Beneficial ownership compliance is becoming an increasingly important part of corporate compliance – and for South African businesses, it is no longer something that can simply be dealt with once a year and forgotten.
In a recent ACCA Accounting and Business article examining tighter beneficial ownership rules across Africa, Centacc Director Cobus Swart was among the finance professionals asked to comment on the practical impact these requirements are having on businesses and accountants.
The broader message is clear: regulators, financial institutions and other authorities increasingly expect businesses to know who ultimately owns or controls an entity, maintain accurate records and ensure that the information being submitted remains up to date.
Why beneficial ownership compliance is receiving more attention
Beneficial ownership requirements are intended to make it more difficult for individuals to hide behind complex corporate structures.
Across Africa, jurisdictions have been strengthening the collection and verification of ownership information as part of broader anti-money-laundering and financial-transparency initiatives. Recent ACCA coverage highlights developments across several African jurisdictions, including South Africa, illustrating a wider movement towards greater corporate transparency.
For South African companies and close corporations, this translates into a very practical compliance responsibility.
Beneficial ownership is becoming an ongoing compliance responsibility.
Not simply another form to complete.
What has changed for South African businesses?
Beneficial ownership information has become closely connected to the annual compliance process for South African companies and close corporations.
Businesses need to ensure that the required ownership information and applicable supporting records are current when completing their corporate filings.
The practical consequence is important: beneficial ownership should not be something a business only starts investigating when an Annual Return becomes due. Accurate company information needs to be maintained throughout the year.
“For accountants, business ownership is no longer a once-a-year compliance tickbox exercise, but one that needs to be maintained and managed.”
Cobus Swart
Director, Centacc
Quoted in ACCA Accounting and Business, August 2026
The challenge is bigger than one declaration
One of the practical difficulties highlighted by Cobus is that ownership information can be required by several different parties and in different formats.
CIPC is only one part of the picture. Depending on the business or structure involved, information relating to ownership and control may also be required by SARS, the Master of the High Court, banks, financial institutions and other organisations conducting verification or due-diligence procedures.
For business owners, this can create a fragmented compliance environment in which similar information needs to be supplied at different times and for different purposes.
It also means that outdated company records can create problems far beyond a single submission.
CIPC
Corporate records
SARS
Tax information
MASTER’S OFFICE
Trust information
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Verification & due diligence
What should businesses be reviewing?
- Who ultimately owns or controls the company?
- Is shareholder and securities information current?
- Has ownership or control changed?
- Does the information held by CIPC still reflect the current structure?
- Are the required registers and supporting records available?
- Do trusts, holding companies or other structures affect what must be disclosed?
Why accurate records matter
Beneficial ownership compliance forms part of a much wider shift towards corporate transparency.
Accurate records assist regulators, financial institutions and other relevant parties in understanding who ultimately stands behind a business. They also support due diligence, risk assessment and broader financial-transparency controls.
For businesses, there is another practical reason to take it seriously: poorly maintained information can become a compliance problem at precisely the point when an important filing, transaction or verification needs to be completed.
Keeping records current can make those processes considerably easier to manage.
Beneficial ownership should not become a last-minute compliance problem.
Centacc can assist businesses with keeping their company information and compliance responsibilities structured and up to date.
Clear records. Better compliance. Fewer surprises.
Source: This article discusses recent coverage by ACCA Accounting and Business on the strengthening of beneficial ownership requirements across Africa, in which Centacc Director Cobus Swart commented on the South African compliance environment.