One of our business visits for our Accounting in Africa course was a meeting with a professional from PwC in South Africa. I was very intrigued to learn about how business is conducted in the country and to also gain insight into the auditing practice, as I will be entering into a similar career upon graduation. The professional shared a little about his experiences with the firm and expressed that overall, the firm shares the same goal across all countries when performing an audit of a company, which is to provide reasonable assurance for all investors. The main difference he expressed between the audits conducted in different countries is the rules, principles, and guidelines they must follow when performing audits. I found this to be interesting as I had anticipated that conducting audits in different countries would look incredibly different, but hearing this allowed me to recognize that there are many more similarities than I initially expected.
Another business visit that helped me better understand how business is conducted in Africa took place with a professional in the tourism industry. He expressed that tourism is a necessity in their country as it provides job opportunities for locals and helps the country preserve its land and resources. With such a high unemployment rate in South Africa, it is essential that efforts are made to create more job opportunities within the tourism industry. He explained that despite the hit the industry took during COVID, they are starting to see growth in the number of tourists visiting their country, which, in turn, is helping to boost the economy. I was very pleased to see that as tourists, we were very welcomed by all locals with open arms. All employees we interacted with at the hotels, airports, and restaurants seemed to be very excited to have us visiting their country and made efforts to make sure we were comfortable during our stay!
