The Profit First business model flips a century-old accounting formula on its head. Instead of Sales minus Expenses equals Profit, small business owners take their profit first and let expenses shrink to fit what remains. Created by entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz, the system uses multiple bank accounts and fixed percentages to force discipline. For struggling entrepreneurs drowning in overheads, this counterintuitive approach may be the key to lasting financial control.

SARS has confirmed that tax filing season for Trusts opened on 19 September 2026, with the closing date set for 22 January 2027. This year brings important enhancements to the ITR12T trust return which takes place against the backdrop of SARS’s administrative non-compliance penalty framework for trusts, which came into effect on 4 May 2026 and applies to outstanding trust income tax returns for tax periods from 2024 onwards. Trustees remain accountable for all trust tax matters, regardless of economic activity, so please read this article carefully.

International Accounting Day, observed on 10 November, marks the date Luca Pacioli, the Father of Modern Accounting, published the first detailed description of double-entry bookkeeping in 1494. This day recognises the indispensable role accountants play in supporting businesses and economies worldwide: from ensuring compliance and managing cash flow to enabling strategic growth and detecting fraud.

Cash was supposed to be on its deathbed. Instead, notes and coins are still changing hands every day, from spaza shops and taxis to supermarkets and small businesses. Digital payments are growing rapidly, but the latest data shows that cash remains deeply embedded in Mzansi’s economy. So why has the cashless future taken so long to arrive?

We are receiving more and more complaints, often from highly-distressed taxpayers, who are forwarding emails, SMSs and WhatsApp messages that appear to be from SARS, but are in fact scams. Increasingly convincing, these messages are causing unnecessary distress and raising the risk of being scammed. Here’s a timely Cybersecurity Awareness Month refresher on how to spot a SARS scam and what to do if you receive one. Our top suggestion? Simply check in with our team for peace of mind.

Small businesses can’t match the paychecks that big corporations dangle in front of job candidates, but they don’t always have to. There are many different ways to entice the best candidates that money can’t buy and which smaller employers are uniquely positioned to activate. This article gives eight practical, low-cost strategies owners can use to attract and keep great people.

For South African business owners, selling to your employees can offer something a traditional buyer often cannot: a lasting legacy. Through employee share ownership schemes, broad-based trusts and B-BBEE ownership structures, founders can reward loyal staff, preserve their company’s culture and create a structured exit. Success, however, depends on getting the financial, tax and legal foundations right. Here’s how to do it.

SARS has strict rules regarding entertainment expenses for both income tax deductions and VAT, and a claim for entertainment expenses will likely be flagged for investigation by SARS. This is why it’s crucial to have a solid understanding of what can and can’t be claimed. We encourage you to rely on our expert oversight before claiming. This is the best way of ensuring your tax position is verified and you have adequate proof that the claims are for legitimate business expenses.

Wish you could pay less tax? The 2026 tax filing season is in full swing, with individual non-provisional taxpayers facing a 23 October 2026 deadline, while trusts and individual provisional taxpayers have until 22 January 2027 to ensure they have made use of every applicable tax rebate and deduction. Our tax team checks and applies every tax rebate and deduction possible for every individual and business, making sure that while you remain 100% compliant, you don’t pay a cent more tax than you should!

Most business owners think their personal will has the business covered too, but that’s usually not the case. The term “business will” refers colloquially to a specialised directive, such as a shareholder’s agreement, a buy-and-sell agreement or a succession plan, that gives guidance on what should happen to your business when you (or other partners or shareholders) are no longer there. Without a regularly updated “business will”, the business you spent decades building can unravel in months.

Automation once promised a cleaner, leaner future with lower costs, faster service and fewer repetitive tasks. Yet some businesses are now reversing course and humans are being returned to jobs only recently given to software. Discover why this is happening, and just how automation might be hurting your business.

Anyone leaving or entering South Africa faces a new SARS requirement: an online declaration of goods, cash and other items before crossing the border. This article cuts through all the conspiracies and explains what the change means, why it matters, and how it could affect travellers, businesspeople and anyone carrying high-value items.

For individual provisional taxpayers and for companies with a February year-end, the end of August brings yet another tax deadline: the first provisional tax payment for the 2027 tax year, covering the period 1 March 2026 – 28 February 2027. Find out here why income tax payments seem to roll round so very often, and what you need to do to survive this first income tax deadline for the current tax year.

Every business leader, from the corner office to the corner store, has a story they wish they could rewrite. A product launched too early, a hire made too hastily, a pivot that led off a cliff. Despite this, bad business decisions are not a sign of a bad leader, they are simply a sign that a leader is human. The real measure of a leader is not whether they stumble, but how they recover. Here is what the evidence says you should do when you make a mistake.

As cloud-based software delivery has lowered the barrier to adoption, many companies are starting to lose track of the number of software subscriptions they have. This phenomenon is known as “SaaS creep” (SaaS stands for Software as a Service) and research suggests that the problem is considerably larger than most leaders recognise. The financial consequences are compounding, and, for organisations without formal oversight, almost entirely invisible.

Running a business in South Africa is a challenge. Quite apart from the political and economic conditions, every business must also comply with a web of governance, regulatory, tax, and labour law requirements. It’s a massive cost burden, but failing to comply can mean penalties, lost business opportunities, and even deregistration. Here’s how we can turn your compliance into a strategic strength, while also saving your business a substantial amount of time, cost, and hassle.

SARS’s “The Power of Done” campaign promotes seamless, digital tax compliance for Tax Filing Season 2026. The season officially opens on 13 July, although auto-assessed taxpayers will receive notifications from 1 to 12 July. Find out here what the deadlines are, which apply to you, how to “experience The Power of Done”, and what to do if you are auto-assessed (and if not). Hot Tip: For a hassle-free Tax Filing Season 2026, simply rely on our expertise.

Millennials and Gen Z – two generations raised on social media, shaped by climate anxiety, and equipped with instant access to information – are now rewriting the rules of consumer behaviour. For these switched-on generations, purchases are a statement of identity. Brands that stand for environmental stewardship, fair labour, and community investment are winning a market share that older marketing models never anticipated. Here’s how you can make this trend work for you.

Understanding the tax benefits and limitations of a trust or special trust is crucial to ensuring the trust beneficiaries are provided for as intended. South Africans can choose between several different trust structures, each with different purposes, benefits and limitations. Choosing the right structure for your situation is a make-or-break decision that demands professional advice.

Big businesses have big budgets, big teams, and big safety nets. Small businesses have none of these things … And at times this can be to their advantage. The mistake many small business owners make is looking up towards their conglomerate competition and trying to replicate what they see. In fact, the playbook that works for a multinational can actually destroy smaller operations. This article explains why.

Particularly in volatile economic times like these, effective budgeting is a critical driver of business success. This is because a budget enables sustainable growth by aligning financial resources with strategic business goals. We can assist you to create well-structured budgets that provide a roadmap for navigating the ongoing market ups and downs, while maintaining cashflow and identifying opportunities for investment.

Personal crises, such as bereavement, divorce, illness, and mental health challenges, are a reality of life, and how you respond when your employee is struggling says everything about you as a leader. Handle the situation badly and you risk losing a good person. Handle it well and you’ll not only be doing the right thing, but you could also forge one of the most loyal working relationships of your career.

While everyone’s talking about AI, trends are emerging that show the most successful small businesses have returned to the fundamentals: maximising every minute and tightening the leaks in local operations. Running a business in today’s topsy-turvy world is all about making the machine run smoother, ensuring that every hour spent translates directly into the bottom line and this is how they are doing it.

This tax season marks an important shift for trusts, which are now subject to heightened reporting requirements, regardless of activity, as well as automated penalties for non-compliance starting on 4 May 2026. If you have a non-compliant trust, even if it is inactive, please speak to us. SARS has taken a zero-tolerance approach to trust compliance, increasing scrutiny of trust administration and automatically applying ongoing penalties and interest that can rapidly accumulate.

If you’re a small business owner aged 55 or older, the 2026 Budget contained some very good news. Not only has the CGT exemption on the sale of small business by older persons been increased, but the definition of “small business” has also been expanded. This could make a big difference to your retirement situation, not to mention the future of your business. Find out here what the new limits and conditions are, and how they might affect the decision and timing of a business sale.

Client concentration risk can sink a healthy business faster than falling sales. When one customer accounts for too much revenue, cash flow, valuation, and even survival hinge on decisions you don’t control. Here we explain the “40% Rule.” What it is, why lenders and investors care about it, and how to manage concentration risk before it manages you.

Many small business owners fall into the “do it all” trap. You start with passion, but soon find yourself buried in tasks that have nothing to do with why you launched your venture. This leads to chronic burnout. You are busy, but are you productive? This feeling of being overwhelmed often stems from a failure to distinguish between being busy and making progress. That’s why you have to identify the “invisible work” that consumes your energy without ever appearing on a customer’s invoice or adding real value.

The Annual Employer Reconciliation Declaration (EMP501) remains a focus area for SARS. Employers have until the end of May to submit their declarations for the period 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026. We invite you to rely on our expertise to ensure compliance with this legal requirement, as submitting incorrect or incomplete declarations (or missing the deadline) will cause additional work, penalties, delays and hassles for you and your employees.

Growth feels like progress. Sales increase, staff numbers rise, and profit improves. Yet each of these shifts changes your tax position. Here we examine how business expansion can trigger VAT obligations, higher provisional tax payments, payroll risk, structural strain, and cash flow pressure. Then we discuss what small business owners should address before growth creates avoidable tax exposure.

The recent increases in the compulsory VAT registration threshold to R2.3 million and in the voluntary registration threshold to R120,000 are widely welcomed. It will certainly ease the administrative burden on small businesses and the strain on their cash flow. Businesses that do not exceed the higher threshold on 1 April 2026 may apply to deregister for VAT. But be certain to rely on our expertise when making this decision, as it’s fraught with potentially costly consequences.