RECOMMEND: Industry associations and implied cartel participation

Given the clandestine and secretive nature of cartel conduct, the onus placed on the ‘passive participant’ implies that it is not sufficient to merely distance oneself from the cartel conduct within the clandestine setting of a secretive meeting. One would need to actively spotlight the conduct by publicly exposing it and preferably advising the Competition…

RECOMMEND: Feedback on exploring the growing use of technology in the audit

Subsequent to the board meeting held in December 2017, the Data Analytics Working Group (DAWG) of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) issued a feedback statement to inform stakeholders of the key messages received in response to their outreach activities. This article provides an overview of this feedback statement In September 2016, the…

FEATURE: SAICA congratulates its successful APC candidates

In November 2017,   2 703 aspiring South African chartered accountants (CAs(SA)) sat down to write their final professional examination, the Assessment Professional Competence (APC), with great expectations. Today, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) is delighted to announce that 2 168 candidates (80%) passed this final qualification hurdle For successful candidates, passing the…

VIEWPOINT: AI and learning culture

Artificial intelligence (AI) has already changed the way that we operate in our lives and businesses to a great degree and will continue to do so exponentially into the future. How will this ‘machine learning’ translate into our own learning and workplace culture? In 1999 Salzberger-Wittenberg, Williams and Osbourne wrote an interesting piece on human…

COVER STORY: Making It Big In Africa

Nick Wilkinson’s career reads like a ‘how to make it big in Africa’ story. The multi-award-winning olive oil maker first spent 20 years working for international corporate agricultural businesses, turning near bankrupt agribusinesses into profitable operations. In one venture he created opportunities for 150 000 small-scale cotton farmers in Zambia, supporting 1,5 million livelihoods. This…