“Recent surveys show that companies reporting on their sustainability impacts are outperforming their competitors in key financial indicators and share value.” Few predicted the Asian financial crisis of 1997/98 and the 2001 Enron shock – and the finger of blame pointed directly at accounting standards. Most countries, including South Africa, have since adopted the International…
“Start with an interesting fact or statistic that you can use to introduce your talk.” Most people underestimate the value and the privilege of the platform to speak to a group of people. Regardless of whether or you are addressing five or 5 000 people, your purpose is the same – to change beliefs, attitudes,…
Christian Wiesener discusses the traditional approach to transfer pricing, which is still relevant and applied, and highlights the need for multinationals to “operationalise” – in other words to continuously implement their transfer pricing – and the benefits thereof The increased complexity of and focus on transfer pricing by governments and tax authorities globally have necessitated…
“The REAL (car) scam we should be talking about …” It seems that wherever I go lately, I’m either reading or hearing about the “R699 car scam”. The first time I heard about it I questioned it being termed a “scam” in the first place. Seems it was all in the fine print; one just…
Last, but definitely not least! These eleven daring young professionals have not only successfully pursued their dreams to become CAs(SA), but they have all excelled and moved swiftly through the ranks. They now either hold prestigious positions or, being entrepreneurs at heart, have boldly ventured out taking risks to open their very own practices or…
“POPI: It’s easy to miss the big picture ramifications for small businesses.” The new Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) is an excellent piece of legislation when considered from a consumer point of view; and since we are all consumers, it is easy to miss the big picture ramifications for small businesses. The issue arises…
Karl Kumbier heads up South Africa’s only niche bank that specialises in financial products and services for entrepreneurs. Now on a mission to double the bank’s market share, he wants the brand to better represent what its clients need from a business bank. Monique Verduyn spoke to him Karl Kumbier, CEO of Mercantile Bank, is…
A new EU directive requiring rotation of auditors elicits a negative reaction in South Africa On 3 April 2014, The European Parliament approved the new EU Audit Regulation and Directive, which will require European-listed companies, banks and financial institutions to appoint a new auditor every ten years. This can be extended for a further ten…
Pick up a book As Albert Einstein once said: “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them stories. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more stories.” Consider a few statistics. Ninety per cent of our children under the age of seven have no form of reading material in their…
Afzal Khan attempts to address the lack of awareness of some governmental sources of soft capital Small medium entities (SMEs) are the building blocks of an economy. According to research performed in 2010,1 91% of the entities in South Africa are SMEs, of which 61% contribute to the country’s employment statistics. Of the 91%, 52–57%…