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In South Africa, it is estimated that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up 90 percent of formal businesses, provide employment to about 60 percent of the labour force and contribute roughly 34 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Richard Andrews said: “By nature, SMEs are inherently more adventurous than big business. SMEs have the single largest potential to move people out of the poverty trap of structural unemployment.” Andrews…  Read more

Maintaining positive cash flow can be challenging for small businesses, whether you’re just starting out or have been running your company for years. The difficulty often comes down to waiting for clients to pay their invoices. One or two chronic late payers cost valuable time and money when you have to chase them down; if reliable clients also fall behind one month, the result can be devastating. These tips will…  Read more

If you’re like most small business owners, there are never enough hours in the day to complete every task on your list. Often you’re faced with prioritizing what you need to do right now – deal with a customer, meet a deadline, attend an event – and the things you know you should do for the ongoing growth of your business. Scheduling time to attend to these business activities on…  Read more

South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia) will finally come into force on 1 July 2020. The Act has been put into operation incrementally, with a number of sections having been implemented in April 2014. The legislation aims to promote the protection of personal information processed by public and private bodies and seeks to balance the right to privacy against other rights, such as access to information. According to…  Read more

During the COVID-19 crisis, companies moved nearly all their white-collar workers around the world to work from home. It was an eye-opening experience. Almost universally, executives were surprised that working from home is far more effective than they anticipated. In fact, in many instances, it appears that people are more productive working from home than they were when working in their offices. But some of this supposed improvement in productivity…  Read more

The fundamentals of good governance and effective oversight arrangements are all the more important during the COVID-19 crisis, as organizations face significant uncertainty, a rapidly changing risk landscape, and an increased need for transparency and confidence in reported information on its implications. For audit committees, who are a key component of effective governance, COVID-19 is causing a strategic shift in their roles, with more on their agendas than ever before.…  Read more

When it comes to looking for advice on how to get acquired, there’s a lot out there — 405 million Google entries, to be exact. When it comes to advice on how to acquire, however, the results are fewer and are predominantly process-based, not strategy based. You can’t become a market leader through organic growth alone. Google has made more than 200 acquisitions in its 21 years, the first being just three years after it…  Read more

Article from Businesstech : The South African Future Trust (SAFT), established by Nicky and Jonathan Oppenheimer, will make funds available to South African businesses impacted by the coronavirus from 3 April 2020. Nedbank said that it will help facilitate the distribution of loans to small businesses on behalf of SAFT. “The main aim of the SAFT is to mitigate the immediate economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis by keeping companies in…  Read more

Here’s what you need to know about the impact of Covid-19 and paying tax An interesting article , The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has taken several precautionary measures in response to the risk of infection from Covid-19 which are aligned with and are in support of the initiatives implemented by the Department of Health, notes Erich Bell, director, Werksmans Attorneys. SARS’ tax, customs and excise operations will continue as…  Read more

As more skilled South Africans look to move abroad, a growing number of people are grappling with what happens to their life savings, retirement, and insurance policies upon emigrating. This is especially the case in light of the incoming expat tax and ‘financial emigration’, said Renier Hugo, a certified financial planner at Alexander Forbes. “One needs to understand the consequences of emigrating to another country on one’s financial products, such as long-term…  Read more

Each morning, you emphatically write at the top of your to-do list, “Work on the presentation!” Perhaps you even underline it a time or two for emphasis. But at the end of the day, your resolve has turned to dismay: yet again, you spent most of your time in meetings. And when you had a bit of time between them, you didn’t make any progress on your presentation. So you…  Read more

If you’re running your own business or you’re career-driven, it’s easy to burn the candle at both ends and find yourself in a constant state of exhaustion. I used to find it difficult to get out of bed in the mornings, hitting “snooze” repeatedly before rushing out the door to start a 12-hour day. But now that I’ve made some tweaks to my routine, I jump out of bed at…  Read more

When the honourable minister of finance delivered his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) on Wednesday, he ‘opened the debate’. But where are the arguments? Surely this was nothing more than a long-winded slam-dunk statement, forewarning the ill-fated taxpayer of bad tidings? Tito Mboweni must have struggled to find an allegory to portray the last ten years, so he chose a harmless little aloe when presenting his annual budget speech in…  Read more

What does the doctor prescribe for stress? A ‘nature pill’ consisting of 20 minutes of contact with nature, enough time for significant decreases in cortisol, the stress hormone. You likely know from experience that spending time outdoors and especially connected with nature lowers your stress. Scientifically, there have been dozens of studies that link spending time in nature with lowered stress levels. The breakthrough with this specific study is they…  Read more

The level of corruption in South Africa, the complete lack of accountability and the ostensible lack of urgency in bringing offenders to book continues to irk honest law-abiding South Africans. However, an important weapon available to the state to recover some of the ill-gotten gains is tax, says Aneria Bouwer, tax partner at law firm Bowmans. She says income from “illegal activities” is still income and subject to income tax,…  Read more

In its 2019 financial report, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announces itself as many things. It is the collector of all taxes, administrator of laws, facilitator of legitimate trade, the protector of our economy and society (not much protection is evident). It’s also the encourager of “fiscal citizenship” (I guess this refers to those who willingly rush to pay their taxes plus more), enlister of “new tax contributors” (presumably…  Read more

The rand powered to a 3-week best on Friday as emerging market currencies were boosted by thawing trade tensions between United States and China. At 1545 GMT the rand was 1.91% firmer at R14.75, its best level since September 20, leading a rally of emerging market currencies sparked by US President Donald Trump’s comments that trade talks with Beijing were going well. China and the US are in the second…  Read more

As someone who is self employed, I frequently face periods of doubt. I know that a positive mindset in business is of the utmost importance, but when my phone falls silent and my inbox remains empty, I sometimes think that all of my clients have moved onto someone else to fill their needs. Of course, this is never the case, as a day or two later I’m often inundated with…  Read more

Getting married will change your life in many ways. Putting the cap on the toothpaste. Trading in the convertible for a minibus. Making your relationship Facebook official. Your credit scores don’t suddenly merge. Even if your spouse has a negative credit history, it won’t initially affect your credit score in any way. So when does your spouse’s credit rating affect yours? The changes only come after you’re married, and you…  Read more

Anyone who contributes to a pension fund or retirement annuity (RA) is entitled to claim a deduction for tax purposes based on their contribution, subject to the limitations applicable at the time of the contribution. However, the fund or annuity must be in their name. So while you can contribute to an RA in the name of your child, you would be unable to claim a tax deduction on the…  Read more