See full profile: Northriding Accountant - BONNIE NEL
Were you always planning to be an accountant and why?
No, it was a later development after starting a family and did my TIPP articles in my 40's.
When meeting with clients, do they mostly come to your premises or do you mostly go to theirs?
First meeting best at coffee shop or their offices.
What is your preferred mode of communication with your clients?
Email, Phone, WhatsApp, Teams or Zoom.
Have you ever done an online video call with a client?
Yes.
What do you love most about accounting?
Taxation.
Would you recommend accounting as a career for school-leavers, and why?
Yes, as it is an all-round skill, business revolves around financial indicators, no point being a sales person and the staff in finance are thieves and telling you so many tales.
What qualities should South African business people be looking for in their accountant?
Integrity, experience in your field of business.
What is the biggest challenge facing accountants today?
Entrepreneurs learn too late that it is not ideal having a matric level accounting person running your finances.
What aspects of accounting do you focus on most?
Payroll, happy employees are key, Management Accounts, VAT returns, Year End submissions of financials, taxation, COIDA and payrolls.
Describe your average client:
R300,000 per month turnover up to R9M per year.
How far away from your premises is your furthest client?
100kms
From your accounting experience, if you could cite one of the biggest reasons SMEs in SA fail, what would it be?
Gross profit analysis is not done, and money in the bank is seen as the profit without any consideration for taxation, legislation compliance, expansion, employee bonuses, employee safety and selling products that are making negative contribution to gross profit.
What accounting software do you like best?
Zero, Sage One Cloud, FNB Instant Accounting and Draftworx
What other software, online services or apps do you use?
Excel, I would like to utilise more however overheads are not always understood by the customer, they do not see benefits and do not want to pay extra for nice to have software.
Do you think the coming wave of automation in the next few years will steal some accounting jobs and why/why not?
Yes and we have to embrace the change and adapt accordingly.
What is your opinion on Bitcoin?
I stay away from Bitcoin and if my Customers use it, there is no judgement. Where there is a scam, Bitcoin is there in it, enabling.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Reading, cycling, gardening, walking my dogs.
What is the most interesting thing on your bucket list?
Travel to Jerusalem
What has your experience been on FindanAccountant?
No sales yet, one scam contact.
See how our other local South African accountants have answered the above questions.
