CGF ARTICLES, OPINIONS & EDITORIALS
July 17,
2019 3817 3817 
CGF is delighted to welcome Travers Cape as a Lead Independent Consultant to our company. Travers has acquired a wealth of experience in senior financial management positions and fulfilled various strategic roles within multinational and local businesses. Being adept at analysing facts, figures and similar detail, Travers will support our clients in the application and verification of their combined assurance processes, including the associated functions that are linked in their annual integrated reports.
June 27,
2019 3606 3606
We are pleased to welcome Glen Talbot as the newest member to join CGF’s team of Lead Independent Consultants. Glen has acquired a wealth of internal audit experience over the last 24 years in various industry sectors including the Financial Services Sector, Public Entities, Media Broadcasting and the Motor Industry. Glen has a keen interest in performing governance assessments with reference to the Corporate Governance Framework®, more especially in the areas of internal audit and combined assurance.
June 5,
2019 4577 4577
By Terrance M. Booysen and peer reviewed by Jené Palmer CA(SA) (CGF Lead Independent Consultant)
The recent resignations of the CEOs of Eskom and South African Airways have again focussed the spotlight on board performance and effectiveness. Inevitably, the critical question arises: why are these CEOs really leaving? In considering the answer to this question one must include a review of the board’s composition and the extent to which the overall ‘health’ of the board may have influenced any decision to leave or not leave the organisation.
May 30,
2019 4798 4798
By Jené Palmer CA(SA) (CGF Lead Independent Consultant) and peer reviewed by Terrance M. Booysen
Visionary leaders do not underestimate the power of the Corporate Governance Framework® in driving organisational culture. These leaders appreciate the importance of a governance framework in nurturing sustainability by driving values-based decision-making to “play the long game”.
April 29,
2019 5186 5186
By Lucien Caron (CGF Lead Independent Consultant) and peer reviewed by Terrance M. Booysen
An experienced board member will fully appreciate the various mechanisms contained within the organisation’s Memorandum of Incorporation (‘MOI’) that can be altered to best suit the environment within which the company operates. More often than not, the MOI is trivialized as simply a ‘founding document’ of the company and once approved, it is filed and gathers dust. However, over-looking the importance of the MOI -- which contains information about the core elements of the organisation’s governance -- amounts to an injustice to the nature and intent of this document, not least also the company and its stakeholders.
April 11,
2019 5166 5166
By Terrance M. Booysen and peer reviewed by Kerry Gantley (Partner: Cowan-Harper-Madikizela Attorneys)
We all know that hate speech and free speech are entirely different concepts, yet in South Africa what you can and cannot say as a responsible citizen or public figure remains a divisive issue.
Vicki Momberg, Adam Catzevelos, Penny Sparrow, Kessie Nair, Velaphi Kumalo, Julius Malema, Edward Zuma and Andile Mngxitama are all recent examples of people from different ethnic backgrounds, whether as ordinary citizens or public figures, who have either fallen foul of or perceived to have fallen foul of hate speech laws.
March 5,
2019 5795 5795
By Terrance M. Booysen and peer reviewed by At van Rooy (KISCH IP: Director and Patent Attorney)
When boards of directors gather to discuss the top risks of an organisation, it may entail matters such as structurally high unemployment, labour unrest, exchange rate volatility, political uncertainty, unmanageable fraud and corruption, threats of new market entrants or even product stagnation.
March 5,
2019 5403 5403
By Terrance M. Booysen and peer reviewed by Lesley Morphet (Partner: Hogan Lovells)
The South African Competition Amendment Act 18 of 2018 (‘the Amendment Act’) which was tabled in Parliament in July 2018, and signed into law by President Ramaphosa last month, has been the subject of much debate and comment, especially insofar as it aims to implement far-reaching changes to the current Competition Act 89 of 1998 (‘the Competition Act’). Although the Amendment Act has been signed into law, it is yet to be brought into operation on a date to be declared by the President.
January 16,
2019 5487 5487
By Terrance M. Booysen and peer reviewed by David Loxton (Chief Executive Officer: Africa Forensics & Cyber)
Theory and practice can be worlds apart, and unsurprisingly, in the realm of morality and ethics, the divide between the two is often clearly pronounced. While it may be easy for employees to claim that they would without question report any observations of fraud, corruption, or other impropriety being perpetrated in the workplace, it may not be that easy for them to do so in practice.
November 13,
2018 19137 19137
By Terrance M. Booysen (Director: CGF) and Ramani Naidoo (Author: Corporate Governance - An essential guide for South African companies)
Management guru, Peter Drucker, is often quoted as saying, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage [or improve] it”. Constructive feedback is integral to a process of development, growth and improvement, not least in an organisational setting, and especially in the case of boards of directors. In their leadership roles, directors are expected to fulfill their statutory, fiduciary and ethical duties towards an organisation, and their performance in this role should be evaluated so that their effectiveness can be assessed and tested against best practice and appropriate benchmarks. Where lacking, actions for improvement should be put in place -- whether on an individual or collective basis -- for the benefit of the board as well as for the organisation and its stakeholders.