​DISPUTE BETWEEN ACCFIN AND KONSISE

​DISPUTE BETWEEN ACCFIN AND KONSISE
This is a dispute created entirely by Konsise and has nothing to do with Accfin. Mark Silberman believes this conflict arose primarily because Accfin refused to sell their business to Konsise and they view Accfin as their major competitor and Tillman wants to get back at Accfin.

The ongoing dispute between Accfin Software and Konsise highlights critical ethical and legal questions in the South African tax compliance software market. Accfin, a longstanding innovator and respected leader in back-office and tax software solutions, has publicly called attention to concerning practices by its competitor, Konsise, particularly regarding misleading and disparaging advertising tactics.

Accfin's founder, Mark Silberman, in a detailed open letter, raised significant concerns about Konsise’s comparative advertising methods. According to Silberman, Konsise habitually publishes unsubstantiated and baseless claims about competitors, including Accfin and GreatSoft, without providing credible evidence or sources. This type of advertising not only misleads potential clients but also breaches ethical advertising standards and fair competition principles.

A particularly contentious issue was Konsise’s use of a disparaging cartoon aimed explicitly at discrediting Accfin and GreatSoft, a tactic Accfin labeled as defamatory and unethical. Such actions underscore a desperate attempt by Konsise to undermine competitors rather than compete transparently based on genuine product capabilities and customer satisfaction.
Further, Silberman alleges that Konsise’s approach directly violates a key clause of the South African Revenue Service’s (SARS) Independent Software Vendor (ISV) agreement. Clause 3.4.7 explicitly states:

"The Vendor shall not infringe or attempt to infringe on the intellectual property rights or proprietary rights of SARS or any third party, nor engage in any conduct that is misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive."

Despite these serious allegations, Konsise has notably failed to provide a direct and substantiated response to this critical accusation. Instead, Konsise issued a broad denial through a lawyers letter that avoided addressing the specific breaches cited by Accfin, raising further suspicion about their adherence to SARS contractual obligations. Konsise wanted us to take this matter to court. There has been a ruling against Tilman for harassment in his personal capacity before.

What's more the following are included in the terms and conditions.

THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ARE BINDING AND ENFORCEABLE AGAINST ALL INDEPENDENT SOFTWARE VENDORS (ISVs) WHOSE SYSTEMS INTERFACE WITH SARS SYSTEM OR ANY PART THEREOF (THE SARS e-FILING WEBSITE).
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IF THE ISV DOES NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS IT MUST TERMINATE THE INTERFACE WITH AND/ OR DE-LINK YOUR SYSTEM FROM THE SARS e-FILING WEBSITE, AS FURTHER INTERFACE OR LINK WILL AUTOMATICALLY BIND THE ISV TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

Accfin emphasizes that Konsise places itself in an existential situation if SARS decides to pursue the terms of the ISV contract. If it's got anything to do with me this will change. Should SARS enforce this contractual clause, Konsise’s license could face immediate termination, placing all its customers at severe operational risk. Such an event could significantly disrupt tax compliance operations, demonstrating a clear disregard by Konsise for the potential consequences its actions could have on clients. What leader in an industry would take such an existential risk for their company? It’s a gamble which could change at any time. And if known by potential customers, why would they invest.

SARS, however, has currently indicated that it prefers not to intervene directly in what they call a commercial dispute, leaving the compliance risk squarely with Konsise and its customers. This despite the fact that the ISV contract was originated by SARS for very important reasons. This incorrect position by SARS underscores the importance for businesses in the tax compliance sector to maintain rigorous ethical standards and ensure strict adherence to contractual obligations to safeguard both their reputations and the operational continuity of their clients. The point here is if one bends some rules what about all the other important rules. Can an ISV be trusted. Remember how the broken window policy changed things in New York. Now is the time to do the right thing. Unfortunately, SARS have enabled this situation which has brought the SARS ISV profession into disrepute.

In conclusion, Accfin’s stance calls for a return to integrity and factual accuracy in advertising practices within the tax software compliance industry. The emphasis remains firmly on transparent competition backed by verified facts, product innovation, and genuine customer value, areas where Accfin continues to lead decisively.

The major takeout from this is that a competitor cannot be a software analyst and analyse competitors' products especially the way Philip Tillman does it. For obvious reasons they cannot use this conduct to gain a place in the industry. Customers don't like it.
​Scroll down for the open letter to Mr Tillman