When I started in this business 16 years ago there were perhaps four consultants around, that I knew of. My favourite was always Louis McLaren who used to peddle shareholders' agreements and trust deeds and the like, all apparently endorsed by Kevin Lester, who at the time was the cleverest BEE mind in the southern hemisphere. A title that now firmly belongs to Chris van Wyk.
Things have changed, the market is much bigger, and you get specialists for everything. There aren't enough consultants and verification agencies in places like Bloem, East London, PE and Kimberly, but we're planning to change that. I'll be posting a few posts on where we are going and why we want BEE consultants to join in this journey.
Here is a checklist for anyone who wants to see what the consulting world is like. If you ask for these documents and you are able to interpret the information you receive into a BEE scorecard – I really want to meet you.
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GENERAL |
Notes |
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OWNERSHIP |
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Documents Required |
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Names and ID numbers of South African shareholders |
This confirms whether the shareholder is South African. ID books state where the person is born, or if you are clever enough to understand ID numbers you’ll know who is foreign or not. Blackness is only determined by the picture |
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Share Certificates or CK 1 or CK2 |
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ID books of all natural shareholders |
The age shows us whether the shareholder is a youth as defined and hence a designated group owner |
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Confirmation of Voting structure (ie shareholders agreement/articles of association, Memorandum of Incorporation/Auditor’s Letter) |
What you really want to know is that the black shareholder has normal voting rights that aren’t restricted. The shareholders’ agreement should tell you this |
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Shareholders Agreement / Members Agreement/Auditors Letter confirming share % and restrictions on voting rights |
As above. If they give you an auditor’s letter confirming that the voting rights are unrestricted then you won’t have to read through the shareholders’ agreement |
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Auditor's letter confirming the shares are paid for |
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Confirmation dividends were paid in the prior year |
This is for economic interest |
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MANAGEMENT/CONTROL |
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Documents Required |
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CIPC document indicating Directors |
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ID copies of directors |
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Confirmation of voting rights of directors |
A letter from the client confirming the number of voting rights each director has |
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Employment Equity Report: – EEA 2. For accuracy purposes, this list must be updated to the prior month |
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SKILLS DEVELOPMENT |
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Confirmation that the Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) was submitted |
You cannot claim skills points unless you have submitted this document |
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EMP201 forms for the immediate 12 months prior to this opinion |
We are only interested in the SDL amount. The skills target is 6 x the SDL |
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Names, race, gender of any interns/learners/apprenticeships within the company during the prior 12 months |
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Estimated spend on skills development for the prior 12 months. This must be broken down in race and gender along the following lines – African male, African female, Coloured male, Coloured female, Indian male, Indian female |
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SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT and PROCUREMENT |
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Documents Required |
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PREFERENTIAL PROCURMENT |
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List of suppliers for the previous six months and the total amounts spent with them over that period. This must be provided in Excel and must be a summary with the supplier/service providers’ name and the total amount spent with them. Imports must be specified as imports |
This must be in Excel and a summary. You don’t want to sift through GLs to get to a supplier total amount |
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We will request BEE certificates from certain suppliers from you where necessary |
Many BEE certificates can be found here https://www.beagledatabase.co.za/search/new. Those that can’t be will have to be requested from the client |
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SUPPLIER AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT |
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Estimated NPAT at the end of the financial year |
Tells you what the supplier and enterprise development targets are |
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Estimated turnover at the end of the financial year |
If no profit is made you’ll need to work on the industry norm. As a rough guide work on 5% of turnover |
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BEE affidavit of the supplier development beneficiary/ies |
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BEE affidavit of the enterprise development beneficiary/ies |
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Description of contributions made to each beneficiary along with a financial value of each contribution |
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT |
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Documents Required |
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Description of initiatives and value of the contribution |
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Confirmation of racial profile of the beneficiaries |
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