Finance & Equity

We are living in unprecedented times and the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting everyone differently. The lockdown following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is resulting in significant financial strain. Many employers are unable to pay salaries or have been forced into a position where they can only pay reduced salaries.

Peter Bakker, the CEO of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, is quoted as saying ‘Accountants will save the world.’ Superhero is not a status usually associated with the profession. What could he mean?

As the economy opens up, following the slow phasing out of the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, many businesses are returning to work. For small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who have lost out on eight weeks of trade, the process of reopening their doors and scaling up production is going to be difficult.

According to a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, the drastic increase in the flow of data and connectivity in the third world has...

Given the dire economic circumstances, coupled with ongoing challenges facing businesses, it has never been more important for employees to be prepared both from a financial and personal perspective to deal with unprecedented changes, while still maintaining focus at work.

With the South African fiscal year coming to a close in only a matter of weeks, the stress associated with managing a business’ finances and operations are significantly intensified by additional regulatory requirements and comprehensive retrospective reporting.

Both the South African government and its citizens are forced to allocate more of their resources towards debt rather than to education or housing. This creates a challenge to maintain healthy finances, leading to empty pockets and frustration.

The publication of the Draft Broad-based Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter for the Mining and Minerals Industry, 2018 (Draft Mining Charter 2018) on Friday, 15 June 2018 came in the wake of the widely-criticised Reviewed Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Charter for the South African Mining and Minerals Industry on 15 June 2017 (Mining Charter 2017).

The Covid-19 crisis has brought much of the world economy to a sudden stop. Millions upon millions of people are in lockdown across the world, preventing them from working, buying, producing and selling goods and services. Global and local supply chains are interrupted, and small and large companies see a collapse in income. Households are under similar pressure.

The Department of Trade and Industry’s amendments to the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice on Friday, 31 May, were published in the government gazette with very little fanfare considering the significant impact they may have on generic entities in the country. These changes to the codes and will affect businesses in terms of procurement, enterprise and supplier development as well as skills development.