Fortunext Advisory and Training Services

08/04/2020

, , The storm will soon be over. We will need six hours to chop the "tree" down, the first four will be spent on sharpening the axes. In the meantime, we're staying home in the library. , ,

29/03/2020

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10/03/2020

for -Finance

In today’s business world, non-finance executives are often called upon and required to make decisions on financial matters. The higher you rise in an organization, the more important financial skills become. However, the problems facing many non-finance executives is their inability to understand and apply basic principles of finance and accounting to their day-to-day and long-term management activities. Organizations face challenges which have financial implications but many managers with technical and non-financial backgrounds often find themselves lacking in confidence when it comes to making these crucial decisions.

Our training and mentorship programme is thus designed to raise non-finance professionals ‘awareness of finance and use of financial information in making better business decisions. We also offer non-finance executives thorough working knowledge of financial management. This can be tailored to both private and public sector requirements while meeting individual business needs.

08/03/2020

Happy Women's Day

10/02/2020

Bruce is a multifaceted senior professional accountant with over 16 years cross functional experience in Tax Compliance, Financial Management and Reporting, Risk and Strategic Management, Audit, Technical Accountancy and Public Finance Management Advisory. He possesses extensive experience in technical accounting, specializing in assisting clients with training, advisory, adoption and application of professional accounting standards and taxation.

Bruce has executive management experience as Director of Finance, membership of board and audit committee as well as Pan African Federation of Accountants Standards Setters Forum. His skills are founded on solid education with MBA, ACCA qualification,Bachelor of Accountancy and fellow member of ZICA as well as several management and technical certifications.

Bruce has also worked with the World Bank as financial management consultant in assessment of quality controls for audit firms and Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability. He has also provided consultancy to ZICA on Audit Firm audit quality assessment, Audit firms and several local businesses.

His industry experience is complemented by post graduate lecturing roles in International Financial Management, Advanced Audit, Management Accounting and Corporate Reporting at University of Lusaka as well as Kenneth Kaunda Foundation University.

With his first-class operational and strategic experience in a range of sector and corporate backgrounds, Bruce has good insight into the practical issues surrounding business strategy, risk management, financial management, accounting and reporting.

08/02/2020

Did you know that the Zambian Income Tax Act requires a company to give notice to ZRA within 30 days when another company becomes related to it? Did you know that failure to comply attracts a penalty of 10,000 units per day for the company and each officer on conviction?

Get in touch for your tailor-made in-house tax capacity building. Using our trinity of tax expertise, we assist to align your business processes to the tax regulatory framework to improve compliance.

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05/02/2020

Dr. John W. Hendrikse

Dr. John W. Hendrikse is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Genesis Corporate Services, a South African based management consulting firm. John has over 30 years cross functional experience in Financial Management, Business, Strategic Management, Business Consulting and Training. John is also the author of the Corporate Governance Handbook (Juta & Co), Valuation Handbook: Business, Brand, Company and Commercial Property Valuations (Genesis Publishers).

He is an international trainer and consultant on a range of strategic executive solutions focusing topics such as Public Financial Management, Procurement and Tendering Best Practices; Enterprise Risk Management, Corporate Governance Best practices, Board of Director Training and Performance Appraisal, Companies Act applications, Turnaround Strategies and Business Rescue, Performance Management, Business and Equity Valuations, Due Diligence Audits and Internal Audits. John has also developed a combined Assurance Model and Business Rescue Plan for financially distressed companies.

He has previously worked as Chief Finance Officer in both public and private sectors. John lectured at University of Cape Town before venturing into business consulting and heading various companies as Chief Executive Officer and Franchisor. John also presides over three Online Business Solution Companies namely: OnlineMOI, OnlineBizValuations and ProfitPointSolutions. His skills are founded on a solid education with B. Com, MBA and PhD in Business

04/02/2020

1.Public Finance Management (PFM) Act Implementation Best
Practices

Managing the PFM Act with confidence for Public Sector
Organisations, State-Owned Enterprises and Regulators

2.Public Sector Financial Management and Administration

Compliance…. Conformance …. Performance

27/01/2020

Over the weekend, we conducted tailor-made Integrated Tax Capacity Building in Mfuwe for finance teams, managers and directors for Time & Tide Africa and their associate Tour Operators (Chinzombo, Marula lodge, Flatdogs, Bush Camp/Mfuwe Lodge, Robin Pope Safaris)

The training covered topical tax areas in: Transfer Pricing Regulations: key issues and implications; Customs taxation and the must-know emerging practices, Tax regime in Zambia including the appeals and audit processes, in-depth of Corporate Tax, PAYE, VAT and WHT,

Applying our trinity of tax expertise obtained from tax audit experience at ZRA, tax technical advisory experience from ZICA and tax accounting experience leading finance teams, we ensured not only clients’ satisfaction but also value addition with:
 Exploring new accounting standards impact on tax accounting;
 Up-to-date technical knowledge of tax accounting and regulations;
 Practical understanding of the tax implications to organisations;
 improving capacity to make tax savings and reduce the cost of tax;
 Minimizing surprises from the ZRA; and
 Tax risk management.

You too can benefit from our immense expertise. Get in touch for tailor-made solutions

25/01/2020

20/01/2020

We are pleased to announce our new strategic partnership with Genesis Corporate Services of South Africa, one of the leading management consulting firms in that country. This exciting partnership will bring the first of the kind new cognitive and collaborative consulting service offerings on the Zambian market. The partnership will also offer our clients the choice to undertake tailor made consulting and capacity building assignments either locally or in Cape Town, South Africa.
Genesis Corporate Services has over 20 years extensive consulting expertise in Strategic Executive Solutions focusing on Business Valuation, Due Diligence, Strategic Planning, Business Health Checks, Corporate Governance, Board of Directors Training and Induction, Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Audit, Business Rescue Plan for financially distressed companies, Public Financial Management Implementation and Performance Reporting, Companies Act and Public Finance Management Acts Compliance Implementation.

“This strategic partnership brings on board innumerable synergies through the service solutions currently offered by both parties, the use of existing skills, resources, the exchange of knowledge, training and development opportunities to create value for our esteemed clients in Zambia,” said Bruce Mwewa, Lead Consultant at Fortunext.

“Partnering with Fortunext will deliver strategic transformation for clients in Zambia and allow us to provide the very best business process strategies on which we will conceive and build the next generation of transformative organisations,” said Dr. John W Hendrikse, CEO at Genesis “With our diverse and long-standing experience, I am confident that we will unlock the full potential of management consulting in Zambia and place Zambian clients on the best path for success ahead of competition and regulatory environment.”

14/01/2020

2 - Who audits the Auditors?



In our last article, we shared insights on the historical objective for audit of financial statements and the regulatory framework under which audit firms operate. We did this to provide answers on the question of “Who audits the Auditors?” and an understanding on the motivating factors behind this inquisitive question. We now look at the generally accepted international inspection process for audit firms designed to ensure compliance with regulations and professional standards. The article concludes with advice on how stakeholders can ensure quality in the external audit process.

and process to ensure audit quality

In accounting circles, there are professional standards that audit firms must follow to promote the improvement and maintenance of audit quality. One such standard is the International Standard on Quality Control (ISQC) 1. As part of the ongoing enhancement of the audit process, the standard is set to be replaced in December, 2021 by the International Standard on Quality Management.

The objective of ISQC 1 is for the audit firm to establish and maintain a system of quality control to provide the firm with reasonable assurance that:

a) The audit firm and its personnel comply with professional standards, applicable legal and regulatory requirements; and

b) Audit reports issued by the audit firm or engagement partners are appropriate in the circumstances.

Based on this standard, professional accountancy regulators such as ZICA conduct routine audit quality inspections on audit firms. These inspections are carried out in order to uncover deficiencies in the systems, policies, procedures and practices on how audit firms carry out their audits. In other jurisdictions, the Securities and Exchange Commissions also carry out audit quality reviews on audit firms who audit Public Interest Entities and companies listed on the Stock Exchange. Further, audit firms that are members of international networks are also inspected by their respective networks to ensure that they comply with both ISQC1 and the network requirements.

In the government circles, the Public Audit Act, 2016 requires annual accounts of the office of the Auditor General to be audited by an independent auditor appointed by the State Audit Commission. In Zambia, the State Audit Commission is charged with the responsibility of overseeing of the functions of the office of the Auditor General as well as recommending the appointment of the Auditor General.

This, then, answers the question of who audits the auditors.

can stakeholders ensure audit quality?

Under the companies Act and Public Finance Management Act, directors are personally responsible for the quality and integrity of financial Statements. This is despite that directors are not responsible for producing accounting documents and reports, but merely approve them. Due to this personal responsibility imposed by law, directors must be able to decipher accounting documents and reports and proactively detect potential problems. Thus, this article may be of interest to companies, directors, investors and other stakeholders interested in audit quality and ultimately financial reporting. So, it is important to take keen interest in the audit practice review reports that are published from time to time by ZICA and other professional accountancy bodies. Audit quality supports financial reporting quality and it is in the interests of directors and audit committees to support the audit process. This includes ensuring that management produces quality financial information, adequate resources, skills and expertise are available for the reporting process and further that the audit process is appropriately resourced.

In our next insight, we will share excerpts from the programme we recently developed and the first of the kind on the Zambian Market “Financial Governance for Directors” The article will also discuss some of the financial responsibilities for Directors as prescribed by the Companies Act, 2017 and the Public Finance Management Act, 2018. We will also highlight the penalties for non-compliance and how directors can ensure the integrity of financial reports.

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Bruce Mwewa is a multifaceted senior professional accountant with cross functional experience in financial management, tax compliance, risk and strategic management, technical accountancy advisory, Auditing and lecturing in advanced audit & assurance. Bruce possesses extensive experience in technical accounting, specializing in assisting clients with training, advisory, adoption and application of professional accounting standards such as International Standards on Auditing, private and public sector accounting standards. He has also worked on consulting projects with the World Bank, among them assessment of audit quality for audit firms. Bruce has also assisted audit firms with audit quality control inspections.

At , we assist audit firms with quality control reviews, developing audit methodology and quality control policies and procedures, capacity building in ISAs, International Standard on Quality Control (ISQC1), the new International Standard on Quality Management (ISQM 1 and 2)