Wiseman Nkuhlu’s essay on accountancy encourages the rediscovery of the ethical roots that once characterised all professions (Auditors and accountants have been given an integrity wake-up call, January 17). However, the period 1976 to 1990, when Nkuhlu set a foundation for his professional standards, brought back painful memories, because in those years, accountants began laying another less-edifying foundation. Coinciding with a punitive tax regime for companies and individuals that peaked in the 1980s were generous tax incentives to stimulate investment in fixed plant and machinery. These conditions created opportunities and prompted a feeding frenzy of tax avoidance. Accountants, once the unseen backbone of probity in the oversight of business, found tax avoidance their new, most critical service. Schemes of increasing deviousness, often skirting the edge of the law, became widely available to other professions vulnerable to the tax regime. Owning racehorses, unprofitable boutiq...
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