Women reinventing leadership
There’s an incoming wave of female talent that is reinventing and reimagining leadership in today’s time. These women leaders are resetting the new stage of leadership and reshaping our world view.
Join SAICA at the second annual ‘Women in Leadership’ event and be inspired to re-evaluate your position. Guest speakers: Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Monica Singer, Christine du Toit and Timothy Maurice.
Save the date: 29 August 2013 at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways.
Empowering women
The Coca-Cola Company and ‘Business Fights Poverty’ hosted a discussion on “Empowering Women through Business – Bridging the Financing Gap”, as part of the Africa World Economic Forum. The majority of the discussion was focused on identifying the key barriers against, and key enablers for, the successful empowerment of women.
The esteemed panel was made up of Susan Mboya (group director of Women’s Economic Empowerment representing the Coca-Cola Company), Patience Marime-Ball (principal investment officer at the IFC and director of the Banking on Women initiative) and Nomvula Makgotlho (chief director of Gender and Women Empowerment, representing the South African government).
The fact that the major stakeholders were represented on the panel – the private sector, investors and government – allowed for the challenge of bridging the financing gap to be viewed from multiple perspectives, and made for a most insightful listen. Some of the key insights from the discussion are shared below.
Patience Marime-Ball noted that although women are considered a ‘niche’ market by many, they make up a substantial portion of the market place – more than 50%, to be exact. Companies that are not thinking about this largely ‘untapped’ market are therefore at an immediate disadvantage. Ms Marime-Ball also made reference to the fact that there has been a shift in terminology away from “gender”, which has an immediate association with corporate social responsibility, to “women’s market” or “women’s economy”. This clearly highlights a change in thinking around how women should be approached by business. Companies should be looking to empower women to make decisions, rather than merely providing them with philanthropic support. However, for women to be truly empowered in today’s economy, Ms Susan Mboya highlighted that it is critical they have access to business skills, finances and mentoring. These three enablers were identified as the most essential to Coca-Cola’s “5by20” programme, which is focused on empowering 5 million women by 2020.
The importance of empowering women also resonates with the South African government. According to Ms Nomvula Makgotlho, a country cannot claim to have a ‘developed economy’ if it hasn’t done all it can to include and empower women. Apart from the critical role that education plays in empowerment, Ms Makgotlho also stressed the importance of business incubation and mentorship by powerful and successful business women.
It was also noted that government needs to play a role in providing an appropriate enabling environment in terms of regulation and structure, for more initiatives such as 5by20 to be implemented and to deliver transformative results.
Apart from the core focus on access to finance, business skills and mentorship, one of the key “take-home” messages that underpins the relevance of women empowerment is that women invest up to 80% back into their community. Empowering women therefore represents one of the most direct ways of achieving social and economic development.
By Gina Louw
SE currency derivatives market
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) currency derivatives market recently reached the milestone of R500 billion in total value traded.
“In the past 14 months R250 billion has been traded on our market – this is a rapid rate of growth compared to previous years. It took two years between 2007 and 2009 to reach R100 billion in traded value and a further two years to reach the R250 billion mark in 2011,” says Warren Geers, General Manager in Bonds and Financial Derivatives at the JSE.
In March the JSE saw a record R43 billion traded. Geers attributes this milestone to the division’s launch of new products to the market, including the launch of Any Day Expiry contracts in 2011 in response to the wholesale market looking to hedge their currency risk with increased precision.
“Before the introduction of Any Day Expiry contracts the trading of currency derivatives contracts were standardised. In July 2013
the Any Day Expiry suite will be enhanced, allowing the market to choose their own expiry dates on an automated electronic
process. This gives the market added ability to execute non-standardised contracts at the push of a button,” says Geers.
Gadget of the month
Samsung UHD TV
Samsung Electronics South Africa (SESA) announced its next-generation, ultra-large screen TV, the 85-inch Ultra High Definition (UHD 85S9).
“Samsung is committed to providing its customers with the latest innovations,” says Lance Berger, head of product marketing, TV/AV, at SESA.
Blending technological excellence with exquisite design, the state-of-the-art 85S9 offers four times the resolution available on existing Full HD displays to deliver unmatched picture quality. The 85S9 also includes Samsung’s proprietary up-scaling engine which can convert HD or Full-HD to UHD-level picture quality.
The TV provides an outstanding immersive audio experience, with 120-watt array speakers built seamlessly into the frame of the television that offer approximately six times the sound output of general TVs.
Samsung is offering a special introductory price of R385,000 on the 85S9 until 24 July, which includes several unique value-added benefits.
accounting
2013 IFRS Briefing notes for CEOs, audit committees and boards of directors
The 2013 edition of the IFRS Briefing for chief executives, audit committees and boards of directors has been issued.
When can an entity recognise a liability for levies imposed by government?
The new IFRIC Interpretation, IFRIC 21 – Levies, seeks to clarify, among others, the following issues:
What is the obligating event that gives rise to the recognition of a liability to pay a levy?
Does economic compulsion to continue to operate in a future period create a constructive obligation to pay a levy that will be triggered by operating in that future period?
Does the going concern assumption imply that an entity has a present obligation to pay a levy that will be triggered by operating in a future period?
Does the recognition of a liability to pay a levy arise at a point in time, or does it in some circumstances arise progressively over time?
IFRIC 21 – Levies, is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2014, and earlier application is permitted. It can be downloaded from eIFRS and The International Accounting Standards Board press release can be found on the IASB website.
Lease accounting re-exposed
The (IASB) has re-released its proposed approach for the recognition, measurement and presentation of leases.
This new exposure draft requires that an entity classify a lease as either Type A or Type B, where a Type A lease normally means that the underlying asset is not property, while a Type B lease normally means the underlying asset is property.
For most leases of assets other than property, a lessee would classify the lease as a Type A lease, and would account as follows:
Recognise a right-of-use asset and a lease liability, initially measured at the present value of lease payments
Recognise the unwinding of the discount on the lease liability as interest, separately from the amortisation of the right-of-use asset.
For most leases of property a lessee would classify the lease as a Type B lease, and would account as follows:
Recognise a right-of-use asset and a lease liability, initially measured at the present value of lease payments
Recognise a single lease cost, combining the unwinding of the discount on the lease liability with the amortisation of the right-of-use asset, on a straight-line basis.
Similarly, the accounting applied by a lessor would depend on whether the lessee is expected to consume more than an insignificant portion of the economic benefits embedded in the underlying asset.
For most leases of assets other than property, a lessor would classify the lease as a Type A lease, and would account as follows:
De-recognise the underlying asset and recognise a right to receive lease payments (the lease receivable) and a residual asset (representing the rights the lessor retains relating to the underlying asset)
Recognise the unwinding of the discount on both the lease receivable and the residual asset as interest income over the lease term
Recognise any profit relating to the lease at the commencement date.
The proposals will not apply to leases of intangible assets, biological assets, exploration rights and service concessions within the scope of IFRIC 12 – Service Concession Arrangements.
TAX
SARS released two new interpretation notes in March 2013.
The first, note 71, deals with income tax consequences for an employee when the employer gives that employee an asset as a long service award. The interpretation note states SARS’s view on the following:
The following will be accepted as assets (or property) for purposes of paragraph 2(a), and will qualify for the reduction of R5,000 if the asset was awarded for bravery or long service:
o A Krugerrand
o A gift voucher
-Assets granted for outstanding performance or for any reason other than bravery or long service, do not qualify for the reduction of R5,000 in the value of the asset
-The phrase “unbroken period of service” is interpreted to mean continuous employment with a single employer without a lawful termination of the employment contract by either party.
The second, note 72, deals with income tax consequences that arise for an employee when an employer grants that employee the right of use of a motor vehicle.
We highlight some issues in respect of the private or domestic use of a motor vehicle:
-Private use includes travelling between the employee’s place of residence and place of employment, unless the employee is a “constitutional court judge” or a “judge”
-For the fixed percentage to be reduced from 3,5% to 3,25%, the maintenance plan must commence at the same time that the motor vehicle is acquired by the employer
-The adjustment where the employee only had use of a motor vehicle for part of a month is based on the number of days that the employee had use of the motor vehicle
-The original cost includes the cost of add-on items, but does not include the cost of insurance products
-The determined value of a manufactured motor vehicle will be equal to the market value of the motor vehicle at the time the employer first obtained the right to use the motor vehicle
-Where the employer allows more than one employee to use the same motor vehicle for private purposes, each employee will be taxed on the full value of the benefit
-The “normal working hours” are considered to be the regular or typical hours that the employee who has the right to use the motor vehicle renders his or her services.
THIS MONTH’S MUST READ …
Glen Agliotti
By Peter Piegl and Sean Newman
A magistrate put Glenn Agliotti among the ‘snitches, pimps, rats who would sell their soul to evade a long prison term’. The press called him a drug trafficker and a drug dealer. He was. He’d admitted to these crimes and signed a plea bargain to grass on an associate. He was also known as the Landlord, which made him sound like a mafia boss.
He was too a facilitator between those in high places, think Jackie Selebi, and businessmen on the make, think Brett Kebble. He was known as a fixer, the go-to guy who commanded fees of R100 million to organise connections.
This is the story of the man who did business in coffee shops and met associates in car parks and underground garages. It is the story of the man who bought shoes for the national commissioner of police. The man accused of the murder of Brett Kebble. This is the story of Glenn Agliotti, one of Johannesburg’s sons of the underworld.
Corporate governance
Chartered Secretaries Southern Africa is the formal professional Institute for the enabling of corporate governance and company secretaryship.
Their Premier Corporate Governance conference is taking place on Wednesday, 11 September and Thursday, 12 September 2013 at the Wanderers Club, Jhb. To book email Colette@icsa.co.za or visit www.icsa.co.za
MC – Chris Gibbons with a host of top class speakers such as:
• Prof Michael Katz – Chairman, Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs
Key challenges and learnings in the Companies Act.
• Yaniv Kleitman – Senior Associate, Corporate & Commercial, Cliffe Dekker
Hofmeyr Inc.
A summary of legal cases pertaining to the new Companies Act.
• Michael Judin – Senior partner, Goldman Judin Inc.
King 3 implementation, international trends and shareholder activism.
• Jess Schulschenk – Senior Researcher, Corporate Governance, University of Pretoria
The adoption of King III and the perceptions of corporate
governance past, present and future for SA
• Karin Ireton – Group Sustainability Management, Standard Bank Group
Integrated reporting: the challenge of creating, sustaining and communicating value
Guidelines on Sustainability Reporting
The GRI proudly released its new G4 Guidelines on sustainability reporting at its conference in Amsterdam on May 22. G4 is touted as being easier to use than its predecessors, G3.1 and G3. It features a strong focus on materiality – that is, getting organisations to report on what matters most rather than on everything they monitor. Another major difference is the abolishment of the (somewhat disliked) three application levels, A, B and C, which defined the extent of reports. In its place are two new levels, namely ‘core’ and ‘comprehensive’. While both focus on material aspects, the latter has greater standard and specific disclosure requirements.
G4 has been developed with integrated reporting in mind. It specifically mentions how integrated reporters build on sustainability reporting and disclosure in preparing their integrated reporting, and how sustainability reporting is an intrinsic element of integrated reporting. In addition, it mentions that sustainability reporting is fundamental to a company’s integrated thinking and reporting process in encouraging input into the identification of its material issues, strategic objectives, and the assessment of its ability to achieve its objectives over time.
To access, visit www.globalreporting.org
