Finance & Equity

The SAICA Code of Professional Conduct (the Code) has, since 2006, set out certain fundamental principles that members and associates (accountants) should adhere to. The principles are integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour.

The financial management decisions of an entrepreneur will have a direct impact on the efficiency, processes and resource management of the business. This holds true regardless of whether they take on mundane cash-flow tasks themselves, hire high-priced professional financial managers or opt to utilise online software tools.

The new lease accounting standard, IFRS 16, will bring all leasing assets on-balance sheet, which may significantly affect companies’ key performance indicators, loan covenants and regulatory capital requirements.

The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) introduced digital financial reporting via XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) on July 1, 2018.

Over the years it became clear that financial statements on their own did not tell the whole story of a company’s performance. Companies therefore started reporting on their environmental impacts, employee-related issues and corporate social responsibility issues.

Economic crime is harming businesses at a staggering rate throughout the world. Digital innovation and technology has also given rise to new attack surfaces for economic criminals and fraudsters, with the rate of instances growing at exponential levels.

The Financial Intelligence Centre Act, No 38 of 2001 (FICA) is a piece of legislation introduced in South Africa to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism (MLFT).

The first reports and disclosures in line with King IV principles are beginning to appear. King IV is effective in respect of financial years starting on or after 1 April 2017. It would appear that certain organisations still require a deeper understanding of the implications of King IV’s 'apply and explain' approach.

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).

It is all systems go for a new digital financial reporting system for CIPC, iXBRL, planned for roll out on 01 July 2018. This new annual financial statement reporting system is linked to a bigger project of standardising business reporting across the country, where entities can ‘report once and reports shared more than once’ with other regulators.