The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) is delighted with the excellent results of the Initial Test of Competence Exam (ITC) released on Friday 28 March 2014 The ITC (previously known as Part I of the Qualifying Examination, QE) is one of the prerequisites for registration as a prospective chartered accountant [CA(SA)]. The examination…
Senior finance executives are taking increased responsibility for analysing big data in ways that produce actionable insights into the customer base. Their involvement marks a shift from a traditional focus on reporting what happened in the past, to forecasting what needs to happen in the future. The motivation to do this is simple: to boost…
Education is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university”.1 Former president Nelson Mandela put it more simply by declaring that education is “the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. At the moment South Africa is definitely not…
So you’re a CA(SA). You’ve studied for years and you’re a highly qualified professional with lots of workplace experience to boot. Why on earth would you consider adding a notoriously expensive and demanding MBA to your already impressive qualifications? Well, for starters, you’d be learning to apply management concepts, enhance your consultancy skills, advise businesses…
In January, Finweek published an opinion piece written by Johan Fourie, an Economics lecturer at Stellenbosch University, titled ‘Why you should think twice before going for that accounting degree’ In summary, he stated the following. Reasons why an accounting degree should not be the default option for South Africa’s brightest kids: Academic freedom in the…
Budgeting and forecasting are major tasks for the ‘office of finance’ in any organisation and the collection and collation of financial data can take months of preparation. However, in today’s fast-paced world, these time-consuming manual processes can prove to be a major hindrance. More than often, by the time budgets have been set, market influences…
We live in testing and uncertain times, with global and local economies struggling to come to grips with slow growth, high unemployment and rising living costs. This phenomenon is often associated with entities embarking on cost cutting and cost containment, with employees bearing the brunt of low salary increases and decreased disposable income. The implication…
Bitcoin is a decentralised digital or virtual currency typically traded on a bitcoin exchange. South Africa’s first rand-to-bitcoin exchange platform, BitX, was founded at the beginning of 2013. Similar to shares traded on a stock exchange, a limit order (to buy or sell at a certain price or better) or an express order (to buy…
The seven candidates on the honours roll (candidates who achieved over 70 per cent) PLACE NAME FIRM 1 Avinash Ramsukh* Old Mutual Ltd 2 Eihorere Nkizire Wesigye Investec Bank Ltd 3 Jade Katherine Misplon Investec Bank Ltd 4 Michael Ian Ord Investec Bank Ltd 5 Timothy James Noble Nedbank Ltd 6 Jan Roodt Botha FirstRand…
South Africa’s 2014 budget speech had surprisingly few proposals in respect of cross-border activities. Most South African taxpayers and tax practitioners are quite thankful and will also be hoping that once the 2014 Taxation Laws Amendment Bill is finalised, 2014 will have turned out to be a relatively ‘uneventful’ year. Since South Africa’s move to…