Agri
Positief
Tot kort voor die aanvang van die
verhoor het die Staat volgehou dat
die bepaling van die vergoeding
deur die Waardeerder-Generaal
(wat gebaseer is op die omstrede
Regulasies uitgevaardig in terme
van die bepalings van die Wet op
Eiendomswaardering) die enigste
bedrag is waarop die grondeien-
aars geregtig is. Die grondeien-
aars was gereed om die getuienis
van hulle deskundiges aan te bied
en die Staat te beveg, toe die
Staat die aftog geblaas het deur
die bogenoemde aanbod aan
die grondeienaars te maak. Die
resultaat is dat die vergoeding
wat die grondeienaars nou gaan
ontvang ongeveer twee keer die
bedrag is wat die Waardeerder-
Generaal as vergoeding voor-
heen bepaal het.
“Die uitslag van die saak is
positief vir ander grondeienaars
wat hulle moontlik in dieselfde
posisie bevind as die Melmoth
grondeienaars,” sê Dan Kriek,
Agri SA president. “Die uitslag
wys ook dat die staat nie maklik
sal wegkom met aanbiedinge van
vergoedingsbedrae wat baie laer
is as markwaarde nie.”
Agri SA se standpunt is nog
altyd dat regverdige en billike
vergoeding in die meeste gevalle
naby markwaarde behoort te
wees. Agri SA sal by verdere
toetssake betrokke raak om seker
te maak dat grondeienaars se
belange na behore beskerm word
by die bepaling van vergoeding.
Agri SA wil ook die bekwame
regspan van die grondeienaars,
Bertus van der Merwe van Cox
en vennote en Adv Gerhard
Roberts(SA) en Adv
Elana
Roberts bedank en gelukwens.
Landscapers…
Project profitability
With cloud-based accounting
L
andscaping isn’t a career, it’s a calling. The types of
people drawn to horticulture are driven by a love of
beautiful spaces and a need to create and find the
beauty if it’s not there to begin with.
This is according to James
Hedding of Eden Projects, a
provider of turn-key landscaping
solutions in Johannesburg that
offers end-to-end services from
design and planning to outside
landscaping and paving.
“Being passionate about land-
scaping stems from being inspired
by seeing something come from
nothing,” he says. “It was in 2010
that I took my last pay cheque
and invested it in Eden Projects
as a way of ensuring inspiration
became a larger part of my life,
but many lessons have been learnt
over the past nine years.”
Small businesses all face
similar challenges, regardless
of the industry they serve, says
Hedding. “Effective time manage-
ment, controlling paperwork and
building cash flow that enables
you to compete with larger, more
established competitors are all
areas that require focus in order to
keep our businesses afloat.”
Ensuring profitability
However, he adds, one of the
main areas requiring intense
focus lies in ensuring project
feasibility and profitability in a
trying economy.
“The state of the economy has
added complexity in that many
are faced with having to adapt
to shrinking customer budgets,
which have resulted in a defined
shift from outdoor garden proj-
ects to requests for indoor office
plants and green walls or vertical
gardens. All of this, coupled with
pressure from government to
ensure our gardens are water-wise,
means I’ve come to rely more on
technology and its ability to assist
me in ensuring project profitability
and budget adherence.”
Hedding says he depends on
his cloud-based accounting soft-
ware when it comes to managing
and tracking all of his company’s
projects and says he makes full use
of the solution’s ability to help him
connect with clients and suppliers
at the touch of a button and
from any device.
“QuickBooks has introduced
a new feature, called Project
Profitability, and it has extended
my ability to quote from anywhere
and at any time while keeping a
constant eye on the true costs of
every project,” he says.
With this feature, Hedding is
easily able to create projects, track
income versus expenses, add and
track timesheets (both billable and
non-billable), track profitability in
real time and, of course, create
and send quotes and invoices. All
of this on-the-fly and on demand.
Edge over competition
“This has given me an edge
over the competition,” he says. “All
of my company information lives in
the cloud and follows me wherever
I go – gone are the days where
being out in the field meant being
unable to respond to customer
queries or requests.”
Head of emerging markets at
Intuit Quickbooks, Jolawn Victor
says tracking and analysing
the profitability of each job at
project level is critical for project-
based businesses.
“The Projects feature within
QuickBooks lets businesses like
Eden Projects organise all compo-
nents and resources from one
dashboard making it easier to
accurately track and monitor indi-
vidual projects or jobs,” she says.
“It also provides businesses with a
quick view on profits and losses -
allowing them to take corrective
action in real time, which is an
immediate boon for businesses
who are watching the bottom line.”
SABI | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019
45