Case note: A Commentary on Overturning the MAFR Rule in East Rand Member District of Chartered Accountants v Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (2023): A Missed Opportunity for the Transformation of the Audit Industry in South Africa?

• Citation: (2025) 37 SA Merc LJ 115
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/SAMLJ/v37/i1a6
• Published date: 15 October 2025
• Pages: 115-125
• Author: 'Nyane, B.M.
• Date: 15 October 2025

JOBNAME: SAMLJ Vol 31 Part 1 PAGE: 1 SESS: 10 OUTPUT: Tue Sep 2 14:59:33 2025 SUM: 2E70FCE0

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A COMMENTARY ON OVERTURNING THE

MAFR RULE IN EAST RAND MEMBER

DISTRICT OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

v INDEPENDENT REGULATORY BOARD

FOR AUDITORS (2023): A MISSED

OPPORTUNITY FOR THE

TRANSFORMATION OF THE AUDIT

INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA?

BOKANG M ‘NYANE*

Graduate of Turfloop Graduate School of Leadership (TGSL),

University of Limpopo

HOOLO ‘NYANE**

Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Limpopo

I INTRODUCTION

Mandatory audit f‌irm rotation (MAFR) — an idea that the maximum

number of years an audit f‌irm can audit a given company’s f‌inancial

statements must be limited — is increasingly gaining momentum at the

international and national levels. It is touted as a mechanism to enhance

integrity, quality and independence in the audit practice (Horton, Livne

& Pettinicchio, ‘Empirical evidence on audit quality under a dual

mandatory auditor rotation rule’ (2021) 30(1) European Accounting

Review 1; Indyk, ‘Mandatory audit rotation and audit market

concentration — evidence from Poland’ (2019) 5(4) Economics Business

Review 90; Schoeman, ‘Re-thinking mandatory auditor rotation:

A comparative analysis’ (2023) 44(4) Obiter 773; Rademeyer & Schutte,

‘An evaluation of mandatory audit f‌irm rotation in South Africa’ (2018)

1(4) Journal of Economics and Business 414; Baatwah, ‘Audit tenure and

f‌inancial reporting in Oman: Does rotation affect the quality?’ (2016)

6(3) Risk Governance & Control: Financial Markets & Institutions 16).

In South Africa, MAFR has great potential to serve an additional

purpose, that is, the transformation of the audit market, which is

* BCom (NUL), CA (ACCA), PGD Specialised Accounting (Wits), MBA (UL).

** LLB(Lesotho), LLM(NWU), LLD (Unisa).

002 - SA Mercantile Law - September 2, 2025

115 https://doi.org/10.47348/SAMLJ/v37/i1a6

(2025) 37 SA Merc LJ 115

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