A close corporation may look harmless on paper, but its members can still face personal liability years after the business was formed. Two Supreme Court of Appeal judgments in 2025 have brought the issue back into focus. One confirms that membership alone does not make a person liable for the corporation’s conduct. The other shows that a reckless-trading claim can survive for far longer than many practitioners realise. For accountants, the message is simple: old CC files still deserve careful attention.

Most professionals are good at spotting risk but that is only the beginning. Writing it down does not fix the problem and it does not protect the business. The real value comes from deciding what to do next and actually doing it. Whether you avoid it, reduce it, share it or accept it, the key is to make a clear choice and take action. Risk only becomes managed when something in the real world changes.