Sustainability CFOs are coming to the table A recent study by Deloitte on sustainability shows that corporate Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are engaging with sustainability1 in increasing numbers. This study surveyed CFOs from companies each generating at least US$1 billion in revenue, drawn from across 14 countries on five continents. It paints a clear picture…
Inconsistent shareholder spread – Disclosures The JSE’s current Listing Requirements contain ambiguities that lead to inconsistent disclosures on public and non-public shareholders. Listed companies need to disclose a shareholder spread in their annual report in terms of section 8.63(d) of the JSE’s Listings Requirements. The shareholder spread deals with the number and percentage shareholding by…
Charles Hattingh The Reality Behind Price Earnings Ratios (PERs) Financial commentators are often hopelessly misinformed when discussing PERs, particularly in the light of Gordon’s Growth Model. Commentators on local radio and television stations seem to believe that shares of companies are only fairly valued if their PERs are in the vicinity of 10. The sort…
Going Green: BMW 5 Active Hybrid and The Toyota Auris HD As we resolve to save the planet, or at least leave some of it intact for future generations, so too is the motoring world abuzz with efforts to try and reduce its carbon footprint. Several technologies have been examined, but three are at the…
Classic, luxury, and sporty are not commonly used in the same sentence when referring to sedans. However, the Maserati , I believe, has broken the mould when it comes to exclusive luxury. The quattroporte is effectively a four door version of the drop dead gorgeous Maserati GT (2 door). These vehicles are still hand built and…
If you were to ask me what I view as SAICA’s prime priority, I’d identify it as the maintenance of the highest standards. Virtually all our activities are directed towards this end; it is, indeed, our “raison d’être”. During the course of striving to meet this mandate, we regularly conduct reality checks; something akin to…
Networking as a career management strategy is important as the burden of responsibility for one’s career has shifted from the organisation to the individual, with the notion of employability becoming one’s career goal. Moreover, more and more corporate, government and other organisations see building social capital as an organisational priority. Social capital is ‘the structure…
The recently published King Report on Governance for South Africa 2009 (King III) is very good at telling us what we knew all along but failed to do anything about. It is also very appropriately timed – coming in the midst of the biggest economic crisis in many years. After all, the crisis was allegedly…
Teaching is depressing. Every year, my baldness spreads, my bones calcify, my ear-hair sprouts, and every year, the students walk into class exactly the same age as they were the year before. The other day, a female student waited for everyone else to leave after class, and then told me sweetly that she had a…
If you were to ask me what I view as SAICA’s prime priority, I’d identify it as the maintenance of the highest standards. Virtually all our activities are directed towards this end; it is, indeed, our “raison d’être”. During the course of striving to meet this mandate, we regularly conduct reality checks; something akin to…