DEATH & TAXES Why Do Taxes Increase?

If a competition were held to find the most common rhetorical question, there is little doubt that this one would win – why do taxes increase? How many readers remember General Sales Tax? The introduction of the Sales Tax Act in 1978 not only brought about an entirely new consumption tax with a wide impact…

WIK EN WEEG: Ekonomiese Vooruitsigte verswak

Dit is alweer meer as ’n jaar gelede dat die ekonomie ’n belangrike waterskeiding bereik het. Die sikliese opswaaifase wat middel 1999 begin het, het in laat 2007 tot ’n einde gekom. ’n Afswaai fase het begin, en veral gedurende 2H2008 spoed opgetel. Tog het verwagtinge gedurende 2008 redelik positief gebly. Na jare van vinnige…

FREIGHT ACCOMPLI

Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) is South Africa’s sole provider of railway freight services. The company moves about 180 million tonnes of goods over its 17,000km of track every year and has an annual turnover of R16.5bn (£1bn). It has successfully developed what I have termed a network activity-based costing system (NABC) from scratch over the…

CONSOLIDATION SYSTEMS IN SOUTH AFRICA: HORSES FOR COURSES

Accountants appear to regard the use of spreadsheets to consolidate the financial statements of listed companies as unusual and somewhat unsophisticated. It is also generally considered that companies, whether listed or unlisted, that use spreadsheets to perform the consolidation, are behind the times. This article will explore some of these sentiments and examine empirical evidence…

NEW GENERATION: THE LEADERSHIP ISSUE

Leadership 101: knowing, accepting and being Having the ability to lead yourself independently and authentically (self leadership) regardless of your career or position in the company is an essential quality that each New Gen should develop in order to become an effective team leader. To lead yourself you need to know yourself, accept yourself and…

STRAIGHT SHOOTING: Economic crisis – IFAC’s response

I recently had the privilege of attending an International Federation of Accountants Council (IFAC) meeting where we discussed the credit crisis, its impact on different countries’ economies and the profession’s reaction to the crisis including professionals in practice and professional accountants in business. IFAC’s main purpose is the development of auditing, ethics and education standards…

SAICA EDUCATION NEWS

TEACHERS AND PERCEPTIONS “In your report here it says that you are an extremely dull person. Our experts describe you as an appalling dull fellow, unimaginative, timid, lacking in initiative, spineless, easily dominated… Whereas in most professions these would be considerable drawbacks, in Accountancy they are a positive boon” (Bougen, 1994, quoting a Monty Python…