Vanessa Olver, Business Connexion deputy CEO and group executive of its largest division Shared Services with 2,600 employees, is not only one of the country’s leading businesswomen, but was acknowledged as such when nominated as CEO magazine’s ‘South Africa’s Most Influential Woman in Business for 2013’. Her success stems from combining a strong financial acumen…
TONIA JACKSON – Mixing Art and Creativity with bottom line – accountancy offers a new approach to Life Skills Coaching. A true artist at heart, Tonia Jackson CA(SA) innovatively set to work blending together her business and aesthetic skills. Now as a personal and business coach, she has a vocation she finds incredibly fulfilling. If…
With a visit to Pumba Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape, you will experience the essence of true African hospitality. Originally the farm of historical figure Piet Retief, Pumba Private Game Reserve, almost two centuries later, still plays home to famous residents – a free-roaming population of rare white lions. As well as these…
World Leisure Holidays continues to invest heavily in its suite of island hotels despite the economic slowdown. Accountant turned hospitality fanatic Johann Strydom (World Leisure Holidays MD) has kept a tight rein on the numbers at the chain of hotels to ensure these have not shrunk during the economic downturn. Its chain of hotels are…
The public sector provides trainee accountants with a diverse range of opportunities to hone their skills. There is usually minimal interest from accounting students to pursue careers as CAs(SA) in the public sector, especially in a government department. I did not plan to serve articles at National Treasury, however, my being in the public sector…
A functional, ethical and skilled South African public sector is vital for positive and lasting change. Where is the light at the end of this tunnel? When will all citizens of our beautiful country start to experience real change? These are questions I often ask myself. What then are some of the fundamental building blocks…
GRAP 24 is a great initiative but government needs to make compliance easier for overstrained public entities. The GRAP 24 standard now requires certain public entities, including many municipalities, to incorporate budget information in their annual financial statements. As the Accounting Standards Board makes clear, the thinking is to “hold entities accountable for their actual…
Recent reports by the Auditor-General of South Africa state that there are municipalities that fail to timeously submit financial statements for audit purposes. Without dwelling much on the reasons for such failures, it is public knowledge that these municipalities rely significantly on the support of external service providers to compile and submit annual financial statements.…
Tough and far reaching new anti-corruption laws mean that companies have to be more vigilant than ever. The local and global anti-corruption landscape is changing rapidly. Chartered accountants, either in business or in the profession, have to keep abreast of new developments to ensure that they play a meaningful role in the prevention of corruption…
The biggest risk to business is not knowing what your risks are. The typical organisation loses 5% of its revenue to fraud, according to the global Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (ACFE) ‘Report to the Nations’ survey released in 2012. Applied to the 2011 Gross World Product, the figures in this report translates into a…