If you want to expand your business overseas, your choices are limited. Europe and other developed markets are debatably saturated, so the biggest opportunity lies in the undeveloped but burgeoning markets of Africa. Africa is seen as a land of opportunity, with masses of people desperately in need of limitless numbers of products and services,…
I recently got back from more than two weeks in Scandinavia and my time in Sweden was a big unexpected surprise. I’ve done my fair share of travel, living abroad too. And Sweden was never really a consideration. Too cold, too boring, too not special. How wrong I was! The Swedes, with their famously high standard…
As it stands now, POPI could cripple the small business community our economy is based on. Kevin Phillips elaborates The Protection of Personal Information Act, generally known as POPI, regulates how anyone with access to personal information must collect, manage, store, secure, share and even dispose of it. POPI has been in the works for…
A new dispensation? The new Companies Act has removed the courts’ legislative discretion to require an impecunious plaintiff company to furnish security for costs. So what does this mean for defendants? By Willem Janse van Rensburg and Clayton Gow The repealed section 13 of the Companies Act 61 of 1973, together with its predecessor, section…
February is usually the month in which we relapse on all the well-intentioned goals that we set ourselves at the start of the New Year. Unfortunately, our indulgences over the past festive season now seem to have added up at the cost of our health. Studies have shown that four main risk factors – physical…
South Africa’s political punditry issues frequent calls for greater accountability on the part of our politicians and state. But they hardly any ever stop to make the obvious connection: before there can be accountability, there must be accounting. In his wonderful book The Reckoning, historian Jacob Soll shows how accounting has shaped kingdoms, empires and…
When you’re calculating how much capital you need to retire on, take care because the assumptions we use for post-retirement costs may be much different to your current pre-retirement costs. Your basket of goods changes and research in the US has shown that inflation for retirees over the past three decades has been higher than…
The biggest challenges facing small- and medium-sized accounting practices (SMPs) worldwide are complying with regulations and standards and attracting new clients, according to the 2014 IFAC® Global SMP Survey. Conducted annually, the Global SMP Survey provides unique insights into the challenges and opportunities facing SMPs around the world. “IFAC is committed to building the capacity…
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board® (IAASB®) today released proposals to enhance auditor reporting on special purpose financial statements. The Exposure Draft includes changes proposed to ISA 800, Special Considerations—Audits of Financial Statements Prepared in Accordance with Special Purpose Frameworks, and ISA 805, Special Considerations—Audits of Single Financial Statements and Specific Elements, Accounts or…
Increasingly stringent regulatory environments are driving a stronger focus on identifying, measuring, and managing risk exposure. Managing vast amounts of data is a crucial component in the accurate assessment of risk, and is one of the top reasons why big data risk management is stealing the headlines today. Jayson O’Reilly, director of Sales and Innovation…