Finance & Equity

During tough economic times, it arguably makes sense for businesses to simply look to buckle down and ride out the storm. However, while ‘waiting it out’ may appear to be the best practice in such times, there may be a missed opportunity for business growth in a tough economy.

Regulatory reporting has grown in profile over the last number of years, with more budget and more employees dedicated to compliance activities than ever before. Having been involved in the compliance space for more than a decade in some form or another, we have identified key compliance characteristics and trends in the majority of South African (and African) financial institutions.

Despite the hurdles, opportunities abound in Africa for private equity - but innovation and a long-term approach are needed.

Read our exclusive cover story titled PRIVATE EQUITY | A LONG TERM VIEW FOR AFRICA by Chetan Jeeva, Head of Specialised Finance (Africa), Investec, as well a host of other topical management articles written by professionals, consultants and academics in the December/January 2019/20 edition of BusinessBrief.

There are about 230,000 registered non-profit organisations (NPOs) in South Africa, and getting involved as a board member could make a considerable difference to their sustainability. Join up and make a difference – but avoid some common pitfalls.

Considering the high profile scandals that have dominated news headlines in the last few years, from VBS Mutual Bank to Eskom, it does not seem unreasonable to say that South Africa may have a corporate fraud problem. What’s more, the accounting irregularities that led to shareholders being defrauded and losing significant shareholder value, may have been entirely preventable if the internal auditors had been more empowered, protected and held to the same level of accountability as external auditors, via appropriate regulation of the internal audit industry.

Debt relief for the most vulnerable in society is crucial, but the National Credit Amendment (NCA) Act will not achieve this. The extremely high rate of over-indebtedness among South Africans is well documented. The seriousness of the situation is well reflected in the headline to an article last year in the Economist: “In South Africa, more people have loans than jobs”.

On 5 November, the JSE Limited (JSE) announced amendments to its Listings Requirements to strengthen the regulation of primary listings and secondary listings. The amendments follow an extensive consultation process with the market and the public that kicked off in September 2018 after the JSE released a consultation paper (Paper) on "possible regulatory responses to recent events surrounding listed issuers and trading in their shares" (click here to read the e-alert on the Paper).

As we progress further into Industry 4.0, finance needs to further leverage new technologies to add real value to a business’s bottom-line, yet it remains in its infancy stages. Industry 4.0 has impacted a range of industries, and with the digitisation of industrial value chains, many forget about finance, which has only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to leveraging new technologies.

Changes to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are aimed at avoiding another global financial crisis. This is in response to the backlash against IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts from critics in the insurance industry.