Overview      

As the role of accountants continues to evolve, practitioners are increasingly expected to provide guidance far beyond traditional accounting, tax, and financial reporting functions. While this presents incredible opportunities to add value to clients, it also creates significant ethical, legal, professional, and reputational risks when advice is provided outside a practitioner's competence, experience, authority, or agreed scope of work. 

Many professional and ethical failures do not arise from dishonesty, but from misplaced confidence, informal "off-the-cuff" advice, advisory creep or a simple desire to be helpful. Understanding where professional competence begins and ends is essential for protecting your clients, maintaining public trust, and safeguarding your professional standing and Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance. 

This webinar explores the ethical principle of professional competence and due care. It will help practitioners identify competence boundaries, manage complex advisory risks, and develop practical, defensible approaches for determining when to accept, limit, refer or decline professional engagements. Through practical examples and real-world case studies, attendees will learn how to remain commercially valuable while avoiding the hidden dangers of professional overreach. 

Join Caryn Maitland CA(SA) on 30 July 2026 from 10h00 to 12h00 as she examines the ethical and professional risks associated with over-advising, provides practical tools for managing competence boundaries, and equips practitioners to deliver responsible, high-quality professional services. 

 Learning objectives     

Attending this webinar will equip you with the following skills:  

• Master the ethical principles of professional competence and due care in advisory engagements. 

• Identify the exact competency boundaries across various specialist advisory areas (Trust law, POPIA, labour law, B-BBEE). 

• Recognise the ethical, legal, reputational and professional indemnity risks associated with over-advising. 

• Apply a practical competence boundary framework in your daily engagements. 

• Strengthen scope management through improved engagement letters, scope definitions, documentation trails and referral practices to eliminate liability 

Content   

The webinar will cover the following topics:  

• Introduction: The Modern Accountant as an All-Purpose Advisor 

• Ethical Framework and Professional Responsibilities 

• Professional competence and due care 

• Competence Boundaries in Professional Advisory Work 

• The Competence Boundary Test 

• Scope Management and Engagement Risk 

• Referral, Collaboration and Use of Experts 

• Professional Indemnity, Disciplinary and Legal Exposure 

• Practical Case Studies 

• Practical Tools and Takeaways 

Obtaining your CPD certificate  

This training is compliant with the International Education Standard (IES7) issued by the International Federation of Accountants and recognised for CPD by relevant professional bodies including ACCA, CIMA, IAC, IIA, SAICA and SAIPA.  

All attendees are issued with a CPD certificate available in an online profile.    

About the presenter  

Caryn Maitland CA(SA) 

Caryn Maitland is a Chartered Accountant (SA). She has been a member of IRBA as a registered auditor and accountant since 2002 and is also a registered member of SAICA. 

Caryn has lectured Auditing and Accounting at various institutions and has conducted independent workshops and seminars for professional accountants since 2006 on various topics. She has presented on the national tour for the annual Legislation Update with ProBeta Training (Pty) Ltd in 2014 and 2015, as well as on the FASSET national tour for the Tax Administration Act in 2014.  Caryn is also involved with the annual SAICA SMP Technical tour. 

Who should attend?  

The following persons will benefit from attending this webinar:  

• Practising accountants including: CA(SA), Professional Accountant (SA), AGA(SA), FCCA, BAP(SA), BA(SA) and ACCA.  

• Registered auditors.  

• Audit managers.  

• Trainee accountants.   

 Price               

• R 450.00 - Online admission - Individual.  

• Group Price 1 - From R337 per person (up to 5 users)   

• Group Price 2 - From R260 per person (up to 10 users)   

• Group Price 3 - From R224 per person (over 11 users)  

Steps to register for the event:   

If you already have a profile, login and register for the webinar.  

If you don’t have a profile, create a free profile then login and register for the webinar.  

Click here to create a free profile (There is no charge to create a profile and gain access to our free Monthly Practice Management Series).  

Click here to find out about the Technical Resource Centre & CPD Subscription options.    

Additional material    

By attending this webinar you will be provided with:  

• A summarised slide presentation.  

• Reference documents and/or course material where available.  

• You can ask questions during the webinar and you will also have access to the presenter after the webinar.    

Corporate training solutions  

  At the Accounting Academy, we recognize the evolving needs of businesses in today's dynamic environment. Beyond our standard webinar offerings, we provide tailored corporate training solutions designed to empower your team with the latest in accounting and professional skills. Whether you're looking for online sessions or face-to-face training, our programs are crafted to ensure a comprehensive and engaging learning experience.  

Drawing inspiration from modern training methodologies, our corporate solutions are interactive, adaptable, and focused on real-world applications. We prioritize hands-on learning, ensuring your team can immediately apply their newfound knowledge in practical scenarios.    

Interested in a bespoke corporate training experience? Reach out to us at corporate@accountingacademy.co.za or call 010 593 0466. Together, let's design a training program that elevates your team's capabilities and aligns with your organizational goals.     

Contact us    

Have any questions or need any assistance? Contact us today!  

• Online chat through our website.  

• WhatsApp: Start chatting (+27635026114)  

• Phone: 010 593 0466  

• E-mail: ticket@accountingacademy.co.za