In Review Name: The Black Swan Author:Nassim Nicholas Taleb Publisher: Penguin This book, first published in 2007, has already become a business classic. Nassim Nicholas Taleb was born in Lebanon and lived much of his childhood years through the Lebanese Civil War. These experiences caused him to view life and events in a very different…

Sparkling wine, whether made by injecting with carbon dioxide, much in the same way sparkling mineral water is made, or by the classical “Méthode Champenoise” or second fermentation in the bottles, known in the Cape as Methode Cap Classique [MCC], is becoming more popular as a drink to have without a reason. Previously regarded as…

So you call yourself an adventurer? Well, in training for our adventure, my wife and I faithfully did regular weekend hikes in our new hiking boots. Bring on the Amazon, Peru, Boliva, the four day Inca trail hike, and the Nazca lines! Our 18-day tour was going to be no walk in the park. Here…

For many years South Africans were perhaps a bit happy-go-lucky when it came to tax matters. You know the sort of thing; “discount for cash”, nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Or stick a student into your converted garage – now a “garden cottage” – and make a bit on the side. No need to bother the…

A thought leadership issue “Everything that is counted does not necessarily count; and everything that counts can not necessarily be counted” Albert Einstein We can count the profit we make, but we cannot count the happiness that a customer gets from good service. We can count sales, but we cannot count the cost of the…

It has been said many times before that property is one of the biggest investments one can make in a lifetime. So when it comes to divesting yourself of one of life’s biggest assets, do you go it alone or use an estate agent? Adrian Goslett, CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, asks if you…

Customs and excise is not a subject that is covered in the Tax syllabus at University in Bachelor of Commerce degrees even less rarely covered in professional journals. Once qualified and working as a Finance Director, Manager or even a Tax Manager, you are now for the first time confronted by customs and excise issues.…

Communicating deficiencies in internal controls to those charged with governance and management (ISA 265) is a new International Standard on Auditing (ISA) that comes into effect, together with all the other clarified ISAs, for all audits of financial statements beginning on or after 15 December 2009. ISA 265 consists of a number of requirements that…

EXPOSURE DRAFT 275 – FINANCIAL REPORTING FRAMEWORK FOR NON-PUBLIC ENTITIES The Exposure Draft ED 275 – Financial Reporting Framework for Non-public Entities was released for comment during December 2009. An important part of developing the framework is to solicit comments from preparers, auditors, users, government and other parties with an interest in a Financial Reporting…

I really love my job (or should I rather say Calling). For the past 18 months I have been engaged with 80% of CA-reer responsibilities that I really like and I can see myself doing it and growing in it for a very long time! The other 20%… well, every job has a 20% portion…