Do you want to become a Business Rescue Practitioner?
Given the economic environment that South Africa finds itself in post-COVID-19 coupled with the many woes that continue to plague the country, such as load shedding, continued State Capture, and rising costs, many businesses are facing financial distress. While the outlook is not positive, this presents an opportunity for you to make a difference by assisting to save businesses as well as improve your skills and earn additional fees.
As a practising accountant, you will have experience in assisting struggling businesses with crisis management and developing strategies to keep their heads above water. Further, as a member in good standing of SAIPA or SAICA, you would automatically qualify to be registered as a junior business rescue practitioner even if you have no experience. A junior BRP (0-5 years experience) can be appointed in a company with a public interest score of up to 100. Larger companies would require an experienced (5-10 years) or senior (10+ years), however, you could be appointed as a joint BRP in the larger matters.
Registering as a Practitioner at CIPC
The CIPC’s registration procedure as a BRP is now done via an online portal. You need to register as a CIPC customer and obtain a customer code. Using your customer code, log in and upload your required documents to apply for a license on the New E-Services tab.
The following supporting documents are required:
- Letter of Good Standing from an Accredited Professional Body;
- Tax Clearance Certificate/PIN;
- CV – details of particulars of the applicant’s relevant history and experience working in a distressed business environment and demonstrating relevant turnaround experience. In your CV, list your relevant experience in a table, which should include the respective companies, reg numbers, dates, and your role in the business in as much detail as possible;
- A Sworn Statement in terms of Section 138 (1) ( c), ( d), ( e) and ( f) of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 stating that the applicant:
- Is not subject to an order or probation in terms of Section 162 (7);
- Would not be disqualified from acting as a director of the company in terms of Section 69 (8); and
- Is of sound financial status;
- Any additional supporting documents, i.e. qualifications, and so on can be uploaded on the additional documents tab.
Once you have successfully uploaded your supporting documents, you will be directed to the payment portal where a fee of R500 is payable. Applications are usually processed in a turnaround time of 7-10 working days, and successful applicants will have their licenses emailed to them. Any queries relating to applications for a new license must be communicated in the Log a Query forum on the CIPC website.
How to market yourself as a BRP
A business rescue practitioner has to be independent; therefore, it is not possible to be appointed as a business rescue practitioner for your own clients. The same is obviously true for other accountants in your town. Accordingly, it is best to focus your marketing efforts by making it known to other accountants in your town that you take on appointments as a business rescue practitioner.
It is our experience, however, that when a business is in financial trouble, people approach their attorneys first. You should therefore also focus your marketing efforts on the attorneys in your town.
During the business rescue process, there is a lot of financial and legal work that needs to be done. When marketing yourself, make it known to the other accountants and attorneys that should they refer matters to you, there will be plenty of work for everyone to assist with and earn fees for their efforts.
Business rescue is a comprehensive and extensive process governed by the Companies Act. We, therefore, suggest that you focus on companies with revenue of more than circa R1m per month and more than 10 employees.
Require assistance?
Should you have any queries or require assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Core Business Rescue and Turnaround. We will gladly assist with obtaining your business rescue practitioner license. We are also willing to assist with joint appointments should you require an experienced or senior BRP. Further, we are willing to provide legal, financial and turnaround skills and we have experience, precedents and templates for companies across all industries.