Lesego Mafadza
- Director: Financial Services Insuarnce
- 14+ years experience
"As an Insurance Support Partner, my commitment is to bring an insurance lens to the Sanlam audit, connecting the financial, actuarial and technical dimensions of the engagement. I will apply my insurance and IFRS 17 experience to challenge significant judgements, anticipate areas of complexity and help the team reach clear, well-considered conclusions. My focus is to ensure that Sanlam benefits from an audit approach that reflects both the technical requirements and the commercial realities of a complex insurance group."
Lesego is a Partner in BDO South Africa’s Financial Services practice with over 14 years of experience serving financial services clients. Her experience spans external audit and accounting advisory services for health insurance, general insurance, life insurance and reinsurance entities across Southern Africa, Asia-Pacific and North America.
She specialises in insurance accounting and IFRS 17, including technical accounting guidance, implementation support, audit assurance and training for regulators, senior management, actuarial teams and finance teams. She has assisted insurers on their IFRS 17 implementation journey both from an assurance and advisory perspective. Most notably she has led the IFRS 17 Programme Assurance for the Sanlam Limited Group as well as the short-term and long-term insurance licenses within the Pepkor Group.
Her broader assurance experience includes evaluating insurance business processes, governance, risk management and controls, and leading complex audit engagements through planning, execution, audit committee reporting and sign-off.
- Largest Financial Services clients serviced:
- Sanlam Group
- Discovery Group
- Old Mutual Group
- AIA
- AIG
- Sun Life Financials
- Abacus Insurance Limited and Abacus Life Limited
- Absa Life, Absa Insurance and Instant Life
- Africa Re
- Munich Re
- Two Mountains Underwriters
- Legal Practitioners Indemnity Insurance Fund NPC
- Emerald Life
- All Life (Pty) Ltd
- Kganya Insurance Administrators
- Hollard and MotoVantage group
Group / Multinational audit experience
Lesego has extensive experience delivering audit and assurance services to large insurance and financial services groups operating across multiple jurisdictions. Her multinational experience includes work with the Sanlam Group, Discovery Group, Old Mutual Group, AIA, AIG and Sun Life Financial, together with insurance entities across Southern Africa, Asia-Pacific and North America. She has led and supported complex group engagements involving multiple entities and audit teams, with responsibility for coordinating audit execution, addressing significant financial reporting and insurance accounting matters, and driving consistent quality across the engagement. She also brings extensive experience engaging with senior management, actuarial and finance teams, audit committees and other governance stakeholders throughout the audit and financial reporting process.
Qualifications and professional affiliations
- CA (SA)
- South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA)
- Registered Auditor (RA