Top 10 reasons to propel your business with a business development specialist
CFO_ Dec 2015-lr (2)
1. Venture Capital
Firm of the Year
Vol. 1
ISSUE 12
PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ
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CF
O
of the year
CF
O
of the year
Y
oung
CFO of the year
Young CFO of the yea
r
P
ublic Sector
C
FO
of the Year
FINESTIN
Inaugural CFO Middle East Awards
honours region’s high-flyers
Publ
isher’s choice
Publisher’s choice
Finan
ce team of
THE
YEAR
Treasury Team of
Treasury Team of
the Year
the Year
Accounting firm
of the year
Audit firm of
the year
Corporate Law firm
Corporate Law firm
of the year
of the year
M&A Deal of
the Year
Venture CapitalFirm of the Year
Lifetime
Award
Achievement
DIFC CFO
Rajesh Pareek
Saxo Bank’s
Steen Blaafalk
FINANCE
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network is administered by RSM International Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 4040598) whose registered office is at 11 Old Jewry, London EC2R
60 et seq of the Civil Code of Switzerland whose seat is in Zug.
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5. The CFO Middle East’s Advisory Panel comprises a dynamic group of experts and leaders in various aspects of finance.
As industry captains arriving from world-leading organisations and specialising in financial strategies, accounting and
management, these key personalities will play a vital role in ensuring the delivery of relevant and accurate analyses of the
latest trends and issues in the business community.
Ahmad Darwish
Ahmad Darwish is a
Board Member and
Secretary General of
the UAE’s Accountants
and Auditors
Association (AAA), an
organisation tasked with the promotion and
development of the accounting profession
in the country. He is also the Senior
Manager for Financial Accounting at DP
World UAE and oversees the management
accounting, treasury and asset management
divisions of the company. With his extensive
financial expertise Darwish is also the first
Emirati to chair the UAE Members Advisory
Committee of the ACCA.
Hanady Khalife
Hanady Khalife
is the Director of
Operations, Middle
East and Africa,
of the Institute
of Management
Accountants (IMA). She is responsible
for training providers, business partners,
universities, governmental entities, amongst
others. Khalife is also an expert consultant
specialising in assisting clients develop
and implement strategic business plans
and build partnerships with key industry
stakeholders.
Michael Armstrong
Michael Armstrong,
FCA is the Regional
Director for the
Middle East, Africa
and South Asia
(MEASA) of ICAEW. He is responsible
for the ICAEW’s work across the MEASA
region, collaborating with key stakeholders,
engaging with businesses across the
region, supporting ICAEW members and
working with both public and private sectors
on raising awareness of the relevance
of chartered accountancy catalysing
economic growth. Armstrong has extensive
experience advising financial institutions and
energy and natural resources companies in
addition to having held several leadership
and advisory positions in business and
government.
David Thomasson
David Thomasson is the
founder and Managing
Director of Phoenix
Financial Training.
David is a fellow of
CIMA and worked in the accountancy
industry for many years before moving
into training in the 1990s. PHOENIX offers
courses leading to Professional Finance
Qualifications in ACCA, CIMA and ICAEW
in Dubai and India. Offering a range of
bespoke financial courses in Financial
Awareness Building and Corporate
Treasury Phoenix’s student body ranges
from independent students to practitioners
of private companies and sovereign wealth
funds.
Lindsay Degouve de
Nuncques
Lindsay Degouve
de Nuncques is
the UAE Head of
the Association of
Charted Certified Accountants (ACCA). Her
role entails spearheading discussions with
regulators, business leaders and important
stakeholders to strengthen the ACCA’s
network and profile in the region. Degouve
de Nuncques has spent more than eight
years with ACCA in various senior roles.
Geetu Ahuja
Geetu Ahuja is the
Head of GCC for the
Chartered Institute
of Management
Accountants (CIMA).
Responsible for
developing the growth of operations
and positioning the global brand of
CIMA across the GCC region, Ajuha
establishes strategic partnerships with
global and regional entities. She is
also responsible for overseeing the
launch of various region specific CIMA
nationalisation programmes in the GCC.
Paul Gyles
Paul Gyles is the
Regional CFO and
Board member
for all ISG Group
companies – an
international
construction services company delivering
fit out, construction, engineering services
and a range of specialist solutions. He is
responsible for the finance, HR, IT, admin
and legal functions for ISG’s Middle
Eastern outfit. A key aspect of the role
is project funding and raising external
financing by working with both Arab and
international banks. Gyles is also the
Chairman of the Steering Committee of
the MECA CFO Alliance, the largest CFO
networking group in the Middle East.
Amer Khansaheb
Amer Khansaheb
is the president of
the CFA Society
Emirates. He is
the Managing
Director of Khansaheb Investments, an
investment company with investments
in construction, real estate and
infrastructure. His expertise includes
real estate management, construction
management and financial analysis.
Amer graduated from the American
university in Beirut with a degree in
Civil & Environmental Engineering.
In 2009, he received his MSc in
Project Management from the British
University in Dubai. He has been a CFA
charterholder since 2009.
Advisory Panel
tHE CFO MIDDLE EAST
6. CONTENTS
News
8
The latest
developments in local finance
12
12
2826
26
28
30
The CFO Middle East Awards
Ease of exchange
Time is money
Internal inquiry
We bring you the highlights of our
inaugural ceremony that honoured the
region’s top finance talent
Saxo Bank CFO Steen Blaafalk shares his
thoughts on the potential of high-tech
forex trading in the region.
DIFC’s Rajesh Pareek opted for a fresh
financial reporting solution to bring his team
accurate, real-time data.
New research from the UAE IIA sheds
light on internal audit practices in the
country
7. On your Mark
34
How far is the GCC from implementing
its Trade Mark Law? Is further legislation
needed to push it through?
3634
30
40
33
Acute analysis
Nest egg
The sustainable SME
The CFO Middle East partnered with SAP
and PwC to deliver an enthralling roundtable
discussion on customer analytics.
Lux Actuaries & Consultants’ Susan Turner
gives her take on the importance of pension
schemes being introduced to the GCC.
Strategies 4 Sustainability Founder and
Managing Partner Volker Soppelsa underlines
the importance of support and strategy for
sustainability initiatives.
40 42
36
42
Accounting analytics
Gary Cokins highlights the benefits
of using analytics for management
accounting.
8. www.thecfome.com
News
8
Deloittehostspartnermeeting
GCC BDI: Risk management a top
corporate governance issue
According to the GCC Board Directors
Institute’s (BDI) recent survey on board
effectiveness, not enough board directors
in the Gulf region are aware of and have
clear visibility on the top risks facing
their companies.
BDI conducted its ‘Mastering the
board’ Workshop in Riyadh in November
in partnership with J. P. Morgan. The
two-day programme focused on four
pillars of high-performing boards: risk
management, the role of the chairman,
strategy and succession planning. David
Beatty, Conway Director, Clarkson
Centre for Business Ethics and Board
Effectiveness, and Professor of Strategic
Management, Rotman School of
Management; and Peter Breen, Partner
emeritus and Chair of the Middle East
Practice and member, EMEA CEO &
Board of Directors Practice, Heidrick
& Struggles were among the keynote
participants.
“With low oil prices and regional
instability applying pressure on
company profits and performance, risk
management is an essential component
of an effective board,” said Nathalie
Potvin, Executive Director, BDI. “This
master class addresses a fundamental
objective of the Institute which is to help
build board member effectiveness and
capabilities through the sharing of best
practices and experiences.”
The workshop offered directors the
opportunity to learn from each other
and through the analysis of current
case studies. The next Mastering the
boardroom workshop will take place in
November 2016 in Dubai.
included Karim Souaid, CEO of Growth
Gate Capital, as well as Deloitte global
executives Roger Dassen, Managing
Director, Risk, Regulatory and Public
Policy, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Limited (DTTL), Rik Vanpeteghem,
Managing Director, Europe Middle
East Africa (EMEA), David Sproul,
Senior Partner and Chief Executive
of Deloitte UK, Timothy Mahapatra,
Global and EMEA Financial Advisory
Leader, Frank Dubas, SWF Leader-
DTTL, and Jens Simonson, EMEA
Reputation and Risk leader.
“Despite the many challenges faced
by the region, a number of countries
in the Middle East continue to grow
and be attractive for investment,” said
Omar Fahoum, Chairman and CEO,
Deloitte Middle East. “At Deloitte, we
strive to stay attuned to market needs
and transform our business offerings in
anticipation of any disruptive trends or
any complex business challenges facing
our clients. Resilience and adapting to
change are two of our differentiators as
a professional services firm.”
DIFC launches
online client portal
Dubai International Financial Centre
(DIFC) has launched the third phase
of its upgraded DIFC client portal,
offering a range of tech services to
further enhance its overall client and
tenant experience.
The new portal offers online
services, which include company
registration, licence renewal and
company amendments. In addition,
users can access employment services,
such as the application, renewal and
cancellation of visas, all with an online
payment facility.
By facilitating single platform access
and coverage of departmental services,
the client portal reduces processing
time by almost 80 percent for certain
types of applications, from the time
of submission of the application to
receiving approval. The portal also
eliminates the need for hard copies
for all employee services. Servicing
the requirements of all clients more
efficiently, the Centre’s enhanced
services have facilitated improved
accessibility and responsiveness, with
an almost 50 percent reduction in
client waiting time.
Alya Al Zarouni, Senior Vice
President, Government and Registry
Services, DIFC Authority, said, “We
acknowledge the importance of
providing a simple and streamlined
client portal for the wider benefit
of customers and companies alike.
As a leading financial centre, it is
critical to ensure the implementation
of cutting-edge technologies and to
provide single platform access to all
government services.”
In line with the Dubai leadership’s
‘Smart City’ initiative, the DIFC
client portal “indicates the Centre’s
forward momentum to building
a unique financial ecosystem
supported by an efficient, simple and
streamlined technological and physical
infrastructure.”
Deloitte Middle East hosted its annual
partners meeting in mid-November in
Beirut with over 150 partners from the
Middle East practices, who were joined
by Deloitte global, and other member-
firm leaders from Europe and the US.
In his keynote speech at the event,
Lebanon’s President General Michel
Sleiman discussed the current
geopolitical and strategic environment
in the Middle East and its impact on
the region’s economy.
In addition to Deloitte Middle East
leaders, other speakers and panelists
Michel Sleiman, President General, Lebanon
9. 9www.thecfome.com
News
aafaq Islamic Finance, C3 –
Edenred sign MoU
GrantThorntonappointsnewpartner
aafaq Islamic Finance has announced the
signing of a strategic new partnership
agreement with C3 – Edenred, a prepaid
card service provider company that
offers a range of payment products and
services.
Mujtaba Naseem, Deputy CEO and
CFO and Amanda Deykin, Deputy CEO
and COO of aafaq Islamic finance said
that the new partnership is expected to
result in exciting new payment features
for aafaq’s Sadad card, particularly for its
wages protection system (WPS) services.
Under the terms of the agreement
with C3 – Edenred, corporate customers
Grant Thornton have
appointed Samer
Hijazi to lead its
Abu Dhabi practice.
Hijazi has extensive
experience leading
audit engagements
for global investment
banks, FTSE 100 banks,
sovereign wealth funds, investment
managers and international banks. He has
directed the audit of a number of financial
services teams for clients that have multi-
location operations, in Europe, Asia,
Africa and the Middle East.
He was instrumental in the formation
of the UK Islamic finance practice and
developed new products and solutions for
UK Islamic financial institutions, FTSE
100 banks and global investment banks,
which saw him becoming de facto UK
can now experience benefits like
faster processing of payroll, minimum
processing time and affordable
processing fee. Cardholders can use the
card to access their funds at ATMs 24/7
worldwide and make purchases at any
MasterCard location. They also have
access to online services (web portal and
mobile application) where they can view
their card balance, transaction history,
as well as make payments. The new
payment features will play a significant
role in improving business volume in
the UAE with a product that is unique to
aafaq’s client base.
“The new alliance will further reinforce
our Sadad card, especially for our WPS
services, demonstrating our commitment
towards improving customer experience
and convenience,” Deykin said. “In fact,
the additional features will help aafaq’s
customer service team in handling WPS
related enquiries and our move to meet
set international quality standards.”
Head of Islamic Finance
in 2009 and global head in
2013 for a Big Four firm.
As Global Head of
Islamic Finance, Samer
played a key role in the
lobbying of the British
government which
resulted in the launch of
the UK government sukuk which was
oversubscribed 10 times.
Hijazi was awarded ‘Global Islamic
Finance Adviser of the Year –
International 2014’ by Professional
Sector Network.
Through the appointment, Hijazi
will continue to lead the strategic
direction of the Abu Dhabi practice,
whilst working to promote and fortify
Grant Thornton’s financial services and
Islamic finance offering.
GCC equity markets
heading for growth
A recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch
research report titled, ‘MENA and
Frontier Observer - Frontier markets
screening increasingly more attractive:
Focus on quality’, highlighted that GCC
equity markets are looking increasingly
attractive.
In this context, the report suggests
that the markets currently represent a
buying opportunity, particularly with
appealing stock valuations and stronger
earnings momentum.
“There are broad based buying
opportunities, but stock selection is
becoming key,” said Hootan Yazhari,
Head of MENA & Frontier Markets
Equity Research. “We retain our bias for
markets with robust macro, attractive
valuations, consistent earnings delivery
and/or superior earnings growth. These
factors make the UAE our preferred
MENA market with Kuwait as our
preferred GCC Frontier market. The
sharp correction across frontier markets
since the summer has also yielded
strong opportunities across many other
markets, including Saudi Arabia. In this
context, we believe stock selection (rather
than market selection) is becoming more
crucial and advocate a focus on quality
and mispriced opportunities.”
Yazhari also emphasised that as
their most preferred attractively valued
GCC market, the UAE offers long
term potential and healthy earnings
momentum.
decrease in M&A deal activity
in the MENA region from 104
deals in Q3 2014 to 91 deals
in Q 2015
Source: EY
13%
10. The CFO’s role in
cybersecurity
Improve cybersecurity and protect against cyber-attacks
Often the keeper of cybersecurity strategy, the CFO must make plans to ensure the
enterprise is adequately shielded from cyber-threats.
While cybersecurity traditionally has
been handled by the CIO and the
IT function, escalating risks have
driven cybersecurity up the corporate
ladder to the desk of the CFO.
Customer/client
data privacy
CFO CIO CISO Other
Potential for
undetected breaches
Top cybersecurity and data
privacy concerns
Responsibility for cybersecurity
64%
38% 36% 7% 19%
63%
Unknown risks
49%??
Compliance with
data security laws
52%
Impact of a breach
on bottom line
48%
11. Lack of understanding of risks 46%
Budget constraints 29%
Lack of perceived value 11%
Lack of consensus on strategy 9%
Assess risks and
investments relative
to cybersecurity
Get buy-in from management
and board to invest in strategy
All of the
above
Align cybersecurity
strategy to business
strategy
Perform vulnerability
assessments
Monitor cybersecurity
internal controls
Determine the
location of sensitive
data
Evaluate
cybersecurity
insurance coverage
Develop incident
response plans
How to optimise a cybersecurity risk
management strategy
Responding to
cybersecurity risks:
Steps taken by
organisations
Major impediments to developing an enterprise-wide cybersecurity strategy
Source: “The CFOs role in cybersecurity,” FERF and Grand Thornton LLP
40%
20%
4%
36% 21%
20%
16%
16%
4%
12. www.thecfome.com
The CFO Middle East Awards
COVER
12
Celebrating
financialleadership
The inaugural CFO Middle East
Awards celebrated the achievements
of the most innovative, diligent and
dedicated financial professionals
and teams in the region along with
firms that have exhibited outstanding
leadership.
Held at the Jumeirah Emirates
Towers Hotel in Dubai, the event
honoured financial professionals
who have driven exceptional
value for their organisations
through innovative solutions, as
well as companies that have been
cornerstones in the industry in a
number of aspects.
The winners, chosen from a pool
of more than 150 submissions, had
to demonstrate not only that they
were able to create new value for their
organisations, but also that they did so
in uncommon, innovative ways.
The awards ceremony was kicked
off with a welcome note from CPI
Media Group’s Chairman and Founder
Dominic De Sousa. During his
welcome address, he mentioned that
as a business owner, he greatly values
the work that the finance professional
undertakes on a daily basis.
All of the CFO Middle East
award winners were selected
after a rigorous application and
review process by a panel of judges
comprising a range of industry
financial experts.
13. 13www.thecfome.com
Panel of
judgesAhmad Darwish
Secretary General, UAE
Accountants and Auditor’s
Association
Fintan Somers
Founder, SomersConsult
David Thomasson
Founder and MD of
Phoenix Financial Training
Geetu Ahuja
Head of CIMA, GCC
Lindsay Degouve
de Nuncques
Head of ACCA, UAE
Tamer Bazzari
Board member, CFA
Society Emirates
14. CFO of the year
Gautam Pradhan, Group CFO and
Executive Director, National Marine
Dredging Company
Gautam Pradhan, Group CFO
and Executive Director of
National Marine Dredging
Company, is a highly
accomplished financial
executive with over 20
years of experience in the
civil marine and oil and
gas industries. He often
deputises as company CEO,
and is also the chairman
of the company’s CAPEX
committee. With a keen
interest in HR and IT,
Pradhan was involved
in change management
initiatives when NMDC
moved from Cobol-based
systems to Oracle and
has been a key part of the
company’s international
expansions in countries
outside the UAE.
He was also a member
of the financial committee
that oversaw a $1.5 billion
strategic Suez Canal
project completion.
Finalists:
• Anand Soni, Bafco Group
• Asif Keshodia, Souq.com
• Nrupaditya Singhdeo,
Al Masah Capital
• Pramod Kumar Chand,
RAK Ceramics
•Werner Flaig, Easa Saleh Al
Gurg Group
• Yuvraj Narayan, DP World
www.thecfome.com14
15.
16. Young CFO of the year
Ghulam Raza Bhojani,
Executive Vice President of
Finance, Operations, IT and
change, Abu Dhabi Finance
At the relatively young
age of 34, Ghulam Raza
Bhojani, who joined Abu
Dhabi Finance as a financial
controller, has risen to
the position of executive
vice president of Finance,
Operations, IT and change.
He was instrumental in
implementing a core lending
system at ADF in 2009, and a
best-in-class, fully automated
IFRS system specific for
mortgages along with Oracle
Financials during 2010.
ADF was one of the first
companies in the Middle East
to use a fully integrated IFRS
recording and reporting
functionality.
During 2013, he was
given the responsibilities
of operations and IT,
and in 2014 he started
overseeing change
management and business
strategy as well and
his main objectives -
growing the company and
sustaining profitability.
He played an active role in
revamping ADF’s business
strategy and cascading it
to the entire organisation.
He currently leads the
back office operations.
Finalists:
• Gagan Lalwani,
International Horizons
College
• Ghulam Raza Bhojani,
Abu Dhabi Finance
• Jignesh Sanghvi, DMCC
• Kartik Shah, Hira
Textorium
• Nauman Mian, Bayt.
com
• Vishal Kumar, JBF RAK
www.thecfome.com16
17. Public Sector CFO of the Year
Jignesh Sanghvi, CFO, Dubai Multi
Commodities Centre
Jignesh Sanghvi, CFO of Dubai
Multi Commodities Centre,
is responsible for driving
foreign direct investment with
a focus on enterprise, trade
and commodities. In the last
18 months, he was responsible
for revitalising DMCC’s
corporate governance and risk
management framework, as
well as adopting international
best practices.
Acting as a catalyst for
change, Sanghvi has brought
about transformation through
processes to provide customer-
friendly, efficient and cost-
effective solutions, as well as
pioneering an industry-fist
revenue recognition model for
free zone licences.
Sanghvi has effectively
implemented a long-term
strategy involving robust
financial operations, revenue
maximisation and cost
rationalisation that resulted
in record profits for the
organisation in 2014 with a
year-on-year growth of 35
percent and a strong cash
position to augment future
growth. As a result of long term
strategies and a successful
business model, DMCC,
established in 2002, has grown
from a membership base of 200+
in 2004 to more than 11,000 in
2015. Sanghvi also spearheaded
DMCC’s digital transformation
initiative, which has transformed
DMCC’s culture - the way it
interacts with its members, the
way services are offered, and
interaction between business
teams. DMCC’s members can now
apply for all services online on
any device, anywhere, anytime –
a true transformation compared
to a mere 30 percent of services
being online in 2013.
17www.thecfome.com
18. Publisher’s choice
Rajesh Pareek, CFO, Dubai International
Financial Centre Authority
Pareek is a Chartered Accountant
with over 16 years of experience
advising key clients with the Big
4 accounting firms across a broad
range of services. Prior to joining
DIFCA, he was a Director at
KPMG Dubai, where he worked
for more than eight years. He is
an Associate with the Institute
of Chartered Accountants,
India, and holds a Bachelors
of Commerce with Honours in
Finance and Accounting and has
done a General Management
Programme from IIM
Ahmedabad, India.
Pareek joined DIFC in January
2011 as the Chief Financial Officer
of DIFC Authority, overseeing
the financial performance of the
Authority, DIFC Investments
LLC and its subsidiaries (‘DIFCI’)
and Registrar of Real Properties
among other entities.
One of the key milestones
achieved by Pareek in 2012 was his
role in directing the refinancing
of the $1.25 billion DIFCI sukuk
and its repayment. This involved
high level discussions with
various stakeholders, local and
international banks, lawyers and
financial advisors. The refinancing
was achieved through a syndicated
facility of $1.035 billion with
participation from international and
local banks and key divestments.
Pareek successfully managed
relationships with investors and the
rating agencies in order to maintain
the sukuk’s rating from January
2011 to June 2012.
In 2014, Pareek spearheaded
DIFC Investments’ credit
www.thecfome.com18
repositioning initiative by
engaging with Standard & Poors,
which resulted in the company
achieving the investment grade
rating BBB-, which required
the re-anchoring of the rating
agency’s understanding of DIFC
Investments’ credit fundamentals
(given that the Company was
previously rated “B+”).
Pareek led the sukuk issuance,
following the rating exercise,
marking the return of DIFC
Investments to the international
debt capital markets, allowing the
company to raise $700m with a 10-
year tenor. The credit repositioning,
along with the sukuk issuance has
provided DIFC Investments with
an effective capital structure and a
platform to implement its growth
strategy over the coming years.
19. PEAK OF YOUR
BUSINESS
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20. Finance team of the year
DP World
The last 12 months have been a very active time for DP World’s
finance team since its IPO in 2007, with the $3.5 billion acquisition
of Jebel Ali Freezone creating a best-in class port logistics network.
DP World also acquired the port of Prince Rupert in Canada for
$450 million, beating off significant competition and without
paying a large premium.
DP World’s finance team has rolled out a new electronic
automated reporting system called Hyperion, which is be available
to the firm’s management and also the financial exchange to access
information electronically. Hyperion is designed to allow the
management to access data online instead of through a book or
excel spreadsheet, and to manipulate data to seek particular trends.
For example, two locations can be selected to analyse how they
have performed after a CAPEX cycle. This has allowed DP World
to reduce the time taken from days to minutes. Consequently, the
management are able to make quicker, more informed decisions.
Over a 12-month period, Easa Saleh Al Gurg Company
created a centralised treasury department – complete with
an in-house bank – to consolidate the cash management
responsibilities that had previously been dispersed among
the 26 different companies within the Group.
In addition, the Group’s banking arrangement was
rationalised by closing more than 60 accounts. A
centralised trade finance processing centre and payment
factory were set up, which now makes payment on behalf
of all Group entities.
The implementation of the treasury management
system enables the Group to carry out netting across all
its bank accounts on a daily basis. Previously, receiving
consolidated daily balances across the Group used to
entail major time and effort. At present, it is a smooth,
automated process that has effectively eradicated debit
balances.
Finalists:
• Easa Saleh Al Gurg
• Mediclinic
• Souq.com
Finalists:
• DP World
Treasury team of the Year
Easa Saleh Al Gurg Company
www.thecfome.com20
21.
22. Accounting firm of the year
KPMG AL Fozan & Al Sadhan
www.thecfome.com22 www.thecfome.com22
KPMG AL Fozan & Al Sadhan, KPMG’s local arm in Saudi Arabia,
has been operating in the Kingdom since 1992, and offers a blend
of international expertise and local knowledge to its clients in an
increasingly complex, but exciting market.
The firm has grown to be one of the largest professional services
in Saudi, with more 675 employees based out of three offices in
Riyadh, Jeddah and Khobar.
HLB Hamt, part of the HLB International
Networks, has developed a strong industry
reputation in the core area of audit and
assurances services since its inception in 1999.
The firm offers it clients focused attention to
detail, and each audit and assurance team is
led by a partner, who is actively involved with
assignments.
HLB Hamt offers parallel expertise and
technology, underpinned by a more cost-effective
fee structure.
Finalists:
• Grant Thornton
• Yuga Accounting & Management Consultacy
Finalists:
Grant Thornton
Audit firm of the year
HLB Hamt
23. Corporate law firm of the year
Baker & McKenzie
23www.thecfome.com
Baker & McKenzie’s Middle East practice, with nearly 100 fee earners, is
best known for its expertise in banking and finance, project finance, Islamic
finance, capital markets, corporate/M&A, dispute resolution and real estate.
The firm has been active in the region since 1975, and as a pioneering firm,
was most notably the first to enter both the Saudi Arabian and Egyptian
markets. Since then, the firm has made a significant investment in the
broader Middle East region, establishing a substantial presence.
DP World acquired Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ) for $3.5 billion
dollars to create the largest port and freezone logistics centre in
region. The port & Freezone combined accounts for 25 percent of
Dubai’s GDP and employs 250,000 people. The asset was acquired
from DP World’s parent company and given the related party
nature, only independent shareholders and board members voted
on the transaction. DP World hired Citi Group, Deutsche Bank and
Moelis & Co to work on an independent valuation, which provided
comfort to its shareholders. In terms of financing the deal, the
group raised $1bn through a convertible bond and increased its
revolver facility by $2bn in anticipation of closing the deal.
Finalists:
• BSA Ahmad Bin
Hezeem & Associates
M&A deal of the Year
DP World
24. Venture capital firm of the year
Octagon International
Any market around the world, whether emerging or developed,
needs investment. As a number of the Middle East’s most
influential countries begin to gather steam in their drive
for success, financial backing is always needed to ensure
contemporary initiatives have the chance to make their
ambitions reality. Octagon International was chosen for this
award for driving fresh growth in the region and funding some
notable start-ups.
Raju Menon, a Chartered Accountant by profession,
has almost three decades of post qualification
experience in the field of auditing, consultancy,
taxation, incorporation, commercial and company
law. He is the Founder, Chairman and Managing
Partner of the renowned Morison Menon
Group, which is part of Morison International.
Headquartered in Dubai, the group has offices in
Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Jebel Ali Free Zone, DAFZ and
Ras Al Khaimah, as well as overseas operations in
India, Oman and Qatar.
As well as establishing Morison Menon as as a
large and well reputed audit and business consulting
firm, Menon has also been instrumental in guiding
more than 3,000 investors to set up their businesses
in the UAE.
Lifetime achievement award
Raju Menon, Chairman and Managing
Partner, Morison Menon Group
www.thecfome.com24 www.thecfome.com24
26. Steen Blaafalk
Interview
www.thecfome.com26
Easeofexchange
Interview
Saxo Bank’s Group CFO Steen Blaafalk discusses the opportunities for foreign exchange
trading in the Middle East and the power of technology platforms in the space.
growth opportunity for both Saxo Bank
and its partners.
We are also improving access to
trading opportunities across multiple
asset classes; investors need to be able to
trade in markets where there is volatility
and to switch between asset classes with
consummate ease. In light of this, it is
also worth mentioning the depth of our
offering. At present, we can provide
clients with access to more than 30,000
financial products including FX (spot,
forward and options), stocks, CFDs,
commodities, futures, contract options
and single stock options.
What should CFOs know about volatile
foreign exchange rates and the risks
involved?
Broadly speaking, we see volatility as the
degree of unpredictable change over time
of a certain currency pair exchange rate.
Measuring and managing exchange rate
risk exposure is therefore integral to CFOs
seeking to reduce their firm’s vulnerability
to major exchange rate fluctuations, which
could, in turn, impact profit margins.
Corporations typically protect
themselves from foreign exchange rate
volatility through forwards, i.e. contracts
that lock in the exchange rate for the
purchasing or sale of a currency at a
future date. In understanding both the
positive and negative aspects of forwards,
CFOs can decide whether and to what
extent their companies should be using
them before selecting a suitable hedging
strategy for their organisation. For
www.thecfome.com26
H
ow big is the retail forex
market in the Middle East, and
what are the trends shaping
its growth?
The Middle East commands
approximately 8 percent of the retail
forex market at an average daily traded
value of $23 billion. Recent figures have
also suggested there are in excess of
200,000 active traders in the Middle
East and North Africa – a drastic increase
from 20,000 a decade ago. We believe
that number will only increase. We are
witnessing a strong surge in demand both
from existing traders looking for a more
service-oriented platform and from new
entrants keen to explore the forex trading
environment.
Can you discuss the future of online
trading in the region?
With increased access to information,
which is facilitating informed decisions,
a growing number of investors in the
region have turned to online trading in
the hope of managing their investments
by accessing trading opportunities across
multiple asset classes. As such, Saxo
Bank sees huge opportunities in the
region and we have made a significant
investment not just in acquiring clients,
but also equipping them with the primary
tools they need to invest – insights and
technology.
How do you plan to build out your
business in the digital age?
Technology is at the core of Saxo Bank’s
operations. Innovation has been one of
our cornerstones since we were founded
in 1992 – in fact, you could say that we
were a FinTech company before the
term even entered the mainstream. We
have consistently invested heavily in
improvements to our trading platform.
The result is intuitive, clean and user-
friendly technology - with increasingly
streamlined platforms offering the tools
and functionality to give our clients the
edge in the multi-asset investment space.
That said, we are certainly not resting on
our laurels. We want to shape the future,
not follow it.
Our technology is not only changing
how our retail clients trade, but also how
our partners – other banks and brokers
– improve their offering to their end
clients. The sheer pace of technological
change has made it impossible for
many institutions to maintain an edge
when it comes to innovation. The result
is a paradigm shift from a business-
to-customer economy to a so-called
collaborative economy. As testament to
this strategy, we launched SaxoTraderGO
in May - our new multi-asset platform.
The platform was built from the
ground up with a focus on usability and
performance, integrating seamlessly
between desktop and mobile devices. The
development of the platform reflects a
key trend: 20 percent of the bank’s overall
retail trading takes place through mobile
devices. This adoption of technology
and the increase in mobile business-to-
customer interaction presents a huge
27. 27www.thecfome.com 27www.thecfome.com
companies with multinational operations
or supplier and customer relationships in
multiple markets, currency hedging is an
essential part of their treasury function.
What should they keep in mind while
choosing an FX provider? Should
they look beyond traditional hedging
strategies?
Access to foreign exchange markets has
transformed unrecognisably in recent
years and the abundance of providers has
resulted in a number of firms providing
similar services but, sadly, there has been
a lower barrier to entry meaning that not
all firms adhere to the highest standards.
Where CFOs should pay attention is
in ascertaining whether a provider has
robust risk mitigation practices and
whether it can combine this with superior
technology – something that we pride
ourselves on. Investors increasingly
demand usability, mobility, performance
and service when executing trades. We
meet these demands through state-of-the-
art trading tools and features.
White label partnerships have become
a cornerstone of our business - we offer
banks a sophisticated and cost-effective
way to replace outdated technology. There
are now more than 120 active white label
partners using our technology, including
banks with cross-border activities.
The SaxoTreasurer platform allows
corporate clients to hedge their
commercial currency exposure at
competitive prices. We continue to see a
real opportunity in leveraging our heritage
in technological innovation, our robust
financial position and risk management
credentials to become an essential
facilitator in capital markets.
Is multi-asset trading becoming
increasingly seamless across borders?
We believe that the most successful
trading firms will continue to break
barriers between geographies and asset
“Recent figures have also suggested there
are in excess of 200,000 active traders in the
Middle East and North Africa – a drastic
increase from 20,000 a decade ago.”
classes, thereby flattening traditional
structures as investors use the abundant
information at their fingertips. Our
geographic diversification and global
network certainly enhances this; we
have clients in numerous markets and
a physical presence in each of the major
financial centres including London,
Zurich, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Our ongoing commitment is underpinned
by our mission to democratise trading
and make markets more efficient through
innovation – we feel as though we are
now entering an era when we can say that
there is finally a level playing field between
institutional and retail investors.
28. www.thecfome.com28
DIFC
case study
Rajesh Pareek has a lot on his hands. As the CFO of Dubai International Financial Centre Authority, he
demands accurate, real-time reporting information. He opted for a fresh solution earlier this year that
could eliminate errors and ensure faster decision-making.
timeismoney
A
As the largest organisation
of its kind in the Middle East
and North Africa, Dubai
International Financial Centre
finds itself in a formidable position.
Ranked 6th out of 53 financial centres
globally, it holds an advantageous
strategic location - between the major
international capital markets of New
York and London to the West, and
Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo to
the East - and is only gathering steam.
Established by the Government of
Dubai in 2004, DIFC is the emirate’s
financial free zone, and was established
to promote the development of
financial services in the UAE, serving
to diversify the country’s economy. As
of 2011, it contributes an impressive an
impressive 4 percent of Dubai’s gross
domestic product.
Sitting in 110 acres, DIFC had a
working population of 16,560 and 1,113
registered companies as of June last
year, including 17 of the 20 leading
global banks and 8 of the 20 leading
insurance firms.
At the heart of the DIFC model is
an independent risk-based regulator,
the Dubai Financial Services Authority
(DFSA), which grants licences and
regulates the activities of all banking
and financial institutions in DIFC.
The regulatory body was created using
principle-based primary legislation
modelled closely on that used in
London and New York. The Authority
permits 100 percent foreign ownership
and makes no restrictions on foreign
exchange or profit repatriation.
For Rajesh Pareek, DIFC Authority’s
Chief Financial Officer, accurate, real-
time data is a requisite of success in
his job, with quick decisions a must.
The organisation’s finance team, is, in
short, pivotal in the overall decision-
making process. “DIFC’s vision is to
be a global financial hub capitalising
on a range of its strengths,” Pareek
says. “We have a fantastic strategic
location, an effective and independent
regulatory and legal framework, a
tax-friendly regime and first-class
supportive infrastructure.”
Pareek is clear on his division’s
duties to DIFC. “Our department
aims to deliver service excellence by
creating an efficient and seamless
platform to support the business,” he
says. “This means providing relevant
and dynamic business information,
and to integrate finance operational
processes with all stakeholders in a
manner that maximises efficiency
while maintaining proper control.”
In Pareek’s role, time waits for no
man. “In the fast-paced business
world, organisations have to make split
“We always faced a
risk of human error
in our financial
reporting.There were
cases where people
made mistakes, which
is normal. In addition,
the process was time
consuming.”
Rajesh Pareek, Chief Financial
Officer, Dubai International
Financial Centre Authority
29. 29www.thecfome.com
second decisions in certain situations
which could have a substantial impact
on its financial performance,” Pareek
says. “As such, turning information
around at a fast pace is critical. You
need to have data available at the
flick of a hand.” As well as satisfying
this goal, Pareek also identified two
main drivers in opting for a change
in the organisation’s processes. “We
always faced a risk of human error
in our financial reporting,” he says.
“There were cases where people made
mistakes, which is normal. In addition,
the process was time consuming.”
Pareek was keen for his team to be
autonomous and contemporary in their
drive for fast action. “To make relevant
and well-informed decisions, instant
access to and availability of data
was a must,” he says. “This becomes
paramount when operating in an
environment of Big Data and multi-
jurisdictional operation. Customised
reports need to be instantly generated
from the system with limited or no
intervention of IT.”
Along with the support of his team,
Pareek sought an online analytical
application (OLAP) tool, which could
be versatile, user-friendly and, most
importantly, customisable on-the-go,
with limited or no intervention from
IT except in the installation process.
The OLAP would also have to work
seamlessly with the organisation’s
backbone SAP ERP system
By late 2014, Pareek had decided
that GL Wand from Excel4apps , an
SAP financial reporting solution,
would be the best fit for DIFC. Such
was their level of confidence in the
solutions presented by Excel4apps
and the supporting information
provided, that DIFC made the
purchase decision without requiring
the 30-day free trial, initially
purchasing six GL Wand licences
and two Reports Wand licences. He
says the process of introducing the
technology was relatively painless,
his only real challenge convincing the
IT department that Excel4apps was
exactly what the finance department
needed. “Procurement was an initial
hurdle, but one that was easily
passed,” he says. “Our management
team was quick to realise its benefit
against the cost, and gave us the
green light very promptly.”
A month after beginning the
project, DIFC had completed all
tests on Excel4apps and had the
technology in full operation. The
implementation has had a vast effect
on the day-to-day operations of DIFC,
facilitating a number of processes.
“It’s been a blessing,” Pareek says.
“The procurement process was well
worth going through.” He says it has
provided a level of automation not
seen before at DIFC. “Excel4apps
reduces the manual elements of
reporting,” he says. “We can now
pull and prepare data in a matter of
hours, not days.”
In addition to the quality of the
technology itself, Pareek has also
found it extremely easy to integrate
into the daily routines of his staff.
“Once they all got the hang of it –
which didn’t take long – it has started
to work wonders,” he says. “It’s
been very compatible with our other
software and, to be honest, our staff
love working on it.”
Pareek points to one gain in
particular that has proven to be the
most eye-catching in the Excel4apps
adoption. “The biggest tangible
benefit has the time saved in
reporting monthly financials, and has
dramatically reduced closing time.
Man hours are the organisation’s
highest expenditure. We have a small
team, and the best way to impact
their role is to reduce the time they
spend on tasks that can be done
through technology.
“As for its intangible benefits, having
the support and satisfaction of top
management on the quality of analytics
produced, in the shortest turnaround
time, has been fantastic.”
DIFC sits at the heart
of Dubai’s economy
30. Risk:
Newly released research shows internal
audit’s role in risk is changing both globally
and in the United Arab Emirates.
www.thecfome.com30
UAE IIA research
RESEARCH
R
isk is a fundamental aspect of
the internal audit profession. It
determines annual audit plans,
the size of internal audit departments,
and the role internal audit plays with
respect to major risk categories.
As part of its ongoing research, the
Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has
recently released three global reports
relating to risk and internal audit. The
reports cover the role of internal audit
in risk management, responding to
fraud risk, and combined assurance.
The 3 research reports are:
1. Who owns risk? A look at internal
audit’s changing role
2. Responding to fraud risk: Exploring
where internal auditing stands
3. Combined assurance: One language,
one voice, one view
These risk-focused reports are
part of the IIA’s 2015 Global Internal
Audit Practitioner Survey. The survey
was completed by more than 14,500
internal auditors in 166 countries
around the world, including more than
350 internal auditors from the UAE
Internal Auditors Association (UAE-
IAA).
This article shares highlights of the
three research reports from both a
global and UAE point of view.
of cases
(80 percent
globally).
Meanwhile, in
29 percent of
cases (20 percent
globally), internal
audit is responsible
for facilitating
risk management.
In many cases, it is
more efficient to have
internal audit facilitate
risk management in the
non-financial services sector
and in particular at privately
held companies. A properly
executed risk assessment by
internal audit can be used to
build the foundation of a fit-for-
purpose risk management process.
However, in the financial services
sector, risk management is much
more complex, and regulation also
impacts the way risks are monitored
and managed in this sector.
The role of internal audit in risk
management
The first report covers risk management
trends and internal audit’s
responsibilities. The results show that the
majority of companies in the UAE had
some components of risk management
in place, however only 38 percent of UAE
auditors surveyed said they had formal
risk management in place as compared
to 53 percent globally. The majority of
those with formal risk management were
from financial institutions or companies
with $1 billion or more in revenue.
It is also interesting to learn that when
formal risk management is available
at a company, internal auditors in the
UAE are providing assurance on risk
management as a whole. This is a very
advanced concept where the UAE
seems to be doing well.
Another issue that has been
discussed globally for several
years is whether internal audit
and risk management should be
merged into one department.
The views continue to vary
depending on region and
industry. In the UAE,
internal audit and risk
management are separate
functions in 71 percent
Thefocusofmodern
internalauditing
31. 31www.thecfome.com
Selected recommendations on
the role of internal audit in risk
management:
• Regardless of industry, internal audit
should advocate the establishment of
formal risk management processes.
• Internal auditors should strive to
give management assurance on risk
management as a whole and not just
on individual risks.
• Make sure that the role of
internal audit as it relates
to risk management
is clear to all key
stakeholders.
Responding to fraud risk
The second research report covers
fraud risk and the how it impacts
the internal audit profession. Not
surprisingly, globally and in the UAE,
around 80 percent of internal auditors
have some or more responsibility for
fraud detection and prevention and
55 percent of respondents in the UAE
said they are “advanced” or “expert”
when it comes to supporting fraud risk
awareness. Oddly, research showed
that around a fifth of internal auditors
in the UAE believed they had no
responsibility for either fraud detection
or prevention. This approach does not
make sense as internal auditors cannot
wash their hands of fraud detection
responsibilities. The IIA’s standards
require internal audit to assess the
potential for fraud before any audit
as well as how well the organisation
is managing fraud risk. Furthermore,
when it comes to detection, both
internal audit and line management
have a shared responsibility to ensure
that anti-fraud controls are in place and
are working properly.
Furthermore, survey respondents
stated that fraud risk was not one of top
five risks that internal audit or executive
management were focusing on, either
globally or in the UAE. This is not
unexpected as strategic and operational
risks take up more of a company’s
focus. Similarly, only 30 percent of chief
audit executives in the UAE believe
that focus on fraud risk will increase
in the near future. While the results
are not surprising when things are
normal, it is when major fraud occurs
that both internal audit and executive
management redirect their focus to the
fraud incident.
Selected recommendations on
responding to fraud risk:
• Internal auditors should use their
skills to educate management on fraud
risk and build awareness across your
organisation.
• Be proactive in addressing fraud risk by
carrying out fraud risk assessments and
increasing the frequency of audits in high
fraud risk processes.
• Learn from previous fraud incidents.
Made sure circumstances which lead
to the fraud are documented as well as
how it was discovered. Use these lessons
to improve the effectiveness of internal
controls across the organisation.
Combined assurance
The third research report covers the
relatively new concept of combined
assurance. Combined assurance
involves integrating and aligning
assurance processes at a company so
that management and the board get
an overall and consistent overview of
governance, risk and controls at the
company. Such an approach is essential
for the board or board committee in
order for them to exercise appropriate
risk oversight based on unified assurance
reporting.
The concept of combined assurance
takes place at 3 levels:
1) Management: Responsible for risk
management and internal control and
the timely identification and remediation
of control deficiencies.
2) Internal assurance providers: Their
role is to support management in their
risk and control efforts and include
functions such as risk management,
compliance and internal audit.
3) External assurance providers:
Include the external financial auditor
and/or regulators who carry out audits or
assessments at the company and report
results to management and the board.
When we look at the research results,
we see that only 22 percent of companies
have adopted a combined assurance
model in the UAE as compared to 40
percent globally. Further, almost 1/3 of
internal auditors in the UAE are not even
familiar with the concept of combined
assurance. Clearly, the knowledge and
implementation of combined assurance
is not widespread globally or in the UAE.
However, once implemented, combined
assurance provides a common view of
risks and issues across a company.
Conclusion
The research and corresponding
recommendations clearly show that
internal audit faces several challenges
when it comes to the important topic
of risk and, consequently, the evolution
of internal audit’s role. Risk is the
foundation of modern internal auditing
around the world and in the UAE.
Internal auditors need to continue
to provide assurance around not just
individual risks but risk managed as a
whole. They also need to make sure that
fraud risk is adequately addressed by
management and that the role of internal
audit is clearly defined. Finally, although
the implementation of combined
assurance remains relatively low, this
is an area that internal auditors will
address over the coming years.
Despite these challenges, internal
auditors will continue to work hard in
order to meet the new mission of internal
audit by adapting themselves to the
time in order “to enhance and protect
organisational value”.
33. 33www.thecfome.com
Volker Soppelsa
ThesustainableSME
33www.thecfome.com
Interview
Volker Soppelsa, Founder and Managing Partner of Strategies
4 Sustainability, discusses why it is important for SMEs to
integrate sustainability in their core business.
not always the best business managers
and need to recognise when to separate
these two functions.
What is needed for successful strategy
development?
You need to understand what strategy
is and what it is not. Too often strategy
development gets confused with strategic
planning but they are not the same.
Strategy development is a problem solving
process that tries to identify how and
where you can compete and win. It is
able to very clearly demonstrate a value
proposition and requires stakeholder
involvement and a sense of honest
introspection to challenge well established
assumptions and misconceptions. The
most successful strategies tend be quite
radical and applied at scale.
What experience and market
knowledge do you draw upon for your
advisory services?
I have been advising organisations for
over 30 years and these have ranged
in size from a single owner to global
multinational corporations. Regionally
I have helped to launch commercial
and not-for-profit organisations
and supported clients in most major
sectors. Our consultants come from
a ‘Big 5’ background and have many
years of experience in the region and
internationally.
T
ell us about your sustainability
strategies for SMEs.
We believe that in the future,
sustainability will be at the
heart of most business strategies as
the global economy shifts from a fossil
fuel-based ‘business as usual’ model
to a new stakeholder-based resource
efficient model powered by renewable
energy sources. Our clients tend to
focus on providing a value proposition
that considers social, economic and
environmental factors as part of the
final product or service proposition.
The understanding of sustainability in
this region is improving but still behind
other countries. Too often it is seen as a
single dimension problem when in fact
it is almost always multi-dimensional in
nature. Countries like Germany, Norway
and Denmark provide good examples of
SMEs capitalising on sustainability trends.
We encourage our clients to think about
sustainability from a systems perspective
considering human, environmental and
support systems that are connected and
interdependent. It is through a better
understanding of these systems that our
clients identify their future strategies.
What are the biggest challenges faced
by regional SMEs?
Challenges vary from organisation to
organisation and range from a basic lack
of commercial and business knowledge
to access to capital and managing cash
flow. Challenges also vary depending on
where in the business lifecycle the SME is,
with strategy and access to capital being
issues early on and cash flow and business
continuity being issues later on. Overall, in
our experience, SMEs don’t know where
to get the best help for the challenges
they are facing as the support ecosystem
is fragmented and not very transparent.
At a practical level, cash flow is a huge
problem, but one that could be fixed
very easily with huge benefits for a large
number of SMEs and the economy as a
whole if large organisations settled their
invoices with their SME suppliers on time.
This would accelerate fund flows in the
general economy and help SMEs who may
be constrained by capital, releasing cash
for expansion.
Are they often lack hamstrung by a lack
of support and experience?
Support for inexperienced entrepreneurs
often still comes from personal
connections rather than a clear
institutional support process and this
is a problem for those who have a good
idea but are not well connected. You
can compensate for a lack of experience
through support mechanisms but these
need to be targeted appropriately and
the client must see the value. Often, this
value lies simply in the new perspective
an experienced consultant can provide
to an entrepreneur who has an idea;
constructive challenging is very important
to ensure ideas are robust enough to make
it in the market. For a more established
business, support is often required to
effectively manage the business once it
is up and running as the skills needed to
be an entrepreneur and those needed to
be a successful business manager are not
necessarily the same. Entrepreneurs are
34. 34 www.thecfome.com
W
hen will the GCC
Trade Mark Law
be implemented in
member states? Is
further legislation
required prior to implementation?
Are member states planning local
modifications to the Law?
Following the publication of
the GCC Trade Mark Law in
2013, attention has turned to the
implementation of this Law, in
particular when it will come into
force.
This article examines this question,
within the framework of the GCC
legislative system. In particular, we
consider when the GCC Trade Mark
Law may come into force in each
of the GCC states, and the extent
to which it will still be necessary to
look at national legislation in order
to confirm the position in each GCC
state.
Legislation in the GCC
States
The implementation of legislation
on a regional basis requires an
agreed structure between the
relevant sovereign states to bring
the legislation into force in each
jurisdiction.
In the European Union (EU), this
result is achieved either through a
regulation - which is self-executing and
implemented automatically in each EU
member state - or through a directive,
which directs the EU member states to
implement the terms of the directive
into national law.
The implementation of legislation
on a GCC-wide basis is similar to
the EU concept of directives. In the
case of the GCC Trade Mark Law,
the Supreme Council of the GCC (the
highest decision-making body of the
GCC) issued a resolution during the
33rd GCC Session held in December
2012, requiring member states
to implement the GCC Trade
Mark Law into their respective
national laws “within a period
of six months as from
the date on which the
commercial cooperation
committee approves
the implementing
regulations of the
[Trade Mark] Law”
(the implementing
regulations).
The need for
Implementing
GCC Trade mark law
opinion
TheGCC TradeMarkLaw:
Movingcloser,indifferentways
Rob Deans (Partner) and Carl Fennessy (Associate), Clyde & Co
regulations to be prepared is set out
in Article 52 of the GCC Trade Mark
Law itself, which states that the
commercial cooperation committee
- a division of the GCC General
Secretariat - is responsible for issuing
the implementing regulations.
Current status
At present, it appears that we are
reaching the final stage of the
implementing regulations being
drafted, and they may well be ready
for publication in early 2016. It will
then be necessary to refer to the
national law of each GCC state in
order to confirm when the GCC Trade
Mark Law will come into effect in that
jurisdiction, and in what form. At
present, the position is as follows:
• Bahrain - Law No. 6 of 2014 (issued
on 17 February 2014) ratifies the GCC
Trade Mark Law, and provides that
the provisions of the GCC Trade Mark
Law will come into force in Bahrain
six months after the issuance of the
implementing regulations. At the same
time, the current Trade Mark Law in
Bahrain (Law No. 11 of 2006) will be
repealed as from the date on which the
GCC Trade Mark Law comes into force.
Accordingly, the GCC Trade Mark
Law will come into force automatically
in Bahrain, without amendment,
six months after the Implementing
Regulations are issued.
35. www.thecfome.com
indications and industrial designs.
It therefore remains to be seen
whether Qatar will at some stage
repeal specific provisions of Law
No. 9 of 2002 in order to avoid
potential disputes as to whether or
not a provision has been repealed
on the basis that it contravenes the
provisions of the GCC Trade Mark
Law or whether it is still in force.
Interestingly, Law No. 7 of
2014 attaches a copy of the GCC
Trade Mark Law, which differs
to the position in Bahrain and
Kuwait where the implementing
laws refer to the text of the GCC
Trade Mark Law as published
in the GCC Official Gazette. In
practice, the result is the same (all
countries have adopted the same
version of the GCC Trade Law),
but the mechanism used is slightly
different.
• Saudi Arabia - Royal Decree No.
M/94 (issued on 23 May 2014) states
that the cabinet agrees to ratify the
GCC Trade Mark Law and that a
royal decree has been drafted (but
not published) to complete this
ratification process.
Royal Decree No. M/94 does
not set out when the GCC Trade
Mark Law will be implemented in
Saudi Arabia, whether it will be
implemented without amendment or
how the implementation of the GCC
Trade Mark Law in Saudi Arabia
will affect any existing conflicting
Saudi laws. In addition, no mention
is made of repealing Saudi Arabia’s
current Trade Mark Law.
We therefore anticipate that
further legislation will be enacted in
Saudi Arabia in due course in order
to enable the GCC Trade Mark Law
to come into force and to repeal the
current Saudi Trade Mark Law.
35
• Kuwait - Law No. 13 of 2015
(issued on 11 March 2015) ratifies
the GCC Trade Mark Law in
Kuwait. Law No. of 13 of 2015 itself
is expressed to come into force
immediately, with any provisions
of current legislation which
contradict the GCC Trade Mark
Law being repealed. However,
the Law also envisages that the
minister of trade and industry will
issue implementing regulations in
accordance with the provisions of
the GCC Trade Mark Law
We therefore anticipate that, once
the implementing regulations have
been published in the GCC Official
Gazette, the minister of trade and
industry will issue corresponding
implementing regulations at a
national level in order to bring the
GCC Trade Mark Law into force in
Kuwait within six months.
It is also worth noting that Law
No. 13 of 2015 also anticipates the
payment of official fees and fines
under the GCC Trade Mark Law
in local currency (Kuwait dinars)
rather than in Saudi riyals (as set
out in the GCC Trade Mark Law).
• Qatar - Law No. 7 of 2014 (issued
on 8 June 2014) provides that
the GCC Trade Mark Law will
automatically become effective
in Qatar, six months after the
implementing regulations.
In addition, Law No. 7 of 2014
repeals Law No. 18 of 2007 (which
ratified the previous version of the
GCC Trade Mark Law from 2006).
The Law also states that provisions
that contravene the current version
of the GCC Trade Mark Law are
repealed, although no specific
mention is made of the Law No.
9 of 2002,which deals with trade
marks, trade names, geographical
• Oman / the UAE - At present, neither
Oman nor the UAE have published
any legislation with regard to the 2013
version of the GCC Trade Mark Law.
It therefore remains to be seen how or
when the GCC Trade Mark Law will be
implemented in each of these states.
Summary
At present, it appears that the
implementing regulations may be
published in early 2016. If this is the
case, then the GCC Trade Mark Law
should come into force six months
later, in the second half of the year.
However, the flexibility of the GCC
legislative system means that the
timing of the implementation of the
GCC Trade Mark Law in each of the
GCC states may vary, and there may be
some local modifications in the text of
the Law as shown by the table below.
With further legislation pending in
Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, it
is not yet possible to assess whether
there will be any significant local
variations to the GCC Trade Mark Law
as it applies in each of these states.
However, it is clear already that it will
not be possible to rely on the version
of GCC Trade Mark Law as published
in the GCC Official Gazette in order
to confirm the position of each of the
GCC states, without looking at national
legislation to identify any variations
which apply at a country level.
36. www.thecfome.com
SAP Roundtable
EVENT
36
Analytics
for a new
era of
customerDeveloping favourable costing and pricing strategies while
catering to market demands is a crucial task for CFOs. In
partnership with The CFO Middle East, SAP and PWC organised
an exclusive roundtable on leveraging customer analytics to
develop pricing models that are adaptive to target markets, while
identifying ways to lower costs and increase profitability.
Some of the Middle East’s
biggest end-users in corporate
finance gathered for an
engaging discussion on the prospects of
digitalisation. A mixture of excitement
and constructive skepticism were
displayed in a one-of-its-kind forum.
The discussion, which drew on the
experience of a clutch senior finance
leaders from various industry sectors, was
led by Manoj Shah, Partner Consulting,
PwC, who set the ball rolling by asking
the participants on their views on current
economic challenges in the region.
“We believe that several market players
will feel the impact of the main challenges
in the next three to five months,” said
Shah. “However, as finance leaders,
we should always be prepared to face
various outward and inward challenges
brought by changes in the market. These
challenges can significantly affect various
costs for businesses, so it is imperative
that we find an effective approach to drive
cost efficiencies.”
Throughout the discussion, the
participants deliberated on various
38. “You need to ensure that your finance people are able to
manage the systems set in place and are on board with
the regulations that surround them. Only then can they
be effective in driving profitability within your business.”
cost optimisation and profitability
approaches, and the majority of
participants agreed that cost-to-serve is
one important methodology that could
reveal true customer profitability.
“Costing is an area that needs utmost
attention from finance leaders,” said
Shah. “Activity-based costing is a
somewhat a resource-intensive approach.
The cost-to-serve method gives finance
leaders a comprehensive understanding
of various stages in the supply chain and
can enable a fact-based view for both long
and short-term decision-making.”
Adding to this, BAFCO Group CFO
Anand Soni reiterated how costing is a
key enabler in business decision-making.
“It is not always a matter of finding out
where you’re making money, therefore, it
is also crucial to know where you’re losing
money,” he said.
Soni added that there are companies
that look at cutting overheads as a way
to optimise costs. “Previously, we have
opted to try some cost reduction methods,
however, we found that it can be an
irrational exercise and will not always
provide organisations with a positive
outcome.”
The ever-important topic – the
impending digital era - was also discussed
by the panel. Participants of the forum
recognised that a number of organisations
are utilising digital platforms to increase
their visibility in the market. These
businesses are showcasing services
and products they offer through online
platforms, which in turn can contribute to
their profitability.
“A lot of investments are being made
to take advantage of digitalisation,” said
Rajesh Pareek, CFO, DIFC. “However,
it all boils down to understanding what
your customers need. Here in this region,
there’s a race for leveraging digital
platforms, but in some countries, it is just
not a norm.”
He further discussed that while
investments in areas such as this present
countless benefits, they can also be very
costly. Therefore, it is crucial to keep
in mind if a certain system or platform
will enable an organisation to service
more people before implementing it.
“You also need to ensure that your
finance people are capable enough to
manage the systems set in place and
are on board with the regulations that
surround them. Only then can they be
effective in driving profitability within
your business,” Pareek added.
Sharing the same sentiments, Raj Jit
Singh Wallia, Deputy CFO, DP World,
said that while ERP systems and other
digital tools are advantageous for driving
profitability strategies; having the right
people to do analysis and planning are just
as important. “Moreover, listening to the
needs of your clients and understanding
‘who’ they are is paramount,” he said.
“Because in doing so, you can create
an efficient business model, leveraging
both customer analytics processes and
technologies which will allow you to better
serve your customers.”
SAP Roundtable
EVENT
www.thecfome.com38
39.
40. Susan Turner
Nestegg
Interview
Is the introduction of pension schemes in the GCC overdue? Susan Turner, Head of Employee
Benefits Services at Lux Actuaries & Consultants, gives her spin on why countries like the UAE are
making progress towards implementing this important safety net.
H
ow does the typical reward
package of a non-national
in the UAE compare to that
in other developed regions,
such as the UK?
There are enormous differences in the
typical design of a reward package in the
UAE, compared to that in the UK, not least
the fact that in the UK, pensions have been
a mandatory requirement since regulations
were introduced in October 2012.
As of then, all employees not in a
workplace pension scheme and who
earn above a certain threshold are now
‘auto-enrolled’ into one, on a phased
basis. The biggest employers have already
conformed to the legislation, with the
smaller employers required to follow suit
by February 2018.
Where an employer does not offer a
pension scheme of its own, they need to
enrol their employees into a third party
scheme such as the UK government-
run National Employment Savings
Trust (NEST), a defined contribution
vehicle. Employers are required to pay
contributions, as are the employees, and
the government offers a further incentive
by way of tax relief. The only group
exempt from this pensions reform is the
self-employed. However, employees are
not obliged to remain in the scheme they
are enrolled into, and can ‘opt-out’, if they
have a heavy debt to pay off for instance.
A similar arrangement operates in New
Zealand – The KiwiSaver.
40 www.thecfome.com
41. 41www.thecfome.com 41www.thecfome.com
The concept of pensions, as provided for
in the UK and New Zealand, is completely
different to the End of Service Gratuity
Benefit (ESGB) we have here in the UAE.
There’s no denying that the ESGB is
insufficient to fund someone’s retirement
and therefore those UAE employers who
offer an ESGB ‘enhancement’, such as
a supplemental employee savings plan
(ESP), are to be commended. ESPs are
seldom offered to UK employees which
is not surprising when you consider that
pensions are a form of long-term saving.
I was reading a survey recently from a
leading employee benefits consultancy
(EBC) and what was heartening to learn
is that, of the respondents surveyed, 25
percent offer a supplemental retirement
or long-term savings plan. Where this is a
defined benefit (DB) scheme, the benefits
tend to be generous, for example an
accrual rate of 1/30th.
In stark contrast, DB schemes in the
UK are almost extinct, and were far less
generous, with 1/60th being the most
common accrual rate.
The vast majority of such schemes were
closed to new entrants many years ago,
then later closed to future accrual and
more recently wound-up, to be replaced
by a far less generous defined contribution
(DC) alternative.
A further difference between the
reward package in the UAE and the UK
is how they are structured. In the UAE,
it will typically be made up of a number
of allowances, in addition to basic salary,
such as educational allowance, air travel or
housing allowance. These allowances will
rarely form part of a UK reward package.
A benefit common to both regions is
group medical insurance. However, in
the UK, this is not compulsory. I guess
the reason for not making it a mandatory
requirement is the fact that in the UK
there is the National Health Service -
which is free to everyone resident in the
UK and is funded from national insurance
contributions paid by all employees.
Do you think it is only a matter of time
before pensions are introduced on a
mandatory basis?
Absolutely. We have all heard the rumours,
but these are gaining traction now.
Public inertia, and the government’s and
regulators’ joint objectives all add up to the
inevitability of pension compulsion. They
include developing the capital market to
contribute to national economic growth,
protecting investors, raising financial
awareness and providing opportunities for
investing funds and savings according to
a fair system that ensures the safety and
accuracy of transactions.
What do you see the opportunities being
for employers and employee benefit
consultancies such as Lux, if this were to
happen?
The are many benefits of pension reform
to employers. Compensation and incentive
design are crucial in increasing productivity
and morale, while reducing staff turnover,
recruitment and training cost. UAE firms are
scratching the surface in terms of employee
benefit and pensions considerations, but
there’s a fine line between turning the
imposed cost of pension schemes to benefits
for employers and employees.
Pension reform in the UAE has the
potential to revolutionise EBCs. Of course,
pension products and associated consultancy
and advisory services are already provided
in the region. However, the amount of
pension business currently being written
is comparatively small when compared to
other markets such as the general and life
insurance businesses.
Whilst EBCs are making every effort
to encourage companies to offer pension
vehicles for their employees – I personally
know a number of consultants who have
been ‘banging the pensions drum’ for years
now - take-up is relatively low.
Group medical compulsion has brought
only narrow profit margins to healthcare
insurers and medical providers. When
you consider the rigidity of the law and the
competition in the marketplace this is no
surprise. In contrast, pension compulsion,
if introduced under a more flexible legal
framework, will offer more scope to
develop new products and innovative
solutions, tailored to meet individual
company requirements.
What do you see as the major challenges
employers face in providing a pension
scheme to their employees?
There are multiple challenges, but these
differ in nature depending on whether a
DB or DC scheme is offered.
It’s widely known that, for DB
arrangements, the major concern is their
sustainability, due to the following factors:
i) People are living longer
ii) Salaries are rising
iii) Employees are remaining with their
employer for longer periods
iv) Contributions are insufficient to meet
the liabilities as they accrue
For DC plans, the challenges are fewer but
still significant:
i) Poor investment performance
ii) Employees’ lack of investment
knowledge, leading to unsuitable
investment decisions being taken. More
effective member communication can help
here.
Challenges common to both DB and DC
include:
i) Economic and demographic pressures
ii) Pensions administration – some
providers are better than others
It’s easy to understand why there is
some reticence amongst employers to
provide a pension plan to their workforce.
Notwithstanding this, corporate pension
schemes are an essential pillar to
any developed or developing region’s
economy. State assistance and means-
tested benefits are unaffordable for most
governments in the long-term and should
not be relied upon.
42. 42 www.thecfome.com
M
anagers are increasingly
shifting from reacting
to after-the-fact
reported outcomes to
anticipating the future
with predictive analysis and proactively
making adjustments with better
decisions. Despite some advances in the
application of new costing techniques
such as activity-based costing, are
management accountants adequately
satisfying the needs of managers and
employee teams for decision-based cost
information? Or is the gap widening?
That is, are accountants still just
counting the beans, or are they helping
to grow them?
There is a difference between what
management accountants report
and what managers and employee
teams want. This does not mean that
information produced by accountants
is of little value. In the last few decades,
accountants have made significant
strides in improving the utility and
accuracy of the costs they calculate and
report. The gap is being caused by a
shift in managers’ needs – from needing
to know what things cost (such as a
product cost) and what happened – to
a need for more purposeful information
about what their future costs might be
and why – what can happen?
What is the purpose of management
accounting?
Contrary to beliefs that the only purpose
of managerial accounting is to collect,
validate, transform and report data, its
primary purpose is first and foremost
to influence behaviour at all levels
– from the desk of the CEO down to
each employee – and it should do so
by supporting decisions. A secondary
purpose is to stimulate investigation
and discovery by signalling relevant
information (and consequently bringing
focus) and generating questions.
The widening gap between what
accountants report and what decision-
makers need involves the shift from
analysing descriptive historical
information to analysing predictive
information, such as budgets, cost
estimates and what-if scenarios. There
is much that can be learned and gained
from historical information. Although
accountants are gradually improving
the quality of reported history, decision-
makers are shifting their view towards
better understanding the future.
This shift is a response to a more
overarching shift in executive
management styles to an anticipatory,
proactive style where organisational
changes and adjustments, such as
staffing levels, can be made before
things happen and before minor
problems become big ones.
An accounting framework and
taxonomy
The large domain of accounting has
three components: tax accounting,
financial accounting, and managerial
accounting. There are two types of data
Management accounting
opinion
Canaccountants
growthebeanstoo?
Gary Cokins, Founder of Analytics-Based Performance Management, North Carolina
sources. One source is from financial
transactions and bookkeeping, such as
purchases and payroll. The other source
is non-financial measures such as
payroll hours worked, retail items sold,
or gallons of liquid produced.
The financial accounting component
is intended for external reporting,
such as for regulatory agencies, banks,
stockholders and the investment
community. Financial accounting
follows compliance rules aimed at
economic valuation, and as such is
typically not adequate or sufficient
for internal decision-making within
an organisation - the tax accounting
component is its own world of
legislated rules.
Our area of concern – the
management accounting component –
can be broken into three categories: cost
accounting, cost reporting and analysis,
and decision support with cost planning.
To oversimplify a distinction between
financial and managerial accounting,
financial accounting is about valuation,
whereas managerial accounting is about
value creation through good decision-
making.
The three managerial accounting
categories are all recipients
of inputs from the ‘cost
measurement’ procedure
of transforming incurred
expenses (or their obligations)
into calculated costs. They are:
• Cost accounting represents the
assignment of expenses into outputs,
43. 43
interventions? How relevant to
improving performance is the
outcome we are seeing? This
leads to the more critical need
to propose actions – to make
and take decisions – surfaced
from cost planning. This is the
“Then what?” question. For
example, what change can be
made or action taken (such
as a distributor altering its
distribution routes), and what
is the ultimate impact? Should
we internally make a product or
deliver a service, or should we
purchase it or outsource it?
Business analytics and cost
modelling
Of course, any proposed changes
will lead to multiple effects on
customer service levels, quality and
delivery times, but the economic
effect on profits and costs should
also be considered. This gets to the
heart of the widening gap between
accountants and decision-makers
who use accounting data. To close
the gap, accountants must change
their mindset from managerial
accounting to managerial
economics which we might describe
as “decision-based costing.”
This is where business
analytics, especially predictive
and prescriptive analytics, come
into play. The ultimate way that
managers can test the outcome
of decisions is to deploy robust
methods of forecasting combined
with valid cost-estimating
techniques based on reliably
measured past-period ‘calibrated’
per-unit-level cost consumption
rates, such as from an activity-based
costing system. Then they will be
more confident that what they want
to change will have the effect that
they expect and desire.
such as the cost of goods sold and
the value of inventories. It primarily
provides external reporting to comply
with regulatory agencies.
• Cost reporting and analysis represents
the insights, inferences and analysis
of what has already taken place in the
business in order to track performance.
• Decision support with cost planning
involves decision-making. It also
represents using the historical cost
reporting information in combination
with other economic information,
including forecasts and planned changes
(e.g., processes, products, services,
channels) in order to make the types of
decisions that lead to financial success.
The last two categories offer diagnostic
support to interpret and draw inferences
from what has already taken
place and what can happen
in the future,
respectively. Cost
reporting and
analysis is about
explanation.
Decision support with
cost planning is about
possibilities.
What? So what? Then
what?
The message here is that
the value and usefulness
of the information
increase, arguably at an
exponential rate, from
the cost accounting to
decision-making. Cost
reporting displays the
reality of what has happened,
and provides answers to
‘What?’ That is, what did
things cost last period?
However, an obvious follow-up
question should be “So what?”
That is, based on any questionable
or bothersome observations, is
there merit to making changes and
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45. 45www.thecfome.com
SomersConsult
column
S
ome time ago I was invited
to participate as a potential
change leader in a Global
Leadership and Performance
(LEAP) program that Shell Oil was
rolling out across the Group. One part
of the program was a very useful team
effectiveness questionnaire. I have
subsequently used this questionnaire
in several successful finance function
transformation assignments that I have
completed around the World, most
recently in Qatar
What I like about the questionnaire is its
simplicity. My experience is that teams
respond very positively when given the
opportunity to self-diagnose risks and
issues impacting their effectiveness and
to develop solutions. I generally spring
the questionnaire on the team as part
of the launch workshop of the change
program. Responses are anonymous - to
assure honesty - but I generally attempt
to differentiate between manager and
staff responses.
The philosophy underpinning the
questionnaire is that great teams
manage themselves within boundaries
set by the rules of the game the team is
playing.
To be successful, teams need to be
very clear on the goals of the game, the
roles of the various players in the game,
the processes used by the team and the
players to achieve the goals, and the
quality of the relationships - including
the behaviours and values of the team.
Great teams also take ownership of their
effectiveness and work consistently to
improve effectiveness; management
becomes the servant of the team.
Once the team has completed and
returned the questionnaire, I compile
the results and provide feedback to
them in a subsequent team effectiveness
workshop. At this workshop the team
is challenged to develop solutions for
improving effectiveness. The workshop
is also used as an opportunity to
introduce some of the function and
technology effectiveness proposals as
part or whole solutions to the team’s
diagnosis of what needs to happen to
become more effective.
Empowering concepts such as the
‘self-managed team’ and ‘management
as being the servant of the team’
often come as a big surprise to team
members. Often they are shocked or
surprised at how consistently people
feel about issues and solutions. Team
managers can be shocked at the
difference between their perception and
their staff’s perception of how things
are - and sometimes that management
is a bigger part of the problem than they
think or are prepared to admit. But even
with well managed teams, I have found
that the questionnaire and workshop
is a useful tool for improving team
performance. Function transformation
generally involves revised team
goals and objectives, changes to or a
completely new operating model and
organisation design, and changes to
technology.
The team effectiveness program’s
overall objective is to get the team to
take ownership of the change program
in its entirety, flushing out and
resolving the obstacles to successful
execution. The team ends up owning
the responsibility for implementing
the team, technology and function
effectiveness solutions identified in
the program design and by the team
itself. This considerably enhances the
likelihood of successful execution. But,
most importantly in my experience, it
enriches and energises the team and the
individuals within the team.
Developingteam
effectiveness
Fintan Somers, CFO, SomerConsult
“To be successful,
teams need to be very
clear on the goals
of the game, the
roles of the various
players in the game,
the processes used
by the team and the
players to achieve the
goals, and the quality
of the relationships
- including the
behaviours and values
of the team.”
46. MasteringFinance
Business Partnering
T
he business environment
we currently operate in has
challenged organisations to
rethink the way its functional
areas work together. Tough economic
conditions, volatile markets, intense
competitive pressures and the disruptive
impact of the digital world are all factors
that have forced organisations to break
down silos and form stronger synergies
between functions to become more agile
and improve performance. Strategic
guidance and decision-making no
longer lies with a single leader; both call
for a more collaborative effort between
all functions to provide effective
strategic oversight, performance and
risk management that ensure long-
term and sustainable success of the
organisation.
With the opportunity to gain a
stronger voice at the table, finance
teams have had to re-evaluate their roles
so as to enable them to demonstrate
higher levels of influence across all
functional areas of the business. ‘finance
business partnering’ is increasingly
viewed as the most effective way for
in-house finance teams to add value.
Some high-performing firms already
fully embrace business partnering - in
finance, HR and other functional areas
- and some elements of partnering are
seen in many companies.
The occurrence of ‘pure’ finance
business partnering models are rare,
reflecting the complexity and scale
needed for a specialist approach.
Although hybrid and evolving models
are more common with a drive
towards achieving greater purity. Yet
organisations can still find partnering
difficult to incorporate into their
business model in a comprehensive or
sustainable way.
Mastering finance business
partnering is a report based on research
done by the Chartered Institute of
Management Accountants (CIMA)
and KPMG to provide clarity on the
nature of the business partner’s role
and how business partnering can be
delivered. The research suggests that
‘learning through doing’ is the best way
of developing the broad range of skills
necessary.
A finance business partner (FBP) is
a finance function professional who
works alongside other business areas,
supporting and advising their strategic
and operational decision-making
through insights that drive better
business performance.
FBPs take a different approach from
the conventional finance team’s focus
on historical numbers. While the core
finance function continues to handle
reporting and management activities,
the FBPs look forward, providing
strategic insights based on industry and
macro-economic trends and competitor
dynamics. They examine operational
performance through different lenses to
bring new perspectives, using tools such
as shareholder value analysis, return on
capital, customer profitability, channel
profitability and zero or activity based
costing.
They introduce benchmarks,
consulting techniques, and frame
discussions using structured
methodologies to ensure rigour in
evaluating options. They use examples
from other organisations and sectors to
inform the debate. With good soft skills,
they provide rounded opinions and clear
recommendations.
However, before implementing a FBP
model, the finance team should have
reached a level at which other functions
already look to them for support. While
giving professionals the room to focus
on the FBP role, it should not be given
more importance than the operational
requirements of a finance team, without
which the model will fail. They need to
be co-dependent without cannibalising
each other – built on strong working
relationships between the core finance
team and the FBPs.
One of the main challenges with
establishing an FBP team is aligning
them with internal customers and
finding a balance between what internal
customers want to focus on and where
the FBP team itself believes it can add
most value. As credibility and trust
grows, FBP teams will find that their
advice is sought after by other functions
bringing them closer to all aspects of the
business.
In order to achieve superior financial
performance, organisations must
invest in finance business partnering,
prove effective in developing skills,
target the right level of business
partnering resources in the right places,
anticipate business demands, develop
an organisational understanding of the
FBP’s role.
Geetu Ahuja, Head of GCC, CIMA
www.thecfome.com46
CIMA
column
“Finance business partnering
is increasingly viewed as the
most effective way for in-
house finance teams to add
value.”
