Professional services compliance in South Africa
Consultants, agencies, accountants, attorneys, engineers, IT firms and other service businesses.
Laws that usually apply
You hold client and staff information and often act as an operator for your clients, which needs the right contracts.
Private bodies usually keep a PAIA manual and handle access requests.
Incidents and unauthorised access touch the Act's offences and reporting duties.
Most firms run as companies with director duties and annual filings.
Some professions, such as attorneys, are accountable institutions. Check whether yours is.
Staff and contractor arrangements raise employment questions.
Reports, designs and code you create are protected, and what you use must be licensed. Agree ownership in writing.
Directors and partners must report qualifying corruption, theft and fraud above R100,000 to the police.
Companies must file beneficial ownership information with CIPC.
Corporate clients often ask suppliers for a B-BBEE level or affidavit.
Templates you will probably need
- Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (South Africa)
- One-Way Non-Disclosure Agreement (South Africa)
- Operator (Data Processing) Agreement under POPIA
- Information Security Policy
- POPIA Privacy Notice (Website and Customers)
- Independent Contractor Agreement (South Africa)
- Confidentiality and IP Assignment Agreement (South Africa)
What customers, tenders and funders often ask to see
- Information security policy
- Operator agreement and privacy notice
- NDAs
- B-BBEE certificate or affidavit
- Breach response plan
Professional body rules and indemnity or registration requirements are outside our self-assessments.
How ComplianceDesk helps
- Take the self-assessments above and see your gaps, free and without an account.
- Save a result to your organisation and each gap becomes a task with an owner and a due date.
- Fill in a template, save it to your Policy Library and track who has acknowledged it.
- Choose the filing dates that apply on the compliance calendar and get an email before each one.
Questions
Does using ComplianceDesk make us compliant?
No. The self-assessments show where you have gaps against each law and give you tasks, templates and reminders to close them. Compliance depends on what you actually do, and the content is a guide that an attorney should review before you rely on it.
Can I try the self-assessments without an account?
Yes. Every self-assessment is free to take, and your answers stay in your browser until you choose to save a result to an organisation.
Track it all in one place
ComplianceDesk turns each law into controls with owners, due dates and evidence.