I recently read an article in the Harvard Business Review that described an experiment on people’s perceptions. A team from Rutgers University asked a group of people to guess the weight of a box of potatoes. When participants were told they would have to lift the box alone, they correctly guessed it weighed an average…
The most significant way that accounting software has evolved in response to new technology over the past decade is that it has become more accessible and easier to use than ever before. This, in turn, has meant that accountants and business owners can focus on doing their jobs as efficiently as possible rather than needing…
Globalisation, cross-border transactions and a booming e-commerce environment are posing challenges for the collection of taxes – events that have prompted tax authorities across the world to move collectively to counter the loss of tax revenues within their tax jurisdictions. Although double tax agreements (DTAs) assist with the collection of income taxes, the major questions…
The size of the annual report of all companies is ballooning, and not necessarily with more useful information. The communicative value of financial statements prepared using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is diminishing and they are becoming no more than compliance documents. Many national standard-setters, institutes and regulators around the world have undertaken work on…
Processing of personal information is widely defined in section 1 of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPI) to include almost any activity in relation to personal information from the point of collection to the dissemination and destruction of such information. The conditions of lawful processing are stipulated in Chapter 3 of…
Germany is a country like no other … it’s less known (and even lesser understood) by foreigners than most other European countries. If you think of a city in Germany, the name Berlin will probably pop into your head first – it’s surely one of the most fascinating cities in Europe, with a rich history.…
It’s been said that if you don’t build your own dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs. It’s a maxim that two small-town entrepreneurs are living by. Describing himself as the black sheep of the family, Lefa Molete (30) says he was a naughty child who no-one expected would amount to much. In…
Most of us are familiar that when it comes to investments, the essential elements are “alpha” and “beta”. Yet what about your “gamma”, otherwise called ”the value of financial advice”? Simply, alpha is the added value that active investment management brings on top of beta, which is simply what the market achieves. The active versus…
Why the need for a new standard? The global financial crisis highlighted the lack of transparency around off-balance sheet structures and the request for enhanced disclosures. This well-known event accelerated the IASB’s consolidation project that was already under way. The IASB’s consolidation project was initiated as a result of the perceived inconsistency between IAS 27…
Many growing organisations find themselves confronted by the bewildering reporting complexity of multiple entities, divisions, business units and cost centres in locations locally and across the world. This expansion very often far outstrips the collating and reporting capabilities of the legacy spreadsheet and standalone accounting applications currently in use. In addition, finance departments in most…