More Than a Balancing Act What Is The Future Like For CFOs

NEWS | MORE THAN A BALANCING ACT: WHAT IS THE FUTURE LIKE FOR CFOS?

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Even World Economic Forum leader Till Leopold warned white-collar jobs would not be spared in the onslaught of jobs for skilled and educated people in the coming year, saying that 35% of the skills requirements for many existing professions will change in the near future.

This has implications for accountants on the African continent, according to the CEO of CFO Africa and CEO of the South African Institute for Business Accountants (SAIBA), Nicolaas van Wyk.

He told Fin24 that the impact of the fourth industrial revolution and tech are changing the world of work for accountants.

“Five years ago, more emphasis came upon CFOs and there was a lot is being made of the role of modern CFO. The role has moved from a purely finance function into the boardroom.

Broader skills set expected

“Now people who are accountants are also expected to have business skills, strategy, operation, human resources and information and communication technology,” said van Wyk.

Van Wyk said 70% of JSE-listed company CFOs are accountants by study and profession, while the remaining 30% were led by corporate executives with broad skills and competencies. While chartered accountants are still present, they mostly serve to assist the CFO, van Wyk said.

“CFOs need to be more mobile and be able to work anywhere in the world. We set a benchmark to qualify a CFO and award the designation so that companies are assured of that person’s competence. It is all the more essential with the scandals in place surrounding the profession,” said Van Wyk.

He elaborated saying there might be corrupt politicians and state-owned entity (SOE) leaders, but most of the time they cannot act without an enabling CFO. He said CFO Africa and SAIBA have reached out to government to offer auditing and accounting capacity to its efforts in fighting corruption.

“We are making submissions to the Department of Public Enterprises. It is part of government’s efforts to clean things up and it is emanating from the Zondo Commission. Everyone is building up defences and we are doing it by bolstering the designation of CFO,” he said.

Independent labour analyst Andrew Levy said C-suite executives remained one of the most critical components to South Africa’s efforts when it came to drawing critical skills to help the economy recovery.

Xpatweb director Marisa Jacobs said the impact of Covid-19 on South Africa’s world of work would deepen the formal economy’s reliance of tech and the idea of virtual work.

“We only released the critical skills list after Covid-19, so it will be interesting to understand pre-Covid-19 versus post-Covid-19 world to see if there has been a dramatic shift, but we can see engineering remains in the top ten, which we weren’t expecting to see due to the impact on manufacturing. IT reliance is high because of the fourth industrial revolution and the high use of tech,” said Jacobs.

Intimidation of CFOs concerning

Van Wyk said the intimidation and murder of CFOs who have lost their lives in the fight against corruption in government departments and SOEs was also of serious concern.

“We have seen the State Capture Inquiry and it is a shame what so many people did to South Africa and the impact that it had on the poor. The pandemic is worldwide but there is global mismanagement.

“It is a small number of CFOs who are corrupt but many are in organisations where the culture cannot easily be shifted in a positive directed. For example, Markus Jooste didn’t act on his own. He had a CFO who facilitated things. We must strengthen the ethical role and technical knowledge,” said Van Wyk.

Van Wyk said he believed CFOs could assist SA at a strategic level as sovereign credit rating agencies have been giving downgrading South Africa, adding that CFOs we can improve the profession and the economic fortunes of the continent.

Source: fin24

 

NEWS | FOREIGN LANGUAGE SPEAKERS ARE AN UNDENIABLE CRITICAL SKILL TO SOUTH AFRICA

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However, Foreign Language Speakers, a role that featured in the previous List, has been omitted from the draft List.

“Foreign language employees are more valuable than the language they speak and are critical to job creation inside South Africa’s borders,” says Marisa Jacobs, Managing Director at Xpatweb.

This skill appears high on the company’s Critical Skills Survey results, which were used as input for the draft List.

Export industry

Mary-Ann McCormick, HR Director at Indian Ocean Export Company (IOEC), says foreign language workers are essential to cementing strong business relationships in the firm’s French-speaking market abroad.

The company’s business development managers and export coordinators must be fluent in the language to a degree not found in South Africa. “If we are able to source them, they usually don’t have the skillset or experience we demand for the quality of service we must deliver,” she says.

Foreign language workers not only communicate complex information fluently but bring with them international experience and an understanding of the unique traits and expectations of IOEC’s target market.

McCormick reports that the company previously tried outsourcing these functions to agents in the destination regions but assuring service quality from a distance proved impossible. “For our model to work, our business development managers and export coordinators must be located in-house,” she says.

Contact centres

Organisations outsourcing their foreign market support function to contact centre operators typically insist that high quality foreign language consultants be available to their customers.

Contact centre services include telephone, chat and email support, as well as website translation and marketing programmes aimed at nominated countries.

“These activities require in-depth knowledge of the specific country, its customs, traditions, preferences, nuances and more,” says Sharon Haigh, CEO of Contact Centre Management Group (CCMG), a professional body representing over 2,000 South African contact centres. “Merely being able to speak the language without this knowledge has proven insufficient for our members’ needs,” she says.

According to Haigh, the 10 to 15 percent of foreign speakers typically employed at local contact centres ensures those companies can provide jobs to the 85 percent of local workers who support them. In addition, South Africa has been voted the world’s second most attractive BPO destination for three years running. It can improve this standing by focusing on authentic foreign language support.

Tourism

Few South African business leaders missed Finance Minister Mboweni’s 2021 budget speech in which he called for a focus on job-creating sectors, specifically naming tourism.

However, leaders in the tourism field have long complained that a lack of competent foreign language speakers is hurting the industry, especially during peak season. Travellers with money to spend would rather frequent regions where their native tongue is represented.

The Department of Tourism has acknowledged this need by offering a two-month course in Mandarin to local tour guides. However, one cannot learn a language effectively in two months and guides make up a small part of the overall business and marketing drive to attract tourists in the first place.

Jacobs agrees: “Tourism is a major contributor to the South African economy and native foreign language speakers are strongly linked to growth in that sector.” She adds that preliminary results from Xpatweb’s 2020/21 Critical Skills Survey reveal a significant increase in demand for this role among participants, jumping from 6 percent last year to 16 percent in 2021.

Critical Skills Survey

Xpatweb has carried out its Critical Skills Survey for the past 5 years, providing reliable data on the needs of South African businesses. As a result, it was the only private sector organisation invited to present its findings before the Departments involved in compiling the draft List. This demonstrates the quality of its data and research methodology.

Jacobs encourages organisations who rely on foreign language speakers for the sustainability and growth of their business to comment on the draft List before 16h00 on 31 March 2021.

“If they don’t, they will have to wait several months longer before an employee critical to their operations can be onboarded due to visa application restrictions,” she warns.

Jacobs also invites these employers to complete the current Critical Skills Survey, which is more in-depth than previously. Doing so will ensure their needs are presented to regulators long before the next public comment process is announced.


AUTHOR
Marisa Jacobs
Marisa Jacobs
Director

NEWS | BUSINESSES CAN GET URGENT APPROVAL FOR PROFESSIONALS TO WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA WITH A SHORT-TERM WORK VISA

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Xpatweb director, Marisa Jacobs, says the Short Term Work Visa has come to the rescue of many businesses, which for various reasons have urgently required specialist skills to attend to new installations or maintenance challenges in local factories or on rig, mining and construction sites. The visa, valid for three months, and is renewable.

“The Short term Work visa is the ideal solution for businesses that cannot afford to wait the two to three month time period that it takes to process an application to bring in an employee on a longer term work permit,” Jacobs says.

Benefits of short-term work visa

Businesses in the manufacturing sector and also in the oil and gas sector that require specialist skills for an acute period of time, for example, to install machinery on a once off basis, or to attend to a mechanical breakdown, can make use of this visa to speedily get the skills needed on site. The Department of Home Affairs understands the needs of businesses to import specialist skills and that it can cost businesses millions of rands in losses for every hour of production lost due to a breakdown, so this visa is relatively swift to obtain once an application has been lodged with the Department.

“The Short term Work visa is also useful in cases where you may need to bring in a professional urgently to kick start a brand new project and you cannot afford to wait for a long terms work visa application to be processed. Businesses can anticipate a five to ten day approval waiting period for the Short term Work visa but swifter approvals, of as little as two hours, have been achieved by our immigration specialists,” Jacobs advises.

Understanding the requirements

The main criteria businesses need to fulfil during the application process, explains Jacobs, includes providing the foreign professional’s credentials, such as a resume and a motivation for why his or her skills are urgently required for the particular project.

“The process can be fairly straight forward and the Department has been extremely supportive in granting this visa as it understands the knock on effect of the businesses’ production losses and the impact on the entire economy, not least the fiscus. For the quickest turnaround time and first time correct submission it’s advisable to engage an immigration specialist, who understands the process and deals daily with the High Commissions and Embassies in the Department, to oversee and facilitate the application,” Jacobs adds.

Closing remarks

Jacobs cautions that while the Short term Work visa may be renewed after three months, it does not provide a pathway to a longer work permit, and professionals required for longer periods will have to return to their home country once the visa has expired, and apply afresh for a longer term work permit from there.

AUTHOR
Marisa Jacobs
Marisa Jacobs
Director

NEWS | CRITICAL SKILLS LIST – WHAT SOUTH AFRICANS NEED TO KNOW

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The disdain stems from the growing unemployment rate, the rise of illegal immigrants and a lack of understanding from South Africans as to what the Critical Skills list is and what the need for it is.

We hope to clarify the above and in turn bring understanding and reassurance to South Africans who find themselves questioning the reasoning and credibility behind this list.

What is the Critical Skills List

After consultations with the Department of Higher Education and Training, the Department of Labour, The Department of Trade and Industry and input from businesses in all industries across South Africa, the Department of Home Affairs issues a list of skills it deems to be critically needed in South Africa.

The previous list which was last issued in 2014 has been reviewed and government have now released a new draft list containing a list of skills South Africa needs to attract, in order to grow our economy and in turn create more job opportunities for all South Africans.

It is important to note that the is a draft list inviting public commentary to address any shortfalls of the list to ensure a well balanced final list is gazetted that fulfils the purpose of attracting foreign skills.

Supply vs Demand

Contrary to the thinking of many, the list does not represent Governments version of skills that no South African is able to fulfil.

“The list instead addresses the shortage in the quantity of qualified resources available currently or expected in future (based on the National Development Plan) to fulfil the positions in relation to the current industry demand for the skills. The fact that our economy’s demand for skills outweighs the quantity we have available is encouraging and means that our economy is growing.” explains Jo-lene Da Silva-Vergottini, Immigration Specialist at Xpatweb.

International Demand

Jo-lene goes on to explain, “It is important to note that South Africa is not the only country with a Critical Skills list or shortage in terms of the quantity of skills needed for their growing economy. Many countries around the world possess a list of skills they deem critical and use the list to attract the skills they need to supplement their local resources, these countries include USA, Canada, Australia and Britain, to name a few.”

Britain for example, recently announced favourable visa conditions for much needed health care workers. This does not mean that Britain does not have any qualified health care workers, but rather that their demand for these resources currently outweighs supply.

South Africa has a similar looming crisis with more than 48% of qualified nurses currently in employment reaching retirement age in the next 15 years according to the South Africa Nursing Council. Looking at the annual intake of nurses and the growing trend of nurses and care worker leaving SA to work abroad, South Africa is not developing and retaining enough nurses to ensure we meet the demands of the industry.

What can South Africans do

The new draft Critical Skills list has been issued and the Minister of Home Affairs is calling on all South Africans to participate in the process and submit written comments by 31 March 2021.

Jo-lene concludes “Over and above ensuring your voice is heard, newly matriculated South Africans and South Africans still deciding in which industry they would like to further their studies, should be encouraged to look through the Critical Skills list and choose their path based on skills that are so desperately needed in South Africa. This ensures we build a skills base in the right areas and also that matriculants study in an area in which they will be able to secure employment after their studies.”

In closing, it is vitally important for all South Africans to understand what skills our country needs and how we as South Africans can contribute in a productive way.


AUTHOR
Jo-lene Da Silva Vergottini
Jo-lene Da Silva-Vergottini
Immigration Consultant

Corporate-Visas-Can-Fix-Seasonal-Farm-Labour-Shortages-XP

NEWS | CORPORATE VISAS CAN FIX SEASONAL FARM LABOUR SHORTAGES

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“It is crucial that farmers who want to apply to the Department of Home Affairs (“DHA”) and the Department of Labour (“DOL”) for a Corporate Visa, can prove that they first sought out unemployed South Africans for the positions”, Marisa Jacobs, Director of Xpatweb advises.

Bulk approval to import skills

The DHA’s Corporate Visa allows farmers to obtain bulk approval for groups of between 50 and 1,000 labourers or more to enter and work in South Africa for a period of up to three years at a time after which a renewal is required. Once this visa has been approved, workers are issued with a certificate which allows them, on presentation, to have their passports endorsed with the relevant corporate visa.

“The farmer may only need the workers on a seasonal basis but the three year validity of this visa ensures that they do not have to reapply every season when the labourers are needed on the farm,” Jacobs explains.

The visa is particularly useful for the agricultural sector, which often struggle to find local labour to fill temporary posts as seasonal workers, as many people may take the job for a month or two but then resign for personal reasons, or at times because they have found a more permanent position elsewhere.

Neighbouring country’s labour pool

There are generally large communities of people living outside towns in neighbouring countries who are seeking seasonal jobs on farms. This visa allows the farmer to apply and bring them to SA to fill specific posts of pickers, packers and sorters, for example, using a single bulk visa application. The labourers themselves do not have to worry about the application as it is entirely handled by the farms’ human resources department, which will usually outsource the process to a reputable immigration specialist with experience in the process.

Farmers have historically handled the visa application in-house, but in recent years many have opted to outsource it to a specialist to ensure a smooth and swift process.

“It is a cumbersome process, so farmers prefer to focus on their core business and to leave a specialist to handle the paperwork, which involves liaising with both the Department of Labour and the Department of Home Affairs,” Jacobs says.

As part of the process, the DOL will inspect the farm to ensure that the business is compliant with labour laws and minimum wage requirements, to ensure there is no exploitation or attempt to attract cheap labour. The DOL will also require evidence from the farmer that there has been an attempt to seek out and employ local labourers, before turning to neighbouring countries as well as an ongoing attempt to increase their local labour count.

Apply now to avoid delays

The Corporate Visa takes as long as four to six months to obtain, from initial submission of the paper work to approval. It is advisable to consult an immigration specialist in advance to obtain the best advice and practical assistance regarding filing an application.

“This is a very attractive visa because it helps farmers solve their labour shortage challenges with one application and it provides peace of mind that they are compliant for at least three years. The visa is renewable after three years so if the farm has grown, and there is still no local labour available, or the business has expanded and still needs the workers to complement its local workforce, the departments will assess the situation and renew the visa,” Jacobs concludes.


AUTHOR
Marisa Jacobs
Marisa Jacobs
Director