Today’s workforce is more dynamic than ever before; new-generation employees will change jobs and even careers a number of times throughout their working lives. This does not have to be a bad thing, however: business owners need to look at longevity in a new way – it may not be about keeping someone in the…
Internal audit has long been viewed as a key element of financial services firms’ frameworks to managing risk – the third of the three lines of defence. But now, internationally, there is new guidance that raises the bar of good performance. The Committee on Internal Audit Guidance for Financial Services in the United Kingdom has…
South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP) focuses on education as one of its priorities to address the issue of transformation and growth in the country. Some of the NDP’s priorities are: Eradicate infrastructure backlogs. Provide one million learning opportunities through community education and training centres. Improve the throughput pass rate to 80 per cent by…
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) is delighted with the excellent results of the Initial Test of Competence Exam (ITC) released on Friday 28 March 2014 The ITC (previously known as Part I of the Qualifying Examination, QE) is one of the prerequisites for registration as a prospective chartered accountant [CA(SA)]. The examination…
It is election time, and because of all the media attention focused on the various party leaders, one cannot help but reflect on the qualities you value most in the people you choose to follow – either in business or politics. Research shows that the leaders we value most are the ones that strive to…
As a young student, Alex van der Watt had dreamt of becoming a captain of industry after he graduated. But a weekend away with friends changed all that. He had completed his articles at PricewaterhouseCoopers two years previously and was enjoying some time out with friends when someone who would later become a colleague suggested…
This month’s column examines a recent NASA-backed study that states that the fall of the Roman Empire and the equally (if not more) advanced Han, Mauryan, and Gupta empires, as well as so many advanced Mesopotamian empires, all bears testimony to the fact that advanced, sophisticated, complex, and creative civilisations can be both fragile and…
Proposed amendments to the Value-Added Tax Act of 1991 were announced by the Minister of Finance during the budget speech. As anticipated, the Minister of Finance did not announce an increase in the standard 14 per cent rate of VAT in the latest budget speech. The following amendments have been proposed, however: Section 11(1)(e) of…
After successfully reincarnating the A-Class from a mum’s taxi into a hot hatch, Mercedes have gone further by creating a hot four-door coupé sedan. The CLA looks like it is built off the same platform as the A-Class but, in actual fact, the two are very different. The test car had the optional Edition package,…
One of the most common behavioural biases is the tendency to be overoptimistic. Like the children in Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon who are all above average, we tend to overestimate our own skills and chances of success. This overestimation, in turn, leads to overly positive self-evaluations, which are often unrealistic – resulting in overconfidence. Confidence…