Professional Standards

Towards the end of 2019, the ICFP Board embarked on a process to develop professional standards for the Institute. It was decided to initially focus on the development of general performance and conduct standards and that these standards would form the foundation of the development of further, more specialised standards at a later stage.

Establishment of a Standards Committee

• To execute the Board instruction, a Standards Committee was established;
• In January 2020, the Chairperson of the Standards Committee, Mr Gerhard Geldenhuys, invited interested ICFP members to participate in the process of developing the standards.

To facilitate the development process, it was agreed to establish sub-committees. The sub-committees were inter alia responsible to:

1. Conduct research relating to the subject matter for which a standard must be developed.
2. Consider international standards relating to the subject matter.
3. Compile a proposed standard for circulation and consideration by stakeholders from the industry.

During the sub-committee introductory meeting, the following guidance relating to the proposed standards was shared by the Chairperson:

1. Commercial Forensic Practitioners should be inspired by the proposed standards and not interpret them as being prescriptive.
2. The proposed standards should be a guideline for Commercial Forensic Practitioners.
3. Considering the ICFP membership composition, the draft standard should at this stage focus on the generic aspects of the proposed standards.

The following sub-committees were established:

#	Sub-committee	Coordinators
1	Attribute Standards	Dr Schalk Engelbrecht Mr Gerhard Geldenhuys
2	Client- and Engagement acceptance standards	Mr Herman de Beer
3	Standards relating to information collection, working papers and prohibited services	Mr Hjalmar Gerber
4	Reporting standards	Mr Albert van Zyl

The client and engagement acceptance standards will be completed in due course.

The ICFP Board would specifically like to thank Ms Gabi Zellerhoff for her valuable contribution and hard work in the research and drafting of the report writing standards.   The Board would also like to thank Ms Leandri Oosthuizen for the research she has done and her contribution to the drafting of the information-gathering standards.

Focus group:  A special thanks to the members of the focus groups that evaluated and provided their feedback.

The following individuals formed the focus group:

Werner Bouwer, Thokozani Mvelase, Zaakir Mohamed, Trevor White, Hannes Bezuidenhout, Melani Van Wyk, Riaan Beekman, Melvin Yogolingam, Corrie Fourie , Nic Harris, Ryno de Water, Christo Adams, Nischal Mewalall, Dave van Heerden, and Elna Germishuyse.

Review group:

A special thanks to the members of the reviews groups that evaluated and provided their feedback.

The following individuals formed the review group:

Mr Jason Jordaan, Ms, Gabi Zellerhoff, Mr Albert van Zyl, Mr Chris de Beer, Ms Gerda Ferreirra, Ms Rene Garman, Mr Tertius Stapelberg, Dr Jerry Chetty, and Mr Herman de Beer