Hello All,

It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and it has been my very good intention to get out a client Newsletter since before Christmas.


As we currently seem to all live in a world which bounces from crisis to crisis and we earmark our memories in relation thereto. Was it before lockdown? After lockdown, but before the looting? No it was after the looting but before the Russian/Ukraine war. No no, it was after the war started but before the floods…


That’s our last 24 months, and probably why I keep procrastinating, as it’s difficult to try and make any sense of this, never mind try and wrap it up into any meaningful commentary. What is very clear is that 2 years ago the storm started and it’s by no means over, even if a form of stasis returns today, we are going to be counting the cost for years to come nevermind the complete mindshift in how we conduct business.
My conservative advice continues and is logical. We cannot predict the macro effects which the global changes have in store for us any more than we can hope to change them. We can certainly try and make educated guesses where we can, but they remain exactly that, guesses.


So, we continue to protect our livelihoods by reducing risk. This means, reduce debt and build cash. Streamline labour and reduce financial commitments to operational space where possible. Consolidate, don’t expand. Be wary of people bearing gifts, fortuitous gains will be a rarity.


Very boring ABC business which will not shoot out the lights but will guarantee your ability to live to fight another day.


If anyone thinks age is dampening my entrepreneurial flair, you may be right but I like to think of it as wisdom gained over three decades of doing business in this town. The time for flair will come again, and when it comes knocking we all need to be in a position to capitalise on it, not trying to resuscitate tattered businesses from the jaws of bankruptcy.


For what it’s worth, look inwards not outwards for the moment. As they say in the classics, use it, don’t use it….


So to use my own advice I am going to focus the remainder of this letter on us, your intrepid accountants, the people who are constantly fighting for your cause and in medical parlance, are your businesses first responders.


As most of you know, we changed our own business model substantially 2 years ago by embracing an offsite remote model which I am pleased to say is working well for us. It’s a dynamic process which Shireen and I tweak monthly. We hopefully iron out the problems as they arise and that you, as our clients, have not noticed any tangible business interruption.


We feel the reverse is true, and that when business is shut down from anything from riots, looting, road closures to utility failure, we can continue to work and support you when other businesses are inoperable.
Obviously the success of this can not only be guided by us, it has taken our amazing staff to make it work. We can say that every MRM staff member has embraced our constant changes with good humour and attacked their various tasks with a vigour which we deeply appreciate.


This leads me onto the staff changes of the past 6 months which are way past announcement. We welcomed some new clientele to our fold last year which was unexpected but always appreciated. That as well as the expansion of some of our existing clients led to us creaking at the seams a bit towards the end of last year. This led us to increase our staff complement in order to better cope with the increased workload.


Courtney Odell, who many of you knew, completed her traineeship of 3 years, and was unceremoniously reclaimed by her mother to work in the family business. As Courtney’s mother is a long standing client of the firm I cannot say anything rude and begrudgingly admit that it’s a logical progression for Courtney who we always found most capable.
(Karen, we expect happy meals for saying nice things about your daughter).


We took the leap of expanding our trainees and welcomed Tristan Maistry, Liam O’Connell, Littrisha Valayundan and Kalisha Tekram. We then spent the first 2 months of the year putting them through intensive training preparing them for the new financial year. They are all well qualified intelligent folk and through a rigorous interview process ensured they were well suited for our firms, sometimes quirky, dynamic. I am sure you will meet them over the next 12 months and share our views. Added to Jake Thornhill who is our second year trainee they make a great team. Lushan Ramachandra, completed his traineeship last year and we are happy that he has chosen to stay with us, and will be writing his qualifying SAIPA exam this year. Lushan was given the position of Supervising Accountant and has been
groomed to take on more of a management role this year. Those of you who know Lushan, will know him as a quiet unassuming guy, an outward personae which belies a deep thinking nature, a strong grasp of technical issues and a passion for all things accounting.


We are currently hiring to take some pressure off Derane who is spinning out a bit with assisting clients convert their systems to Xero Accounting in addition to her current ever expanding duties. Management Accounting and regulation compliance is a service more and more clients are requesting.


Nikita Bunge, who most of you will know as the sunny smiling face of reception took a promotion on offer and moved into a Front of House position. Aside from continuing to answer phone calls which have drastically reduced due to our reduced on site presence, she fulfils a broad spectrum of administrative tasks, liaises with you when you come into our offices and of course is the face of beverages.


The last change, but probably the most important, takes the form of Minesh’s resignation to pursue a future commerce. This was an unexpected blow to us but we have never stepped in the way of people’s choices and there is little to be gained in trying to change people’s minds once they are made up. Minesh brought a lot to the firm over his 5+ years with us and was a stalwart support in assisting us through the various curveballs we have dealt with over the past few years. Go well Minesh, you leave with our very best wishes, gratitude and support.


When a door closes another opens, as is the nature of things. Through some rapid and intensive interviewing the open door led us to Tammy Bosch who will be joining us over the next 3 to 4 weeks. Tammy is an Associate General Accountant who hails originally from Klerksdorp. She has been in Durban for a few years rapidly climbing the corporate ladder for a National financial services organisation. Just as Minesh leaves public practice to embrace corporate culture, Tammy has realised public practice is her calling and wants back in. Technically she is highly qualified and her range of experience is vast, including extensive staff management skills. What struck Shireen and I very quickly, when we first met her, is her approachable and easy going personality, a trait which guarantees good relations between us, yourselves and the rest of our MRM family.


It is bittersweet as, as much as we will miss Minesh, we are also excited to work with her and welcome what new ideas she will bring. We look forward to introducing you to her in the very near future.


Whilst we will certainly try and make the transition seamless from your point of view it is unrealistic to expect there will not be a learning curve as she comes to terms with everything. We know where our statutory deadlines lie and obviously those of you cursed with these will be unaffected. We also are aware of those of you who are getting early pressure from finance institutions who we will be trying to accommodate. We do however ask that you throw a bit of patience in our direction as this is going to put additional load on Shireen and I whilst we manage the transition and is potentially going to delay some of your results. That said, Shireen and I do not miss deadlines, so where results are critical, these dates will always be met.


As much as this all seems disruptive , the positive is we have celebrated six 5 year service awards over the past 12 months and over the next 12 months we have a 10 year, two 15 year and one 30 year service award coming up. No prizes for who the 30 year is……


At the same time in June we celebrate the practice turning 40 years old and we will give tribute to the firm’s late founder, Mike Rogers, who is no doubt looking down on us, in his own indomitable way, and shouting expletives at our decisions with a twinkle in his eye. I always like to think the firm’s core ethos which he started the practice on remains, and all we do is expand on this and add to it where we can.


Anyway, enough said, I have rambled on for far too long as usual and kudos for any of you who have made it to the end. As always Shireen and I are just an email/Whatsapp/phone call/smoke signal away if you have any issues or questions.


Warm Regards
Chris, Shireen and the MRM Team