B-BBEE affidavits for law firms and advocates
Which legal-sector B-BBEE affidavits apply to a small South African law firm or advocate, and where the practice finds the figures it swears to.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Legal businesses in South Africa
A corporate client's procurement department sends its annual supplier update form. Near the bottom: "Attach your valid B-BBEE certificate or sworn affidavit." The attorney who runs the practice believes the firm can use an affidavit rather than a certificate, but is not sure which affidavit to use, whether there is one for law firms, or which year's turnover to put in it.
The B-BBEE Commission publishes affidavits for the legal sector specifically. This piece explains where they sit in the wider framework, which ones a small law firm or advocate is likely to need, and how to take the figures from books that will not change after you have sworn to them.
The Codes, and where sector rules come from
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) publishes the Amended B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice, issued in Government Gazettes 38764, 38765 and 38766, together with a revised notice of clarification in Gazette 38799. Those Codes are the general framework.
The B-BBEE Commission says its mandate comes from the B-BBEE Act, its regulations and the Codes, and that the Minister may issue notices in the Government Gazette to clarify or guide implementation. In other words, the rules you work under are not only the Codes themselves, but also the clarifying notices issued after them.
Some industries have their own sector codes. The Commission publishes gazetted sector-specific sworn affidavit forms for EMEs and QSEs under the amended AgriBEE, construction, defence, forestry, financial, ICT, marketing, property and tourism sector codes, with templates uploaded in June 2026. The legal sector's affidavits are published on the same page, alongside that list rather than in it.
The confirmatory affidavits for law firms and advocates
The B-BBEE Commission publishes legal sector affidavits, including:
- a confirmatory affidavit for exempted legal entity status, for law firms and advocates;
- a confirmatory affidavit for QSE status, for law firms and advocates;
- a legal sector equity confirmation affidavit.
Which one applies depends on the size of the practice and how it is owned, as the Codes and the affidavit forms define them. Read the qualifying criteria on the form itself before choosing; do not rely on what a colleague's practice used, because practices change size and ownership over time.
An advocate practising alone and a small law firm both have a form designed for them. Using the legal sector version, rather than a generic one, shows the client's procurement team that the practice has completed the document intended for its sector.
Gazette notices that clarify the rules
Because the Minister can issue clarifying notices, an affidavit form that was right a few years ago may not reflect how a rule is now applied. Before completing a new affidavit each year:
- Download the current form from the Commission's page, not from last year's file.
- Check whether any new clarification notice affects the size bands or ownership rules you rely on.
- If the wording has changed, read it in full rather than copying last year's answers across.
Taking the figures from a closed year
Where an affidavit asks for financial figures, such as turnover for a financial year, those figures must come from the practice's books for a year that is finished and will not move.
In Achekam, management accounts show an income statement for a chosen period beside the period before, added up from the business's own journals and exportable as PDF or CSV. Set the dates to your practice's own financial year. The year-to-date preset starts on 1 January, so for a practice whose year ends at the end of February, or any month other than December, choose the dates yourself.
The general ledger lists every posted line, and the trial balance shows each account for a period and confirms whether debits equal credits. Use the trial balance to check that the fee income on the income statement is complete: every fee note issued in the year posted, and nothing from the next year included. If income accounts are set up sensibly, as a chart of accounts for a law practice suggests, fees and recovered disbursements are easy to tell apart.
Close the year before you swear
The figures you swear to should not change afterwards. Months in Achekam can be soft-closed, hard-closed and locked. A closed month refuses postings from every source, and reopening a hard close needs a second approver. Before closing, the screen checks the ledger balances and that no posting suggestions, unposted bills or unmatched bank lines are waiting.
Hard-close the months of the financial year before taking the turnover figure. A fee note that arrives late after that point has to be handled deliberately, as a late fee note after the month is closed explains, rather than slipping silently into a year you have already sworn to.
Keeping the signed affidavit and renewing it
Once signed and commissioned, keep the affidavit with:
- the management accounts or financial statements for the year it relates to;
- a note of the dates the year was closed;
- a list of the clients and tenders it was sent to.
Each new financial year, repeat the process from the current form. A client who receives last year's affidavit with a figure for a year it no longer recognises will ask for a new one anyway.
The B-BBEE Commission's page of sworn affidavits holds the legal sector affidavits and the sector-specific forms for EMEs and QSEs.
Close the last financial year in the books first, then download the current legal sector form and complete it from figures that will not move.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
