The crucial role we can all play in promoting inclusion. Every election time one is reminded of the exciting prospect of South Africa’s transition to a constitutional democracy in 1994. Broad political inclusivity, it was thought, would become a panacea for most of the country’s socio-political ills, including those injustices created by a suppressive past. Now, 25 years on, that dream must surely lie mostly shattered, despite the futile attempts, amplified by election manife

Seeing the numbers through a different lens. (Click on picture above for free PDF copy of the book) Few professions have been through as much scrutiny and criticism as the accountants have in recent times. This in the wake of a number of high-profile scandals that not only questioned their lack of oversight, but whether they were indeed part of the malfeasance in some cases. It may have been somewhat overdone, but not unexpected. When things go wrong, it is fashionable to bla

And the stakeholder war that is destroying the economy. From any point of view, it was a sad day to experience the recent power outages because of an Eskom wage dispute, and to witness angry workers trash Nelson Mandela Bay. Clearly not on the same scale, there is still some similarity between those actions and that of using women and children as shields in military conflict, or children as suicide bombers. Whoever the perpetrators are, they will vehemently defend the ends as

And get a better idea of company health than following the money. “Follow the money”, they say, “and you will get to the essence.” Do that with any company or business and you will confirm a self-evident truth: it comes from the customer. But here’s a more relevant proposition: follow the meaning! Do that and you are most likely going to arrive at the same point – the customer. Imagine, if you will, what an honest response would be if you asked any business leader: “what’s t

Wresting the initiative from government to prevent reckless radicalisation. During those widespread protest marches recently, I asked my son whether he was going to join one of them. “It won’t make a difference,” he replied. “But it will to you,” I said. Few things are more powerful than a group of people actively and vigorously pursuing a noble cause. The outcome becomes a secondary issue. In that moment each gets to experience the fulfilment of embracing and being embraced

The lie that tarnished the best social system humanity has ever created. Not all lies are based on deceit and malevolence. Sometimes they are based on seemingly valid assumptions but then become a lie when they are fanatically promoted as a universal truth despite clear evidence to the contrary. There is no better example than the 40 year persistent defence of and slavish adherence to the shareholder-value driven business model; once described by American business leader, Jac

Contribution Accounting and Governance