Articles – The CFOO Centre Limited

March 21, 2021Uncategorized by Rajeev Chatrath

Outsource your CFO role

Are you paying good money for a team of accountants, but still lack enough confidence in your company’s financials to answer critical financial and accounting questions? Are you facing anxiety that is keeping you up at night about how you must keep your business on a solid financial footing, or boosting it to the next level? Do you feel like you’re driving blindly with your company’s finances and have no sense of what is really happening? A good CFO will ensure 100% alignment of the finance process with your company’s strategy. As the business owner, you and your executive teams […]

January 3, 2021Uncategorized by Rajeev Chatrath

Strategic planning, strategic thinking and strategic leadership for 2021 and beyond – The practical way to do it.

Given the tough times faced by organisations in 2020, having a concise strategy for 2021 and beyond, is necessary. Nevertheless, strategic planning alone will not be sufficient. Organisations will need strategic planning, strategic thinking and strategic leadership. There was nothing wrong with running an organisation from month to month or year to year without planning. However, your competition is doing exactly what you have been doing but more cheaply, more economically and more effectively, selling at lower prices, thus throwing your sales into a downward spiral and eating into profit margins. Strategic planning is the formal process of strategising, strategic […]

April 9, 2020Uncategorized by Rajeev Chatrath

The COVID 19 crisis and businesses in East Africa

The widespread panic and fear of the unknown has already taken place. As the outbreak of the COVID-19 continues across the globe, businesses, consumers and citizens of the world, in general, are worried about what happens next. There are hardly any bailout funds available to companies in East Africa from the Governments in the region. Businesses that have a lot of debt on their books are likely to be the most in peril and will need support from their bankers. Whether this support will be extended remains to be seen. Reduction of taxes and interest costs (where pegged to Central […]

January 10, 2020Uncategorized by Rajeev Chatrath

Accountants can make the mediation role their own

Accountants’ unique combination of finance skills, business insight and ethical code makes them superbly equipped for the mediator role, says Alnoor Amlani FCCA “Accountants make better mediators than lawyers because they can work the numbers, saving everyone’s time and money” Of all the various assignments I have completed, from business process re-engineering and systems development to industry and salary reviews, the most interesting has always been forensic accounting. At the heart of forensic accounting lies conflict. Unresolved workplace conflict leaves space for aggrieved employees to seek justice outside the legal process by engaging in corruption, theft and other undesirable activities. […]

September 2, 2019Uncategorized by Rajeev Chatrath

Fraud detection and prevention

Kenya is currently faced with alarming trends of record highs in white-collar crime and seemingly record lows in ethics. Fraud reduction and prevention cannot be left to legislators, regulators and law enforcement and requires the attention of all of us to create a culture of honesty, high ethics and compliance. Fraud is defined as commonly including activities such as theft, corruption, conspiracy, embezzlement, money laundering, bribery and extortion. Fraud essentially involves using deception to dishonestly make a personal gain for oneself and/or create a loss for another. In a recent report by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of the […]

July 22, 2019Uncategorized by Rajeev Chatrath

Debt reduction strategies

The use of debt by organisations signals both financial strength and the willingness to take on financial risk. If the return on debt-financed assets exceeds the cost of debt (i.e. Rd>Kd), debt use will increase income and therefore the asset base and the net worth of the organisation. However, increasing the use of debt also increases the financial risk that organisations face (including the risk of bankruptcy) if the organisation’s revenues and profits are lower than expected. Debt is not bad but in times of over-leverage, companies must have a good strategy for efficient and effective debt reduction. Debt, to […]

May 20, 2019Uncategorized by Rajeev Chatrath

Feasibility Study

The CFOO Centre team has years of experience in undertaking feasibility studies for new businesses and projects including Greenfield. The feasibility study is the first stage of the project development process where many key pieces and information about the project and the proposed industry will be assembled into one overall analysis. The feasibility study will by the end, show how well all of these pieces fit and perform together. The result of the feasibility study will be an overall assessment of whether the proposed business concept is economically feasible. Our methodology The feasibility study would be an analytical tool used […]

April 9, 2019Uncategorized by Rajeev Chatrath

With 7 of the world’s 10 most climate-vulnerable nations located in Africa, the continent’s burgeoning green finance initiatives are hugely welcome

By Alnoor Amlani FCCA – Director – The CFOO Centre in Nairobi, Kenya This article was first published in the April 2019 Africa edition of Accounting and Business magazine. The natural characteristics and development of countries in Africa make their economies heavily dependent on agriculture and minerals. While sub-Saharan Africa is far from being the world’s biggest contributor to greenhouse gases and hence climate change (see ‘Africa shapes its own green financing destiny‘), it is undoubtedly among its biggest victims. Now, some African countries are taking steps to mitigate the risk of damage caused by climate change and related environmental risks. In 2017 […]

February 3, 2019Uncategorized by Rajeev Chatrath

Month-end closing

Is your organisations month end taking more than ten days ? Are the organisations month end reports too large and have errors regularly ? The reasons your organisations monthly reports are extremely important, is so that you are the owners and managers of your organisation look into the future instead of constantly looking through the rear view mirror. Closing the books of accounts within an initial 10-day frame, and which we can then reduce to 6 or 7 days days, will give you the opportunity to take corrective action very quickly. This in turn will increase the efficienciency of the […]

January 8, 2019Uncategorized by Rajeev Chatrath

Concessionary loans from China provide much of the precious infrastructure fuel that is driving Africa’s economic growth, but issues are emerging…

By Alnoor Amlani (FCCA) – Director – The CFOO Centre – Nairobi, Kenya. This article was first published in the January 2019 International edition of Accounting and Business magazine. “It seems clear that economic development driven by China’s infrastructure investments comes at a price” The Africa Rising narrative, as it has come to be known by some sceptics, has its basis in the impressive average growth rates in Africa’s GDP over the 10 or so years to 2015. From 3.1% in 2015, though, growth fell to a low of 1.7% in 2016, but moved back up to 3.0% in 2017 and now […]

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