Ethics After Hours: The Battle No One Sees
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The sentencing of former SARS employee and registered tax practitioner Michael Benson has stirred something deeper in the accounting community. Not because his actions define the profession, they don’t. But because his case exposes a quieter, more uncomfortable truth:
The hardest ethical decisions happen when nobody is watching.
When the pressure is high.
When the system is failing.
When the wrong thing seems faster than the right thing.
This isn’t a story about one practitioner.
It’s a mirror reflecting the invisible ethical battles CBAPs face daily.
1. The Case as a Catalyst, Not the Story
Benson’s conduct was deliberate and unlawful, the courts handled that.
But the profession’s real question is this:
Why does the environment make unethical shortcuts feel tempting, even to good practitioners?
Because the system is under strain.
Because clients are desperate.
Because delays stretch into months.
Because stress piles up silently while practitioners try to keep their heads above water.
Ethics isn’t tested in a courtroom.
It’s tested when you’re alone with a decision and no one will ever know which choice you made.
2. A Profession Under Strain, Where Temptation Breeds
Small-practice accountants are carrying the weight of:
Constant regulatory changes
Clients demanding miracles
SARS delays that create impossible bottlenecks
Late-night WhatsApps
Endless admin that never gets easier
Pressure to produce results in a broken system
Most practitioners aren’t unethical.
They’re tired.
They’re overloaded.
They’re trying their best in a system that works against them.
And it’s exactly in that exhaustion where the temptation creeps in:
“Let me just fix this one thing.”
“It’s harmless.”
“No one will ever know.”
That’s where ethics becomes a daily act of bravery, not theory.
3. Why Small Practices Are Uniquely Exposed
Big firms have safety nets: review partners, internal audit departments, compliance teams.
Small practices have:
their judgment,
their conscience,
and the reality that they are the final decision-maker.
And when the pressure peaks, the line between helping a client and crossing an ethical boundary becomes dangerously thin.
Let’s be honest, most misconduct doesn’t start with greed.
It starts with a moment of relief that’s too tempting:
a submission pushed through without full docs
a number “fixed” to match a client’s expectation
a shortcut chosen to save a relationship or deadline
These choices rarely feel like misconduct in the moment, they feel like survival.
3.5. The Temptation No One Talks About
Here’s the truth the profession whispers but never says plainly:
The hardest ethical tests don’t happen in boardrooms, hearings, or disciplinary cases. They happen alone, at your desk, long after hours - when you're tired, frustrated, and the system around you is barely functioning.
Because once you’ve been in the profession long enough, you understand the loopholes, the timing delays, the blind spots and you realise how easy it could be to bend something “just a little.”
Not because you’re unethical.
But because you’re exhausted.
Because SARS hasn’t replied in 14 weeks.
Because a client is begging.
Because month-end hit like a tidal wave.
Because the paperwork never stops.
Because you know exactly how the system fails and how easy it would be to “fix” what the system broke.
That’s where the quiet temptations creep in:
“It’s just a small adjustment.”
“I’ll fix it later.”
“No one will notice.”
“I just need this client off my back.”
This is the real ethical battlefield.
Not fraud. Not malicious intent.
Just coping.
Ethics isn’t hard when systems work. Ethics becomes hard when nobody is looking, and the shortcut feels like relief instead of risk.
This is the psychological danger zone of modern practice:
· Not corruption but convenience.
· Not misconduct but burnout.
· Not greed but survival.
And this is exactly why ethics must be more than rules.
It has to be your guardrail, the thing that holds you steady on the days when compromise feels easier, quicker, and justified.
Doing the right thing when everyone is watching is compliance.
Doing the right thing when no one is watching and when the system is pushing you to do otherwise, that’s professional and ethical courage.
That’s the part of the story we need to talk about more.
Because that’s where practitioners either stay safe… or slide.
4. A Changing Tax Landscape: More Loopholes, More Silent Tests
Today’s environment amplifies the temptation:
AI-generated fake documents
“ghost consultants” selling fraud as a service
VAT refund syndicates targeting unsuspecting taxpayers
Increasingly frustrated clients
A system that rewards speed but punishes caution
Practitioners see the loopholes every day.
And knowing the loopholes is exactly what makes ethical restraint harder, not easier.
The challenge today isn’t knowing the rules.
The challenge is staying honest when breaking them feels effortless, because the truth is that one practitioner exploiting one loophole may feel insignificant, but when many do it, the cumulative loss can weaken revenue collection, undermine public trust, and ultimately drag down South Africa’s GDP growth.
5. Ethics Is About More Than Compliance, It’s About Character
CIBA’s broader stance is clear: accountants are part of the country’s moral and economic backbone.
Ethics isn’t only about regulations.
It’s about:
doing the right thing when it slows you down
protecting clients even when they pressure you
holding boundaries even when the system doesn’t
choosing integrity when shortcuts feel smarter
The Benson case highlights what happens when the wrong choices compound.
But the real lesson lies in the thousands of moments before that, the invisible moments practitioners face every week.
6. How to Stay Ethical When No One Is Looking
In a world of rising pressure, you don’t “try harder”, you build safeguards.
Practical Guardrails:
1. Standardised controls
So your weakest moment doesn’t become your biggest mistake.
2. Built-in reviews and checklists
Ethics is easier when your process backs you.
3. Firm boundaries with clients
“No” is sometimes the most ethical service you provide.
4. A peer network to sanity-check decisions
It’s harder to slip when someone else is watching.
5. CPD that focuses on real-world ethical traps
Not the theory, the psychology.
6. Knowing when and how to report risk
Because staying silent can be as dangerous as crossing the line.
Ethics must be more than knowledge.
It must be infrastructure.
7. A Moment for Reflection, Not Judgment
The profession is full of honest practitioners making hard decisions in impossible conditions.
The point isn’t to judge anyone.
It’s to acknowledge the truth:
Your biggest ethical battles aren’t dramatic.
They’re quiet.
Invisible.
And fought alone.
And that’s exactly why support structures matter.
8. Moving Forward Together, Because Integrity Is a Team Sport
If the Benson case is a warning, it’s not a warning about villains in the profession.
It’s a warning about pressure, isolation, and the dangerous ease of small compromises when no one is there to steady you.
Because the fact is this:
Ethics is not maintained in silence, it’s strengthened in community.
Practitioners stay ethical not because the rules are clear, but because they have:
colleagues to sanity-check tough calls,
templates and tools that remove guesswork,
guidance when the system goes off the rails,
and a professional home at CIBA that keeps them grounded when pressure peaks.
The future of ethical practice won’t be built by shouting “do better” at exhausted accountants.
It will be built by CBAPs, who CIBA has equipped with:
stronger networks
modern tools
clear boundaries
real-world ethics training
and a community that lifts each other up, not polices from a distance
Because ethics isn’t about perfection.
It’s about consistency, especially when no one is watching and everything around you feels like it’s working against you.
That’s the real lesson of this moment and it’s the foundation the profession needs now more than ever.
Join CIBA and we’ll show you how to build the systems, guardrails and professional confidence you need to stay ethical, protected, and credible, even when the pressure hits and no one is watching.
