The New Companies Act - changing the landscape of business in South Africa... Are your ready

The New Companies Act was signed into law during April 2009 - it will come into full effect during the middle of 2010.

How does this effect me - you may be asking? (or should be asking!?)

Well, let me start by asking you a few questions;
- Are you a business owner, director, or decision maker?
- Are you both an owner and a director?
(PS when I use the "label: director I am also referring to members of CC's)
- Do you employ people?
- Are you intending to grow your business into the future (do you have big dreams of what you want to achieve)?

If you answered NO to all of the above then you can pretty much ignore the New Companies Act - you probably work for someone who needs to look at it carefully though.

If you answered YES to the above you had better fully acquaint yourself with not only the New Companies Act but also the King II Code of Corporate Governance for South Africa. In the past most smaller (micro businesses to unlisted private companies doing hundreds of millions of Rands turnover per annum) simply ignored "governance" recommendations - many do not even have a full understanding of what these encompass... these things were ignored because they could be!

Well NO LONGER - both the New Companies Act and the KING III Code of Corporate Governance apply to all businesses in South Africa (companies and CC's).

So how do these business critical issues affect me (you may/should be asking)?

Well, they impact pretty much every part of your business from;
- Corporate Structure;
- Business Relationships (both your internal (employee) relationships and your external relationships;
- Corporate Governance - you now need to apply your mind to the King III recommendations and apply them to your business (no matter what size or form it takes);
- Reporting Requirements (some are going to breathe a sigh of relief, others will need to report on a whole lot of new things, in a whole lot of new ways);
- New ways to handle conflict within companies and a whole new way of dealing with distressed businesses...

In a nutshell the New Companies Act and King III (amongst all the other changes and challenges of 2010) completely transforms the business landscape in South Africa.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel... and it is a TRAIN!

You can find out more by visiting the SINK or SWIM website (www.sinkorswim.co.za) and by securing a place on the SINK or SWIM New Companies Act (Is it still safe to be a company director (or member of a CC)? Seminar. Here you can also see what others have said about the Seminar.

This is urgent - if you want to keep doing business in South Africa (and running a good business at that) you simply cannot ignore the implications of this...

Please feel free to comtact me on roger@sinkorswim.co.za for more information on these (and other) business critical issues.