An unexpectedly shrewd observation I heard from Lord Sebastian Coe at the Discovery Leadership Summit held recently in Sandton really got me thinking. Considered one of the best middle-distance runners of all time, the British Olympic champion set 12 world records over four distances, achieving four gold and three silver medals in the Olympics and…
Offshore equities are looking increasingly attractive: the MSCI World Index returned 39,7 per cent in rand terms during 2013. However, with the rand’s recent depreciation, emotions are once again running high, with fear and greed rampant and herd behaviour becoming evident. And to compound the excitement, it’s election time again. At the start of 2014,…
Education is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university”.1 Former president Nelson Mandela put it more simply by declaring that education is “the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. At the moment South Africa is definitely not…
So you’re a CA(SA). You’ve studied for years and you’re a highly qualified professional with lots of workplace experience to boot. Why on earth would you consider adding a notoriously expensive and demanding MBA to your already impressive qualifications? Well, for starters, you’d be learning to apply management concepts, enhance your consultancy skills, advise businesses…
In January, Finweek published an opinion piece written by Johan Fourie, an Economics lecturer at Stellenbosch University, titled ‘Why you should think twice before going for that accounting degree’ In summary, he stated the following. Reasons why an accounting degree should not be the default option for South Africa’s brightest kids: Academic freedom in the…
Subaru has always been different in its design and styling. The Forester has been a huge success with families around the world. In its latest guise, Subaru has bowed to the pressure and made the latest Forester look more like the usual soft roaders on the road. Gone is the high-roof station-wagon look and in…
Prospect Theory shows us that we measure gains and losses relative to a set reference point or status quo (see my previous article). This particular reference point is subjective and can be different for different people in different scenarios. In 1974, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman performed an experiment where they asked participants: “What is…
Budgeting and forecasting are major tasks for the ‘office of finance’ in any organisation and the collection and collation of financial data can take months of preparation. However, in today’s fast-paced world, these time-consuming manual processes can prove to be a major hindrance. More than often, by the time budgets have been set, market influences…
While Doris Lessing, British novelist, poet and playwright, had the luxury of believing that “borrowing is not much better than begging and lending with interest is not much better than stealing”, South African taxpayers in multinational groups have to contend with the reality of intra-group financial assistance. Since 2011, there have been some significant developments…
We live in testing and uncertain times, with global and local economies struggling to come to grips with slow growth, high unemployment and rising living costs. This phenomenon is often associated with entities embarking on cost cutting and cost containment, with employees bearing the brunt of low salary increases and decreased disposable income. The implication…
