Buffalo effect – making your clipper count?
Ask most South Africans what a "clipper" is, and they'll tell you it's a R100 note. The nickname dates back decades, when R100 was often made up of ten R10 notes held together with a paper clip. Today, the R100 note carries another symbol that deserves just as much attention: the Cape buffalo. The buffalo offers a surprisingly powerful lesson about saving and the power of compound interest.
Stokvels – building women’s financial independence
As South Africa celebrates Women's Month, conversations around financial empowerment, wealth creation and economic participation remain as important as ever. While women continue to make significant strides in the workplace, business and entrepreneurship, achieving financial independence remains a critical component of long-term financial wellbeing.
Real-time payments – turning speed into customer trust
Connecting to a real-time payment rail is the straightforward part. Delivering an experience that genuinely feels instant is where the real work and the competitive advantage lie. There is plenty of excitement about real-time payment rails at the moment. Most of it is justified. Moving money in seconds rather than days changes what a business can offer the people it serves.
Future-driven finance – redefining the CFO in an age of disruption
Imagine this: It’s 7:30 a.m. in Nairobi, and your phone buzzes with an alert from the treasury dashboard. Overnight, a sudden Foreign Exchange (FX) shock in East Africa has threatened to erode your continent-wide supply chain margins by 5 percent. Yet, your factory in Lagos has already executed an automated hedge that caps the risk at 1 percent.
Group reporting – can it keep pace with M&A?
After a measured few years, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activity has regained momentum in South Africa. The country, in fact, led the continent in deal value in 2025. It accounted for roughly 35% of Africa’s total M&A value. Meanwhile, inbound deal value rose by over 40%, and outbound activity increased by nearly 85% year on year.
SME finance – the R386 billion growth question?
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) cannot grow without access to funding, and South Africa needs its SMEs to grow. What needs to change in the middle? The frame for South Africa’s economic growth in 2026 is one of modest recovery. The National Treasury’s 2026 Budget Review projects real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of around 1.6%. The World Bank echoes these figures, at 1.4%, and expects growth to increase to 1.5% by 2027.
Every Rand counts – are your habits costing you?
As millions of South Africans struggle with debt, simple financial habits can improve long-term financial wellbeing. South Africa's household debt burden has climbed to an estimated R2.4 trillion. This places increasing pressure on households already grappling with rising living costs.
CA(SA) advantage – a passport to global demand
In several major global markets, accounting firms are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a steady pipeline of qualified professionals. Fewer graduates are entering the profession, and progression to senior levels is taking longer. At the same time, firms face greater technical demands.
Fraud defence – do silos still work?
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority's (FSCA) call for a centralised anti-fraud hub at its 2026 conference reflects a timely recognition that South Africa's financial institutions (FIs) cannot successfully fight financial crime in isolation. However, centralisation alone is not enough.
Software upgrades – who’s really in control?
Enterprise software used to be a decision within the IT lifecycle. However, it is no longer just that. Core platforms such as ERP systems, databases and virtualisation have become embedded in how organisations recognise revenue, control costs and satisfy regulators. These platforms are not back-office systems. They are financial infrastructure. Increasingly, they are dictating capital allocation in ways many CFOs did not sign up for.
