2021 AUDIT REPORT SUBMISSIONS: NEWS FROM THE EAAB

Hi Property Practitioners!

The EAAB has issued a communique to remind all agencies with a financial year-end of 28 February of the deadline for audit report submissions of 30 June 2021.

As per the EAAB communique, here is some further information that is important to note:

"In order to ensure compliance with section 29(b), 32(3)(b) and 32(4) of the Estate Agency Affairs Act (the Act), principals are reminded to take note of the following information and also bring it to the attention of the auditors of their estate agency clients:

1. No extensions/exemptions are granted by the Estate Agency Affairs Board (the EAAB) on the submission deadline of 30 June 2021 for estate agency firms with a 28 February 2021 financial year end. The waiver of penalties that was implemented in 2020 does not apply for 2021 audit reports. Penalties will be charged for audit reports submitted after the 30 June 2021 deadline for estate agencies with a 28 February 2021 financial year-end. Principals should therefore plan their audits of estate agents to allow sufficient time to have the audits finalised within the prescribed four months and the relevant audit reports submitted before the deadline of 30 June 2021;

2. The sole manner of submission of audit reports determined by the EAAB in terms of section 32(4) of the Act is the MyEAAB Auditors Portal, accessible on www.eaab.org.za/myaudit Emailed, hand-delivered, posted or faxed audit reports will not be accepted as having been received;

3. All information that auditors may require in relation to the audits of estate agents is accessible on the MyEAAB Auditors Portal landing page, available on www.eaab.org.za/myaudit

4. In order to avoid the last minute request of Firm PIN Numbers required to submit an audit report, principals are required to get this Firm PIN Number, which starts with the letter “F”, well in advance of the submission deadline from the estate agency firm’s Fidelity Fund Certificate. Alternatively, this can be requested directly from the EAAB Call Centre at 087 285 3222;

5. The consequences of late submission of audit reports or failure to submit the audit reports are severe and results in the commencement of processes for the disqualification of, not only the estate agency firm itself, but also all the principals, full status estate agents and intern agents operating under the disqualified estate agency firm from being issued with Fidelity Fund Certificates. The commencement of processes for the disqualification will occur on 1 July 2021 if the audit report is not submitted on the Auditors Portal by 30 June 2021 for those estate agency firms with a 28 February 2021 financial year-end.

Estate Agencies must remember that, if their audit reports are not submitted on time, the firm block will cause all agents registered with their company to lose their FFC's for the current year.

It is also a good idea to ask your auditor to take a screenshot of the EAAB website after they have successfully submitted the audit reports, so there is proof if any issues should come up.

If you are currently struggling to lift the block on your firm because of late audit submissions, please contact Agent Aid at info@agentaid.co.za for help!

With love,