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Despite the fact that South Africa’s COVID-19 numbers have continued to grow, the country is being forced to reopen businesses to allow millions to start earning a living again. Unfortunately, this is also going to mean the unavoidable increase in infections we have seen over the past few weeks, making it that much harder to contain the spread.

We have noted with concern the Auditor General’s report of the audit outcomes for local government, which showed that only 8% of municipalities received clean audits for the 2018/19 financial year, despite R1.26 billion being spent on financial reporting consultants.

The Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FIC Act) requires accountable institutions, identified in the Act to fulfil compliance obligations, which are geared to assist in identifying the proceeds of crime, combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

Business owners could not have known how fundamentally their lives would change only a few months ago. We now know the pandemic has wreaked havoc on cash flows, supply chains, debt repayments and the general financial standing of thousands of companies in South Africa.

The impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown has severely squeezed business cash flows. Surviving the shock is challenging the resilience of enterprises and executives alike. How management adapts will test their agility and resourcefulness. If not enough is done, the very survival of the business will be at stake.

Africa’s leading video entertainment company, MultiChoice Group (MCG, or the Group) delivered solid financial results for the year ended 31 March 2020 (FY20). Highlights include 38% growth in core headline earnings to R2.5bn, with consolidated free cash flow increasing by 59% to R5.2bn, driven mainly by an improvement in the trading results from the Rest of Africa (RoA), a focus on cost containment and a reduction in working capital.

With deregulation glinting globally, the cannabis market is expected to explode. New Frontier Data’s Global Cannabis Report: 2019 Industry Outlook estimates that there are around 263 million legal users of cannabis and cannabis-related products worldwide. Africa is home to 83 million of these. The report estimates that the total legal cannabis market hit a value of $344 billion in 2018, and ranks Africa as one of the top five regional markets, accounting for $37.3 billion.

Accenture has been adding value to the South African economy for nearly 50 years. Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services in strategy and consulting, interactive, technology and operations, with digital capabilities across all of these services. We work at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for all our stakeholders.

The impact of digitisation on small and medium enterprises is significant. Savvy SMEs can turn this to a huge advantage as they can do things quickly and in a more agile manner than big businesses. However, challenges abound when trying to protect innovative products and processes.

The banking group expects earnings for the year ahead to be in line with subdued economic growth.