Harbour & Associates

As many of you know, we are nomads. We rent penthouse style and move about once a year. The first two moves were with Biddulphs and they went smoothly and efficiently. The packers came in, wrapped, packed and loaded our belongings, and delivered them to our new apartment all without fuss or bother on our part. Then came the third move. Ouch! Helen’s jewelry was stolen and every small box that might contain something of value was opened, like the empty cellphone boxes that we all keep when we upgrade. When we phoned Biddulphs to advise them that some of…

No-one in the company has more interest in making it succeed than you, so it’s your energy that makes things happen. Energy is not about huffing and puffing, scrambling around putting out fires, yelling on the phone at delinquent suppliers. No. Energy is so much more subtle, and so much more powerful. The Asian nations understand this so much better then us Westerners. They call it Chi, Qi or Ki and they treat it with the utmost respect. The arts of kung-fu, Reiki, chi-gung, karate, acupuncture, yoga, tai chi, feng shui, all rely on the control and channeling of this…

Call me stupid, but I think that Debt to GDP is a meaningless measure of our ability to repay borrowings. Why? Because it’s quite possible for a country to have a massive GDP and be unable to pay foreign debts and equally, a country could have a relatively small GDP and be able to comfortably repay them. In order to understand this, we need to look at what GDP is. In a nutshell it’s total production of goods and services, including trade surplus or deficit. So, let’s say that a country had a GDP (like South Africa) of $350bn a…

We often get enquiries from non-residents who wish to form a company in South Africa. Much of it is pretty straightforward, but there are a few special considerations. Anybody, or any company, anywhere, may be a shareholder, or even the only shareholder, of a South African company. Anybody, anywhere, may be a Director, or even the only Director, of a South African company. The Registered Office of the company must be at a South African street address. We offer our offices for this purpose. However, if the company wishes to open a bank account, then it must be opened by…

I thought I was savvy about scams and would never get caught. But when my cell phone was stolen I learned a big lesson. I had my banking app on the phone, but always had to tap in my PIN, so I figured that was safe. I had internet banking on my desktop and had remembered the banking password to Google Chrome, but that was OK because the desktop is password protected. So, my cell phone was stolen and the thief, presumably having seen the Standard Bank app icon, Googled standardbank.co.za, must have found my email address somewhere else on…

The simple answer to this question, is “Yes”. The actual flow of a payment, say directly from A to C on behalf of B is not a problem. The money does not need to first go into B’s bank account, then on to C.

The easy one to understand is the Income Statement. This starts at the top with your sales, or what you like to call your sales. Me? I don’t think you’ve made a sale until the money is in the bank! But more of that later.

Then there might be an item called Cost of Sales, or Cost of Goods Sold. This is the total of all of the direct costs incorporated in the thing that you sold, so it would include, for instance, raw materials, transport of stock into your stores, consumables like paint, packaging, etc. Cost of Sales is then deducted from sales and the result is called Gross Profit. In a nutshell, this is the difference between what your stuff cost and what you sold it for, your markup, in other words.

So, what can I do if my company has been de-registered at CIPC? You and many others are asking this question after CIPC hit the Final De-registration button in August 2020. There are 3 possibilities Your company was not demonstrably trading and did not own fixed property at the time of de-registration – You are out of luck. It does not qualify to be restored. Your company was not demonstrably trading, but did own fixed property at the time of de-registration – it can be restored, but the process is arduous and lengthy. You can demonstrate,…

Shareholders and directors commonly draw money from their company without paying PAYE. Their bookkeeper will debit their loan account and these loans typically grow over time to quite significant amounts. When you owe money to your company, you should be charged interest at least at the official rate (which is 1% above the Repo Rate). This interest needs only to be a book entry – Debit Loan Account, Credit Interest Received, and the entry should ideally be done monthly. However, to simplify things, the bookkeeper could be instructed to charge interest on the year end balance at the year end…

I always figured that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) was a waste of the R60 000 to R100 000 that the specialists wanted to charge. Surely not everyone can be on the front page of a Google search? Take a typical search. It comes up with 6 adverts and 10 articles. If you want to be one of the ads, learn how to use Google Ads. Google offers excellent free training. Alternatively, pay someone to do the job for you. If you want yours to be one of the 10 articles, then you need a brilliant SEO campaign, and no amount…

Once your company is in de-registration process at CIPC, the bank won’t help you with any facilities, your tenders won’t be accepted and life ain’t gonna be fun!

How did that happen? Quite simply, you didn’t submit your annual returns to CIPC, either because you didn’t respond to our email reminding you that the return was due, or, we are not your service provider.

Most South Africans are married either under an anti-nuptial contract (ANC) with accrual or a traditional marriage. The latter is marriage in community of property which means that there is only one estate and this is owned equally by the spouses. Under an ANC with accrual, what each spouse brings into the marriage remains theirs. There are then two separate estates which increase in value equally after marriage. However, there are certain increases which do not get shared – 1) Distributions from trusts or deceased estates, donations from third parties. 2) Damage awards from slander or defamation type of…

We form and sell shelf companies, so I guess that it is not surprising that we occasionally get a call from someone who wants to sell their dormant company to us. The answer is always “No”. Why? Because we do not know for certain that the company was always dormant. It could have some nasty skeletons in the cupboard. Sure, we can check on its tax and CIPC status, but that’s about all. Companies are often asked to sign surety against a dept of the shareholder and that is the scarey one because it would be impossible to trace.

I have always held that a Non Government Organisation (NGO) is simply an organisation which is governed by a Constitution as opposed to a Non Profit Company (NPC) which is governed by a Memorandum of Incorporation. I would state categorically, that a NPC is registered at CIPC, but that an NGO is not registered. They can both, however, register as a Non Profit Organisation (NPO) with the Department of Social Development. We own Gallagher Combined School NPC and it is registered as a NPO, so I was speaking with some experience. Then along came a client…

There are a number of reasons for buying a shelf company that is already VAT registered. 1) SARS makes it extremely difficult to register a company for VAT. Only professionals like ourselves find it relatively straightforward, but even so, a lot of paperwork has to be provided by the client. 2) If you are buying a commercial property, you simply must be registered for VAT in order to buy it as a going concern and have the transaction zero rated. Otherwise, you will have to pay the VAT and then claim it back and wait, and wait ……. for your…

There’s no doubt that load shedding is with us for the foreseeable future, so no doubt you have ensured that you have back up electricity so that you can keep your company running, but have you thought about the knock-on effects? Having recently experienced them to a small extent I have taken precautions for the future. 1) If there is no electricity, the pumps cannot refill the water reservoirs, so if the situation gets worse, expect to have water shortages as we are already experiencing in Midrand. We have installed a Jojo on the roof and piped it so that…

Company registration can take anything from about 5 days to about 5 weeks depending upon the type of company and the ability of the client to provide all of the necessary information and signatures. By far the simplest and quickest is a (Pty) Ltd. This is the one that normally takes about 5 days. If you are going this route, don’t reserve the name yourself. If you do, you’ll add a week or two to the process. Any other type of company can take 5 weeks or so, sometimes considerably longer. Here are some of the things that will slow…

You’ve got no money left. The bank won’t lend you any more. There are no orders coming in. You can’t pay your staff. Do you want to give up, or do you want to fight back? 1) You are not alone. I wouldn’t be writing this if you were.

For most companies the answer is no. The Companies Act of 2008 only requires a company to have their financial statements audited if its Public Interest Score is 350 or more. That would typically be a company with an annual turnover of about R300m and 50 employees. So why do we still get companies requesting audited financial statements? Let’s take a look at this. Reason 1. The company’s auditor did not want to lose the business, so failed to advise the owner(s) that not only are audited financial statements not needed, but the company doesn’t even need an auditor. Shame…

Actually, you don’t. A Non-Profit Organisation is an organisation that has been registered with the Department of Social Development as an NPO. It can take various forms from an NGO, a trust, or a Not for Profit Company (NPC). In all cases the Department requires that there shall be at least three unrelated members of the Governing Body. Also, it must have an altruistic motive. Also, your organisation can be registered with SARS as an Exempt (from tax) Institution and a Public Benefit Organisation. If anyone or company then makes a donation to your organisation, they can deduct the…

General Business

Biddulph’s amazing business model

How to improve your profits

Let’s rethink Debt to GDP

Forming a Company in South Africa

How my stolen cell phone nearly lost me R123 000

Can I make payments directly on behalf of my company?

Understanding Income Statements and Balance Sheets

My Company has been de-registered by CIPC

Loans to Shareholders and Directors

How to make SEO work

My company is in de-registration process at CIPC

Does the increase in value of fixed property form part of the accrual under ANC?

Can I sell my dormant company?

Can I register an NGO?

Can I buy a VAT registered shelf company?

Be fully prepared for load shedding

How long does it take to form a company in South Africa?

How to reboot your company after lockdown

Must my company prepare audited financial statements?

How do I form a Non Profit Organisation?

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