In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—

"accreditation"

means the status afforded to a professional body in accordance with Part 1 of Chapter III, which status may be granted in full or in part;

"appropriate regulator"

in relation to any entity, means any national government department, registrar, regulator, agency, authority, centre, board or similar institution established, appointed, required or tasked in terms of any law to regulate, oversee or ensure compliance with any legislation, regulation or licence, rule, directive, notice or similar instrument issued in terms of or in compliance with any legislation or regulation, as appears to the Regulatory Board to be appropriate in relation to the entity;

"audit"

means the examination of, in accordance with prescribed or applicable auditing standards—

"auditing pronouncements"

means those standards, practice statements, guidelines and circulars developed, adopted, issued or prescribed by the Regulatory Board which a registered auditor must comply with in the performance of an audit;

"Auditor-General’’

has the meaning assigned in section 1 of the Public Audit Act, 2004 (Act No. 25 of 2004);

"client"

means the person for whom a registered auditor is performing or has performed an audit;

"company"

has the meaning assigned to it in the Companies Act, 2008 (Act No. 71 of 2008);

[Definition substituted by section 1(a) of Act No. 2 of 2015]

"Constitution"

means the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996;

[Definition inserted by section 1 of the Auditing Profession Amendment Act, 2021 (Act No. 5 of 2021), Notice No. 228 of GG44493, dated 26 April 2021]

"delegation"

in relation to a duty, includes an instruction or request to perform or to assist in performing the duty;

"ensure"

means to take all reasonably necessary and expedient steps in order to achieve the purpose, objective or intention of this Act or a provision of this Act;

"firm"

means a partnership, company or sole proprietor referred to in section 40;

"improper conduct"

means any non-compliance with this Act or any rules prescribed in terms of this Act or any conduct prescribed as constituting improper conduct;

"management board"

in relation to an entity which is a company, means the board of directors of the company and, in relation to any other entity, means the body or individual responsible for the management of the business of the entity;

"Minister"

means the Minister of Finance;

"organ of state"

has the meaning assigned to it in section 239 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996;

"prescribe"

means prescribe by notice in the Gazette, and "prescribed" and "prescribing" have corresponding meanings;

"professional body"

means a body of, or representing—

[Definition substituted by section 1(b) of Act No. 2 of 2015]

"public accountant"

means any person who is engaged in public practice;

"public practice"

means the practice of a registered auditor who places professional services at the disposal of the public for reward, and "practice" has a similar meaning;

"Public Accountants’ and Auditors’ Board"

means the board established under the Public Accountants’ and Auditors’ Act, 1951 (Act 51 of 1951) and which continues to exist under section 2 of the Public Accountants’ and Auditors’ Act, 1991 (Act No. 80 of 1991);

"Public Finance Management Act"

means the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999);

"publish"

means to publish in the Gazette or in any official publication or official website of the Regulatory Board dealing with the auditing profession and distributed or circulated on a national basis to members of that profession, and "publishing" and "published" have corresponding meanings;

"registered auditor"

means an individual or firm registered as an auditor with the Regulatory Board:

"registered candidate auditor"

means an individual who has obtained a professional accountant designation from an accredited professional body, who is registered as a candidate auditor from the Regulatory Board and who is serving under the supervision of a registered auditor;

[Definition inserted by section 1(c) of Act No. 2 of 2015]

"Regulatory Board"

means the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors established by section 3;

"reportable irregularity"

means any unlawful act or omission committed by any person responsible for the management of an entity, which—

"rule"

means a rule prescribed by the Regulatory Board under section 10;

"third party"

means any person other than a client; and

"this Act"

includes any regulations promulgated under section 55;

"training contract"

means a written training contract entered into in the prescribed form and registered with the Regulatory Board whereby a prospective registered auditor is duly bound to serve a registered auditor for a specified period and is entitled to receive training in the practice and profession of a registered auditor.