Nicolene Wesson is a qualified chartered accountant (CA(SA)), and holds a Masters in Taxation (Stellenbosch University, 1999) as well as a PhD from Stellenbosch Business School. The title of her PhD dissertation was: “An empirical model of choice between share repurchases and dividends for companies in selected JSE-listed sectors”. She also holds the designation of Certified Director from the Institute of Directors South Africa (IoDSA). 

Shortly after completing her trainee contract (in 1994), she joined the Stellenbosch University School of Accounting where she lectured Financial Accounting for 14 years to undergraduate and post-graduate students in the CA-stream. She was also a co-author of leading accounting publications (textbooks, as well as practitioners’ books) during this time.

The topic of her PhD was an area where no comprehensive data existed and therefore entailed
thousands of hours of capturing, verifying and interpreting data from various sources to be able to ascertain the South African share repurchase landscape.

 
She joined the Stellenbosch Business School and obtained her PhD shortly after. The highlight of her career to date is the contribution she was able to make to policy changes on share repurchases pertaining to the Income Tax Act (in 2012), as well as to the JSE Listings Requirements (in 2013 and 2017). She is currently, as recommended by the JSE and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), in consultation with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), situated in the United Kingdom, to affect changes to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the disclosure of share capital. She also supervises the research of postgraduate students (Masters and doctoral) on topics related to her research interests. 

She is also the Head of the Centre for Corporate Governance in Africa, and in this role she focuses on the development of ethical and effective leadership in support of sustainable performance within organisations.