The act also offers a ‘moratorium’ on legal proceedings or liquidation procedures against any company that is in business rescue.
The business rescue process provides the company with the opportunity to reorganize and restructure its affairs, and to structure a payment scheme with its creditors and allowing the business to continue trading.
If you are a provider of goods or services, the CPA affects everything you do in your business!!!
The CPA differs from previous legislation in that compliancy will not simply come from adjusting products and services, but instead will require a complete transformation of internal behaviour in order to manage risk.
As a business owner, manager, director or officer you need to look at how to implement effective strategies to manage the risks associated with non-compliance of the CPA.
Non-compliance may result in you paying R 1 million rand in administrative fines, or 10% of annual turnover, civil action or even imprisonment.
This is the perfect time to improve the way you run your business, how you manage your relationships with your clients as well as other business relations.
We focus on the CPA from a perspective of how it can benefit your business and it may even provide you with a new marketing angle.
We will assess your business exposure and provide you with advice and assistance in order to mitigate risks in terms of non-compliance as well as advise you on changes that has to be made.
The end result is a fall that will occur when gravity – in the form of audited financial reports, criminal and civil investigations – finally catches up, bankrupting the company overnight.
The Goals of Corporate Governance
Corporate governance consists of various duties, obligations, and rights that control and direct a corporation. The aim is to properly distribute the responsibilities that those who participate in the corporation have, such as the managers, stakeholders, creditors, regulators, and of course those in the board of directors. In addition to informing these people of their responsibilities, the corporate governance also informs people of their rights within the company.
When corporate governance is done properly, it allows the corporation to work smoothly due to the existence of a clear level of accountability and communication amongst the organization, as well as people understanding what their roles and responsibilities are.
The principles that the corporate governance follows and the people that these principles have an effect on:
Leadership
An effective board should head each company. The Board should steer the company to meet its business purpose in both the short and long term.
Capability
The Board should have an appropriate mix of skills, experience and independence to enable its members to discharge their duties and responsibilities effectively.
Accountability
The Board should communicate to the company’s shareholders and other stakeholders, at regular intervals, a fair, balanced and understandable assessment of how the company is achieving its business purpose and meeting its other responsibilities.
Sustainability
The Board should guide the business to create value and allocate it fairly and sustainably to reinvestment and distributions to stakeholders, including shareholders, directors, employees and customers.
Integrity
The Board should lead the company to conduct its business in a fair and transparent manner that can withstand scrutiny by stakeholders.
Good governance is not simply a matter of compliance with regulatory requirements.
Turnaround management refers to a process dedicated to corporate renewal. It uses analysis and planning to save troubled companies and returns them to solvency, and to identify the reasons for failing performance in the market, and rectify them. A turnaround is the financial recovery of a company that has been performing poorly for an extended time. To effect a turnaround, a company must acknowledge and identify its problems, consider changes in management, and develop and implement a problem-solving strategy.
It is a dynamic, structured, interactive process where a neutral third party assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of communication and negotiation techniques.
It is confidential. The information provided during the pre-mediation, mediation and post-mediation process are kept confidential and the mediator cannot be called to testify in court pertaining to the contents and context of the mediation.
We provide High Court Rule 41A mediation services.
BENEFITS OF MEDIATION INCLUDE:
- Reduced costs
- Confidentiality
- Control of the parties over the outcome of the requested resolution
- Parties comply more easily to the terms of the agreement
MEDIATION IN DIVORCE MATTERS
Mediation can be used to solve the following problems:
- Financial or budget disagreements (Medical Aid, Debt Management, Retirement Funds)
- Separation and divorce procedures
- Parenting Plans
MEDIATION IN CIVIL MATTERS
Mediation can be used to solve the following problems:
- General Civil disagreements
- Labour matters
- Maintenance matters
MEDIATION MAY NOT BE USED IN CRIMINAL MATTERS
ONLINE MEDIATION
Online mediation employs online technology to provide disputant’s access to mediators and each other, despite geographic distance or other barriers to direct meeting.
It can be used when the value of the disputed does not justify the cost of a face-to-face contact.
That way mediation can start sooner and/or the parties can conduct preliminary discussions pertaining to the divorce.
Commercial mediation provides a private forum in which the parties in a dispute can gain a better understanding of each other’s positions and work together to explore options for resolution.
In the commercial world, mediation is becoming recognized as a very advantageous dispute resolution process.
Some examples of where mediation can be effectively used to resolve disputes and differences of a commercial nature are:
Assisting parties:
- To resolve general commercial disputes with suppliers, customers, clients, partners or competitors;
- To reach settlement where they have been involved in protracted litigation and are experiencing ‘litigation fatigue’;
- To resolve disputes and disagreements in family businesses;
- To clarify, improve, evolve, restructure, end or dissolve a business or business relationship, affiliation or partnership;
- who have hit a ‘stumbling block’ in the process of a business transaction or negotiation, to move forward;
- To resolve interpersonal conflict or performance related issues between employees, executives, business partners, shareholders or directors; or
- To resolve employee grievances
- To assist with business rescue.
Also referred to as Debt Mediation is a debt management solution whereby consumers negotiate with creditors for a manageable credit re-payment plan. This is done by engaging a Credit mediator to assist in the negotiation process in order to obtain a consent agreement on the re-payment plan.
Image of three business people working at meeting
Close Up Of Business People Working Together In Office