Insight

(In the picture from left to right: Alan Winde, Western Cape Minister of Finance, Kent Karro, Senior Partner Horwath Zeller Karro, Asher Bohbot, CEO EOH, Craig Thompson, Managing director Michael Page) Dear CFO South Africa member, Good day! Hope you had a great start to your week. Thank you for participating with us online with CFO South Africa - here is this week’s update. Interviews with thought leaders Last month our director Melle Eijckelhoff had an exciting visit to Cape Town and Johannesburg and met with several prominent South African thought leaders. Read their interviews here: • Asher Bohbot, CEO EOH: Appropriate expectations in Africa; • Craig Thompson, Managing director Michael Page: Help build a country; • Kent Karro, Senior Partner Horwath Zeller Karro: Dealing with tax morality; Read new interesting articles and interviews on CFO.co.za We had the honour to meet with Minister Alan Winde during our CFO day in The Netherlands and we met with leading CFOs in the Saxon Boutique Hotel. • Alan Winde, Western Cape Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism; In Search of Excellence in Holland; • CFO Round Table in Johannesburg: CFOs exchange notes on IT and automating processes; Your company profile viewed by 3500 finance professionals? Let us interview you! If you also would like to share your ideas with the CFO community, please get in touch with us to arrange an interview. Please contact Jurriën Morsch at [email protected] CFO South Africa announces CFO Awards 2014 We are proud to announce the establishment of a new prestigious yearly award to honour the best performing CFOs in the country. The CFO Awards will take place to honour the best performing CFOs in the country and is preparing to celebrate the success of many others. We are now in the process of composing the jury for the CFO Awards. Victor Sekese, CEO of South Africa’s largest black audit and accounting firm SizweNtsalubaGobodo and Alex van der Watt, Academic and Head of Department of Accountancy - University of Johannesburg and also SAICA board member are the first to commit to be in the jury for the prestigious yearly CFO award ceremony. Are you interested in joining our jury please send an email to [email protected]. Read more on the CFO Awards here. Meet CFO South Africa in 2013 & 2014 • CFO Master Classes and Cafés September 2013 in Cape Town & Sandton • CFO Master Classes and Cafés October 2013 in Cape Town & Sandton • CFO Master Classes and Cafés November 2013 in Cape Town & Sandton • CFO Day & CFO Awards March 2014: cfoday.co.za We are at the stage of planning the definitive dates and topics of our CFO South Africa Fall program as we speak. Please check our website and our bi-weekly newsletter regularly to stay updated on the confirmed dates and topics of these events. Would you like to suggest a speaker, a location or a topic for our next events? Please share your ideas with us and send a mail to [email protected] Become a partner of CFO South Africa Meet top CFOs, claim thought leadership, create value and develop business. Various Global companies like Accenture, Oracle and Tranparent are partners with CFO South Africa. Just like us, they believe we can contribute to the growth of their business and network in South Africa. As a partner of CFO South Africa you find yourself in a network in which you can contribute to sharing knowledge, seizing opportunities and growing your business. Are you interested in a partnership or do you require more information? Please contact [email protected] or visit http://www.cfoafrica.net Are you enthusiastic about CFO South Africa? Please invite your friends and colleagues to join by sending them this link: https://cfo.co.za Do you have any requests, please let us know. Any suggestions or comments are welcome. Kind Regards, Jurriën Morsch Community Manager CFO South Africa | [email protected]. PS • Join CFO South Africa on LinkedIn Take advantage right away: Share knowledge, exchange interests and open up business opportunities with other finance professionals. • Follow CFO South Africa on Twitter Stay connected, up to date and in the loop on what is happening in the world of finance by following us on Twitter. Also to keep track of newly published interviews with CFOs and CEOs.

The CFO Round Table on Thursday 16 May at the Saxon Boutique Hotel in Johannesburg turned out to be an extremely successful meeting of minds,in which CFOs from a variety of industries candidly exchanged notes on IT, automating processes and the never-ending struggle to find time to reflect on strategy.

Last Thursday 6 June, the CFO Community in Holland had the great honour to welcome Alan Winde - Western Cape Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism - at her annual CFO Day event. During this year’s edition more than 400 CFOs of major Dutch companies discussed “The road to Excellence” during an interactive and lively program.

Dear CFO South Africa member,

From left to right: Juan Mostert (Dell South and Central Africa), Grant Scrutton (Winhold), Ranga Mabgwe (Stewart Scott International Mafuri), Melle Eijckelhoff (CFO South Africa), Philip Nottingham (abe Construction Chemicals), Alain Ozan (Oracle), Craig Coltman (De Beers) and Sandeep Gandhi (Village Reef Gold Mining Company). Other participants were: Anbann Chetti (Nedbank Corporate Banking), Ian Graham (General Electric Oil & Gas & General Electric Southern Africa), Nichola Dewar (Postbank), Werner Barnard (Kraft Foods) and Pieter Bensch (Oracle).

From left to right in the picture: Steffie Bosman (CFO SA), Peter Walsh (Servest), Melle Eijckelhoff (CFO SA), Kudakwashe Chipanda (Johnson & Johnson Medical), Eric van Marle (Transparent), Morrison Smit (Ardor SA), Ranga Mabgwe (Stewart Scott International ), Jobo Moshesh (SITA), Errol Campbell (Edenred South Africa), Amanda Albäck (Tongaat Hulett Starch), Mariette Ebersohn (Mango Airlines) and Carolina van der Ark (Transparent).

From left to right in the picture: Michael Van Straten (Servest), Ronel Van Dijk (Spur Group), Rolam Ait Si Birouk CFO (Ropetec), Ian Blackie (Wesgro), Liezl Myburgh (Sanlam Investement Services), Van Zyl Botha (Randgold & Exploration Company), Graham Meyer (Tellumat), Alain Ozan (Oracle), Callen Hodgskiss (HPCA), Pieter Bensch (Oracle), Bhavana Sewlall-Singh (Western Cape Government) and Melle Eijckelhoff (CFO SA).

The near-term outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains broadly positive, with growth projected to accelerate modestly to around 5½ percent in 2013–14, following a year of strong growth in 2012, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today. In its May 2013 Regional Economic Outlook, Building Momentum in a Multi-Speed World, the IMF said that these favourable prospects partly reflect the gradually improving outlook for the global economy, while locally, investment in export-oriented sectors is an important driver of growth going forward.

Don't miss it! The time for the next CFO South Africa Events is approaching. In May prominent financial professionals and directors will represent Cape Town’s and Johannesburg’s finest companies at the exclusive CFO Round Tables & Cafés on May 14th and 16th respectively.

Stay up-to-date and read our newsletter with the latest topics, articles and interviews on CFO South Africa. As always, all activities of CFO South Africa are free to finance professionals. Hope to see you participating in our platforms soon.

Since its launch in September 2011 CFO South Africa has become the leading networking platform for CFOs and finance professionals. The fast-growing online and offline community is moulded on a successful formula in The Netherlands, where the platform has become as essential for finance professionals as adding and subtracting. We spoke to Alex van Groningen, founder of the Dutch CFO and South African platforms about the opportunities in South Africa, his business model and the ambitious plans of CFO SA.

CFO South Africa on Tuesday announced the establishment of a new prestigious yearly award to honour the best performing CFOs in the country. The fast-growing networking platform for financial professionals is embarking on a process to elect the best Chief Financial Officer of South Africa, culminating in a festive award ceremony in March next year. One of the first influential people who has committed to be on the jury is Victor Sekese, CEO of accounting firm SizweNtsalubaGobodo.

Thursday 1 November marked the first ever event organised by CFO South Africa. At the offices of DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr in Cape Town we welcomed over 80 finance professionals from companies such as Nedbank, Accenture, Jasco, Transparent, Nebula, Alexander Forbes, Ernst & Young, Allan Gray, Zando, Kumba Iron Ore, KPMG, PwC, Sanlam, Olam International, Soitec, Old Mutual and IBM.

Some people simply seem gifted with the ability to speak in public. While others struggle through nerves and stutters when giving a presentation, others just come up, entertain and inform their audience in an admirable way, seemingly effortless. And on top of it – the audience ends up doing exactly what the speaker intended. Mission accomplished. Why can’t we all be like that?

There has been a sharp decline in confidence in the local economic situation. This is according to the Graduate Professionals Confidence Index compiled by insurance and investment company PPS.

A survey released by Ernst & Young today, indicates that confidence in the asset management industry fell yet again in the third quarter of 2011. The fall in confidence levels was once again moderate, with confidence somewhat below long-term average levels (84 index points).

During the last couple of years, many of South Africa’s companies changed their strategy. Unfortunately, not all of them have proven to be successful. Which skills are essential for an advocate of change within an organisation to change their strategy or direction?

Black South Africans own at least 17 per cent of the 100 top companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, according to an initial study, the head of the exchange said Tuesday.

We came across this very interesting read on www.leader.co.za. The feature is written by Gary Hamel: Professor of Strategic & International Management at London Business School, and co-founder of the Management Lab.

Although the crisis in Europe and the United States might seem far away, they are very, very close. South African CFOs are very aware of that, proves the 2011 Deloitte CFO Survey. “South African CFOs are cautious about the future, perhaps wisely so.” The survey reveals that while the 2009 recession may be over, CFOs are only dipping their toes into the growth pool, while keeping a careful eye on costs and margins. The aftermath of the financial crisis has brought with it an additional regulatory burden which is at risk of stifling growth.

Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are the fastest growing percentage of corporate fraudsters, according to a survey by forensic audit firm KPMG.

For the first time ever two companies, Nedbank Group and Gold Fields, have been declared the joint overall winners in the annual Ernst & Young Excellence in Corporate Reporting Survey.

CFO.co.za aims to increase the knowledge of CFOs in South Africa as well as exchange ideas and information. As an example of useful topics to be discussed within this online community, we showcase a Top 5: Necessary (soft) Skills for finance professionals - according to the finance professionals themselves.