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Gavin Cairns previous slide BIOGRAPHY August 2019  
Gavin Cairns
Gavin Cairns is Chartered Accountant and Registered Auditor who holds the position of director at CK Audit (Pty) Ltd, an entity incorporated to provide accounting, tax, business advisory and forensic services. He was formerly registered as an associate, Certified Forensic Expert of both the South African and American Chapters (2008 – 2011).

Gavin holds a BTech: Internal Audit Degree, BComm (Hons) Accounting and LLB degrees from various tertiary institutions.

While completing his BComm (Hons) in Accounting, he obtained a Certificate in Theory of Accounting qualification in order to write the SAICA board exam. In preparation for the latter, he attending the Advance Practical Training via UCT and obtained the relevant diploma. This enabled him to successfully complete both the board 1 and board 2 exams on the first attempt. This enabled him to register as a Chartered Accountant with SAICA in 2007.

In addition to his meticulous financial acumen, Gavin has the ability to simplify complex matters in order to find the golden thread where financial or systematic failures occurred. Gavin is computer literate and versed in various computer software packages. Gavin possesses sound inter-personal skills and is an excellent communicator - a required trade in the investigation field.

Gavin has the rare ability to combine knowledge with information in order to allow the truth to surface when matters have been clouded. Gavin has experience in providing training and in developing capacity-building skills.

In addition to the provision of taxation, audit and accounting services, Gavin has 12 years forensic experience in both the private and public sector. This includes being a team member and team leader on various international assignments undertaken on behalf of the European Union. Countries where financial and control audits were performed includes, Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Sierra Leon. The highlight of his career is where he was assigned team leader to a multi-disciplinary team (1 x Advocate, 2 x accountants, 1 x quantity surveyor) tasked to provide a professional opinion regarding a dispute in relation to a € 115million construction contract.

Gavin’s entire working career, from 1997 to current on range of private and public sector assignments involved mining, manufacturing, construction, education, property development and various non-governmental and non-profit service providers. The particular services offered included inter alia:
  1. Auditing - a portfolio of clients;
  2. Due Diligence procedures and valuation of businesses for various clients;
  3. Litigation support to various clients involved in divorce matters;
  4. High level review of accounting records for possible fraudulent practices by directors (Agricultural Industry);
  5. High level review of company to be liquidated (Entertainment Industry);
  6. Investigation into allegations of:
    a. payroll fraud by employees (Marketing Industry);
    b. misappropriation of funds by a Director – Roads Division – at a Metropolitan;
    c. misconduct by Municipal Manager at a Local Municipality;
    d. investigation of various issues relating to the director’s fiduciary duties (Fishing Industry);
    e. misappropriation of funds by the Financial Director (Motor Vehicle Industry);
    f. misconduct by a Registered Chartered Accountant (private individual);
    g. misappropriation of inventory by Directors (Meat Industry);
    h. fraudulent practices by project manager (Construction industry);
    i. investigation into the tax affairs of certain High Net Worth Individuals
Gavin is currently attending the Cape Town law school in order to effectively utilise his LLB degree.

He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Indigenous Peoples Society of South Africa

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