Complaints

COMPLAINTS ABOUT A MEMBER

The Association holds its members to a code of conduct. Anyone affected by the conduct of a member may bring a complaint, and every complaint received is recorded and assessed.

Who may complain

Anyone may lodge a complaint about the conduct of a member of the Association. You do not have to be a member yourself. Complaints commonly come from creditors, employees, directors and shareholders of a company under business rescue or in liquidation, from co-professionals, and from members of the public who have dealt with a practitioner.

What the Association can consider

The Association can consider whether a member has acted in breach of its constitution or its code of conduct. That is a question of professional conduct and of membership of this Association.
The Association is a voluntary professional association. It is not a regulator, a court or an ombud. It cannot set aside a business rescue plan, remove a practitioner from an appointment, order the payment of money, or decide a dispute between you and the practitioner. Appointments, removals and the taxation of remuneration are matters for the Master of the High Court or the court, and the licensing of business rescue practitioners is a matter for the CIPC. If your complaint belongs with one of those bodies, say so in your submission and the secretariat will tell you where to take it.

What happens to your complaint

  1. Received. Your complaint is recorded against a reference number and acknowledged by email.
  2. Assessed. The secretariat establishes whether the person complained about is a member, and whether the complaint concerns conduct the Association can consider.
  3. Referred. A complaint that discloses a possible breach of the code of conduct is referred into the Association's disciplinary process, under which the member is given notice and an opportunity to answer.
  4. Closed. A complaint that falls outside the Association's reach, is withdrawn, or discloses no breach is closed, with reasons recorded on the file.

Confidentiality and outcomes

Complaint records are confidential and are held by the secretariat under restricted access. Your identity and the substance of your complaint are disclosed to the member complained about, because no one can be asked to answer a case they have not seen. They are not published while a matter is being assessed.
Where a disciplinary matter reaches a finding, the outcome may be published in accordance with the code of conduct — named or anonymised, as the constitution provides. Publication is a decision of the Association, not of the complainant.
Personal information supplied in a complaint is processed for the purpose of assessing and determining that complaint, in accordance with POPIA. See the privacy notice.

Before you submit

Give the practitioner's full name as it appears on the appointment, the Master's or court reference of the matter if you have it, and a plain account of what happened and when. Do not attach documents to this form. If the secretariat needs supporting papers it will ask you for them by email, so that they arrive by a route that can be checked.
Lodge a complaint
The form takes a few minutes. You will receive a reference number by email.
Open the complaints form
Secretariat
complaints@abripsa.org.za
Office of the Chairman
Office No. 3, 12th Avenue
Houghton Estate, Johannesburg, 2198
Is the person a member?
The Association can only consider conduct by its own members. Check the members directory before you submit. If the practitioner is not a member, the appropriate body is the Master of the High Court, the CIPC or the practitioner's own professional body.
Not a complaint?
General enquiries, membership questions and media requests go through the contact page. A business in financial distress should read the guidance there rather than use this form.