Lumber and plywood producer York Timbers has appointed Schalk Barnard CFO. His appointment will be effective within the next six months, but the exact date is yet to be confirmed.
Barnard is a qualified Chartered Accountant (South Africa, Australia and New Zealand), a registered auditor and a JSE-accredited audit partner, with a Bachelor of Accounting Sciences in Financial Accounting (Hons) degree from the University of South Africa and a Certification in the Theory of Accounting from the University of Cape Town.
He also holds Executive Leadership and Professional Services Leadership diplomas from Harvard Business School.
Barnard’s previous experience includes heading up Ernst & Young’s Growth Markets Practice across Oceania and later holding the position of Ernst & Young Africa business development leader.
He served as York’s external audit partner, representing PwC in his capacity as the Africa Family Business Leader, since 2019, and has accordingly resigned from PwC.
As a result of his appointment as CFO, PwC’s continued appointment as York’s external auditor would contravene the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors’ rules and regulations in respect of independence.
PwC has, therefore, resigned as the external auditor of the company with immediate effect.
York will start the process of appointing a new external auditor.