The country's biggest black accounting firm will be created when two of SA's top black accounting firms, Nkonki, Sizwe, Ntsaluba (NSN) and Gobodo Incorporated merge on October 1.

Sindiswa Zilwa, Businesswoman of the Year award winner in 1998, will be chief executive of the new corporation, to be known as Nkonki Gobodo Inc.

Zilwa says the pool of intellectual capital resulting from the deal will improve the organisation's professional service and enable development of specialist teams in the firm.

She believes the lack of capacity among black accounting firms can be solved only if people work together.

The firm will have professional staff of more than 200, with 24 partners.

The merger will give the firm access to offices in all the major cities, as well as satellite offices in smaller towns.

Zilwa says one of the major problems facing black accounting is the shortage of qualified black CAs.

She says the merger will place the group in a better position to establish a meaningful relationship with a major international firm.

It will enable the firm to audit bigger companies - the size of most black firms has been cited as a major hindrance to getting larger contracts.

Zilwa says Nkonki Gobodo Incorporated is nowhere near to becoming as large as any of the "big six" SA firms, "but we are proud of our achievements".

Accounting is worth more than R3 billion a year in SA - and only R100 million of that is taken by black firms, it is reported.

Zilwa says the increased capacity means the firm could double its market share. She says with increased capacity the average income generated per partner should leap from the present R1,5 million to between R2 million and R3 million.

The new firm is expected to have a turnover of at least R50 million a year for the first year.

With acknowledgements to Mboniso Sigonyela and Business Times.