A importância dos fluxos de caixa na análise da solvência, liquidez e visibilidade das empresas

Orientada por: Prof. Doutora Cláudia Lopes

Generational and cultural indicators of technology and innovation in family business

The internet revolution has affected everybody in some way. Technologies used in business range from telephones to industry-specific machinery. Mostly though, business technology has come to mean the internet. In literature concerning innovation and the adoption of technology in business, research invariably centres on small to medium businesses (SI'v1Es), as these can be defined reasonably easily. Statistics on family businesses are limited, however, because family businesses are so difficult to categorize and define.

The Australian Family Business Survey of 1993 (Institute of Chartered Accountants) determined that family business is the largest form of business ownership in Australia and represents 83% of all business enterprises, although Basu (2004) believes that over two thirds of all world-wide businesses are owned or managed by families and around half of all businesses in Australia are family businesses. The Australian Institute of Management (AIM) (2004) states that the wealth of family and private businesses is estimated at $3.6 trillion and that family firms generate 50 per cent of Australia's employment growth, account for 40 per cent of Australia's private sector output, and are a seed bed for innovation and the information of large companies.

The difficulty in defining a family business is heightened because family businesses can take many forms ranging from sole traders to private companies to public companies. Hence, when talking about family business, you could be referring to the sole trader dealing with organic produce to an IT organisation employing hundreds of staff. Basu (2004) thinks that while ordinarily, in non-family businesses, the business and family domains remain separate, the key distinctive characteristic of family businesses is that family members work together for economic purposes. In other words, the family is not merely a social unit but also an economic unit. Craig and Lindsay (2002) believe that family involvement in the business is what makes the family business different... researchers, however, cannot seem to agree as to what constitutes 'family involvement' in a business so that it can be defined as a family business and that family business is ... a business that is governed and/or managed with the intention to shape and pursue the vision of the business held by a dominant coalition that is controlled by members of the same family or a small number of families in a manner that is potentially sustainable across generations of the family or families.

Money laundering : of watchdogs, bloodhounds and guide dogs

June 2003 was a very important month from the perspective of money laundering control. The main administrative money laundering control duties took effect on 30 June 2003, thereby changing many of the business practices that were part of the South African business landscape. In the same month, South Africa gained membership of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which is the main international standard-setting body in respect of money laundering control. At the meeting where South Africa’s membership was endorsed, the FATF also adopted a new and more stringent set of money laundering control standards that all countries will have to meet. As South Africa is implementing its money laundering control legislation, thought must therefore be given to amendments that may be required to comply with the new set of international standards. In this state of flux, accountants and auditors have a very important role to play. Not only do they have to comply with the legislation but they will also be required to provide guidance to those clients who are bewildered by the new requirements. Obviously auditors will also have to consider non-compliance with these laws when planning and carrying out an audit.