity, and a sense of purpose.
Integrity is at the heart of everything auditors do. What unique role do you play in creating confidence for businesses, investors, and society?
Integrity sits at the heart of what we do. As independent auditors, we help people trust the information they use to make important decisions.
We do more than check whether the numbers are right. We bring an independent view, ask difficult questions, and use our judgement to help ensure that information is clear, credible, and fairly presented. By challenging constructively and raising risks early, we help businesses strengthen how they operate, give investors greater confidence, and support accountability in society. That is what makes our role so important: we help turn complex information into something others can rely on. It is a responsibility we do not take lightly.
How is innovation changing the way we audit, and why will human insight remain just as important as technology?
For me, innovation is changing audit by helping us move beyond samples and manual processes to deeper data, sharper insights, and faster risk identification. It gives us the ability to analyse more transactions, spot unusual patterns earlier, automate routine tasks, and spend more time where our judgement matters most. But technology will never replace the human side of audit. It can identify patterns, but people must interpret them. It cannot replace professional scepticism, ethical judgement, industry knowledge, or the courage to challenge what does not look right.
What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?
Given the diverse range of our client base, our auditors are exposed to different businesses, business processes, styles of management, ways of interacting with clients etc. This provides our auditors with varied experiences and soft skills in their chosen career paths in the future, be it within the BDO family or the corporate world.
Integrity is at the heart of everything auditors do. What unique role do you play in creating confidence for businesses, investors, and society?
Auditors are in a unique role in that they provide an independent, objective and unbiased viewpoint on the status of the financial records of a company. Because they are not employed by the organisation being audited, their stamp of approval carries much weight and confidence for businesses, investors and third parties. The auditor is able to carry out its duties without any scope restrictions, interacts and engages with all levels of client staff and management and thus is in a unique position to obtain, corroborate and challenge audit evidence in forming its opinion as to whether a company’s financial statements and internal controls are truthful, accurate and in compliance with regulations.
How is innovation changing the way we audit, and why will human insight remain just as important as technology?
The traditional way of manual auditing from cradle to grave is becoming redundant. Innovation is defined as the ability to translate new ideas, methods into answers that creates meaningful value. This can be achieved through AI. To remain relevant, audit processes need to evolve through use of AI to achieve efficiencies which means it is important that the skill set of an auditor is enhanced so as to be able to interpret outcomes derived through the use of AI.
What makes you most proud of our auditors, and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?
What makes me most proud of our auditors is their resilience, adaptability, and genuine eagerness to learn. The profession is evolving rapidly, with increasing expectations around technology, data analytics, and emerging risks, yet our auditors continue to embrace change and develop new capabilities while maintaining a strong commitment to audit quality.
We are helping them build the skills needed for the future by rethinking the way we perform audits and ensuring our audit approach remains future-fit. This includes integrating AI, data analytics, and other digital tools into our audit methodology. By embedding these technologies into our day-to-day audit processes, we are equipping our auditors with the skills to effectively interpret and challenge the insights generated, and apply professional judgement in an increasingly technology-enabled environment. This combination of technical expertise, critical thinking, and digital fluency will position them for success in the future of the profession.
Integrity is at the heart of everything auditors do. What unique role do they play in creating confidence for businesses, investors, and society?
Auditors perform their work with the public’s interests in mind and that is the unique role we play. Our work is about protecting the interests of those who rely on the financial statements we audit and support them make informed economic decisions.
How is innovation changing the way we audit, and why will human insight remain just as important as technology?
Innovation is transforming the way we audit by challenging us to rethink traditional audit approaches and find better ways to create value for our clients, users of our reports, and our people. Advances in technology, including AI and data analytics, enable us to perform full-population testing, identify trends and anomalies more efficiently, and gain deeper insights from data than ever before.
However, technology alone is not enough. Successful innovation begins with a deep understanding of the businesses, industries, and markets we audit, and that requires meaningful engagement with the people who run them. While technology can process vast amounts of information and highlight areas of risk, it cannot replace the professional scepticism, critical thinking, and judgement that auditors bring to an engagement.
By automating administrative and data-processing tasks, innovative audit tools free up our teams to focus on what matters most: interpreting results, understanding the business context, challenging assumptions, and applying professional judgement. In this way, technology enhances the audit, but human insight remains at the heart of delivering a high-quality and meaningful audit.
What makes you most proud of our auditors and how are we helping them build the skills needed for the future?
Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of watching young professionals join the firm as trainees and grow into confident managers, trusted advisors, and future leaders. Seeing that transformation never gets old. Behind every audit opinion is a team of dedicated individuals who work incredibly hard, embrace challenges, and continuously push themselves to learn and improve.
The future will require more from auditors than technical excellence alone. Our people need to be adaptable, commercially aware, technologically enabled, and confident in exercising professional judgement. That is why we are investing not only in technical training and new technologies, but also in leadership development, critical thinking, communication skills, and professional scepticism.
Technology will continue to evolve, but our greatest asset will always be our people. If we can create an environment where individuals are supported, challenged, and empowered to reach their full potential, then the future of our profession is in very good hands.
What unique role do auditors play in creating confidence for businesses, investors and society?
I believe auditors play one of the most important roles in the business ecosystem because we help create trust.
Businesses, investors, lenders, employees, and regulators all rely on quality information to make decisions. Our role is to provide independent assurance that financial information can be relied upon, giving stakeholders confidence in the decisions they make.
What makes the profession unique is that our responsibility extends beyond the organisations we audit. Every audit opinion we sign represents a responsibility that extends beyond the client. Investors, lenders, employees, and communities all rely on the credibility of financial information, and that responsibility is something I never take lightly. We challenge assumptions, ask difficult questions, and provide an objective perspective that promotes transparency and accountability.
Throughout my career, I have seen firsthand how trust can strengthen businesses, attract investment, and support economic growth. While much of what auditors do happens behind the scenes, the impact reaches far beyond the boardroom.
In a world where uncertainty and complexity continue to increase, our role as trusted professionals has never been more important. We help provide confidence where it matters most, and that is something I am incredibly proud of.
How is innovation changing the way we audit and why will human insight remain just as important as technology?
Innovation is transforming audit at an incredible pace, and it is one of the most exciting developments I have seen during my career.
Advanced analytics, automation, artificial intelligence, and digital audit platforms are enabling us to analyse larger volumes of data, identify risks more effectively, and focus our attention where it creates the most value. These tools are helping us deliver higher quality audits and deeper insights than ever before.
However, while technology is changing how we work, it is not changing why we work. Audit remains fundamentally a people profession.
Technology can process data, but it cannot understand the nuances of a business relationship, challenge management's assumptions through professional scepticism, or apply ethical judgement in complex situations. Those are uniquely human capabilities.
The future of audit is not about choosing between people and technology. It is about combining the power of both. The most successful auditors will be those who embrace innovation while continuing to bring curiosity, judgement, empathy, and integrity to their work.
That is why I am optimistic about the future of our profession. Technology will continue to evolve, but the trust that audit creates will always be built on human insight.
