CASEWARE AFRICA (ADAPT IT): Transformative Tools with Insight at Their Heart

Established for over 30 years, Caseware is transforming the way in which auditing and accounting professionals work through quality products and services combined with state-of-the-art infrastructure. “At Caseware, we specialise in financial reporting, audit and analytics software and have come to be known as the undisputed leader when it comes to compliance,” outlines Business Development Executive, Theuns Holtshousen.

“Our offering to clients is a complete solution to ensure success consisting of software, implementation, and training. Our world-class products are not only designed to deliver on our compliance promise, but ensure quality results, increased effectiveness, and improved profitability.” Caseware is a division of Adapt IT, a South African company which provides leading specialised software and digitally-led business solutions.

The financial services division of Adapt IT is widely regarded as one of South Africa’s leading software houses. For more than 25 years, Caseware has specialised in the design, development and deployment of financial solutions for auditing and accounting professionals, providing a complete range of professional services and solutions from audit and accounting to tax and secretarial.

SUPPORTING GROWTH

Caseware Africa services all English-speaking African countries. “Initially, Caseware Africa was founded as CQS in 1993, which was then acquired by Adapt IT in 2016. Over the last five years especially, we have gained significant market share in East, West and Southern Africa, and there are many other African countries into which we can still further grow,” Holtshousen says. “Malawi is an example of territory which we have recently uncovered and is already yielding great growth.”

In addition to expanding its footprint across the African continent, Caseware is also very focussed on creating new offerings to help their customers solve new and additional problems, thereby enabling greater value and forming strong partnerships.

“We are a learning organisation first and foremost, and constantly challenge ourselves to be better than we were yesterday, to get more information and act more effectively and strategically. There is also a massive boon of the infrastructure offered by a bigger organisation, and the stability of diversity – the importance of which we very much have learned during Covid-19,” Holtshousen adds.

POWERFUL ANALYTICS

One of Caseware Africa’s latest product additions is its comprehensive, powerful Caseware IDEA® Data Analysis tool which enables faster, more effective external audits. “Data analytics is changing the game for audit, accounting and finance professionals globally,” Holtshousen asserts, “and IDEA® is a very mature analytics solution that boasts great depth and capability, which can be bolted onto the audit itself as well as financial reporting.

“There has been an explosion in the amount of data available to auditors, and the beautiful thing about IDEA® is that it gives the ability to access absolutely all of the data at once, rather than just a sample as was the case previously,” he confirms, stressing the empowerment that is wrought upon accounting firms who employ such an intelligent analytics system.

“There is another aspect to this, and the old maxim that with great power comes great responsibility rings truer than ever, in the sense that what has been seen cannot then be unseen,” he unravels. “One need only consider the enormous scrutiny that the audit profession has come under in recent years, to realise that the auditor occupies a really quite powerful position. With IDEA®, auditing teams can increase their data coverage, by investigating a large number of items and potentially covering 100% of the transactions.

“The power of analytics is really levelling up the sway and position of any financial professional and giving them a totally different seat at the leadership table. Access to this wealth of data and all these insights means that, they can be more effective in fulling their responsibilities and can make greater predictions on the practical implications of the insights that they gain, which I think is a great place for us and the sector to be in.

“Our mission statement is centred around empowering financial professionals with automated compliance, and we want to do this by creating solutions that make things as transparent as possible,” Holtshousen resumes. “This is the exciting part for me. As a product-driven business, we are placing a central focus on various compliance areas, and then turning to the richness of information and insights that resides in the data.”

COMPETITIVE EDGE

With its many decades of expertise in helping auditors and accountants automate compliance, Caseware Africa has recently set out to transform firms’ System of Quality Management (SoQM) management with a brand-new cloud-based app, SQM, designed by audit, data, and quality experts. “SQM helps audit and accounting firms implement their SoQM in compliance with the requirements of ISQM 1 that is becoming effective on 15 December 2022. SQM Quality is one of our proudest achievements to date, because it is our first global product,” Holtshousen beams.

“SQM supports multiple global quality management standards which enables network firms to acquire a single solution use across their global footprint. We continue to focus on delivering new and additional value to our customers,” he states. “SQM complements our existing audit and accounting solutions. What sets our offering apart, is that we support a variety of global compliance standards which have been developed by industry experts in quality management all across the world. Caseware Africa prides itself as being a leader in helping customers automate compliance.”

This is not Caseware’s sole distinguishing factor, Holtshousen details. “Another way in which we stand out is in our maturity in diversity and transformation. Working on the African continent, on a daily basis we deal with such a variety of cultures and stories, and how we approach inclusion not only from an employee, but also from a stakeholder perspective to make space for everyone to feel safe is something that is part of our brand and of our DNA today.

“Software brands are well-known for their cultures, and ours is definitely part of our competitive edge – we are not only trying to build a business, but one with longevity that attracts customers for life,” is Holtshousen’s closing assessment, with Caseware secure, strong and stable. “We have a very strong leadership culture, and I believe that we are currently in a better position to perform than ever before. At Caseware we are building something not only of worth, but ultimately something that matters.”