Tomato Newsletter "News 'n Views" No. 139 – June 2011
When we refer to articles in finance and IT trade publications, links make all the difference. We often read something, then dig deeper to find the primary source of the article. That's the added value you find here and that was for example the case in an article in FuW on Swiss Bank accounts and with the Cities of Opportunity study. Also, since there are too many articles worth listing, we place some that we think you would want to read on Twitter. So if you aren't following us on Twitter yet, go to http://twitter.com/#!/@tomatokloten, check our postings and follow us!
Enjoy the variety!
As in previous years, we will combine July/August topics into one newsletter and mail it around August 10.
Regula Spottl
In Today's Issue:
Tomato Updates
FINANCE AND BANKING
- Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen mit Deutschland: Die Folgen
- Swiss Bank Accounts: Steuerflucht oder Service und Qualität?
- Event: Indirekte Steuern im ERP-System
- What's Your IQ on Corporate Tax Policies around the World? Take the Quiz!
- Canada's Contribution to the Global Understanding of Risk
- Understanding and Controlling Financial Risk
IT
MISCELLANEOUS
Tomato Podcast: How to Access Your Bank Accounts European-wide
In our latest Video Martin elaborates on his response to the question "EBICS als Alternative zu SWIFT ?" we picked up Twitter and answered in the May Newsletter (http://bit.ly/mQwMAy ). After further reflecting on his involvement with clients' quest to access bank accounts in various European countries, he has a good grip on the many scenarios you may encounter.
Enjoy the 2 minutes and 42 seconds video. The intro is spectacular with a view from an Airbus 340 from San Francisco flying into Zurich Airport. This is a view you miss when you’re absent from Tomato’s annual Santa Claus event.
Just a few of the last postings of news that we simply couldn't fit into the newsletter! As you can see, social media, cloud, and CIO's job are among the typical topics we pursue.
- Cloud Computing: Neues Paradigma oder Marketing-Hype? Welche Varianten gibt es und was hat Zukunft? http://t.co/2XLfZFO via @computerworldch
- Five guidelines to use for identifying the right
areas for cloud adoption your business. CIO.com -
http://bit.ly/g5tUq5 - CIO: Wie erreicht man diesen Posten – und vor allem, wie behält man ihn?- http://bit.ly/jN0gmV via @computerworldch
- Social Media: Erfolgsfaktoren und Stolpersteine. Soziale Medien benötigen die richtige Unternehmenskultur und IT-Infrastruktur. http://bit.ly/kjcgJj via @computerworldch
- Among the Twitter sites that we follow and find very useful are The Banker, PwC, CHexport, gtnewsdotcom, CIOonline, cfopub, etc.
Neues Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen: Folgen
Mit dem Inkrafttreten des neuen Doppelbesteuerungsabkommens (DBA) müssen Staaten nicht nur bei Verdacht auf Steuerbetrug sondern auch bei Verdacht auf Steuerhinterziehung Amtshilfe leisten. Als Argument genügt, dass die ersuchte Information höchstwahrscheinlich sehr wichtig für das innerstaatliche Recht sind.
Im NZZ Artikel "Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen: Neue DBA ermöglichen grösseren Einblick in Schweizer Unternehmen" berichtet Zoé Baches was das für die Schweiz bedeutet.
NZZ Artikel vom 1. Juni 2011: http://bit.ly/lTrBfb
Swiss Bank Accounts: Steuerflucht oder Service und Qualität?
Was bewegt Ausländer, ihr Geld in der Schweiz anzulegen? Eine Studie von Professor Martin Brown und seinen Kollegen von der Universität St. Gallen ergab, dass Länder mit hohen Einkommenssteuern kein höheres Volumen an Depositen und Treuhandgeldern bei Schweizer Banken aufweisen. Sie haben auch nicht einen grösseren Anteil ihres Auslandvermögens bei Schweizer Banken.
Können demnach mehr der Service und die Qualität der Schweizer Banken der Grund sein, warum Ausländer ihr Geld in der Schweiz zu deponieren? Das will Brown nun in Gespächen mit Banken erforschen.
Der Bericht "Steuerflucht ist nicht der wichtigste Faktor: Neue Studie zum Finanzplatz Schweiz stellt Klischee in Frage – Service und Qualität massgebend" erschien in Finanz und Wirtschaft, 25.05.2011. Ausgabe: 41, Seite: 17. Bestellen Sie bei uns eine Kopie des Artikels: andreas.carl@tomato.ch
The research report Swiss Bank Accounts by Martin Brown, Barbara Döbeli & Philip Sauré can be accessed via the University of St. Gallen's research platform at http://bit.ly/jFDqsF
Event: Indirekte Steuern im ERP-System
KPMG wird an der VAT Breakfast Roundtable Veranstaltung über effizientes, korrektes and zeitnahes Abwickeln des MWST-Management mittles Einsatz der technischen Hilfsmittel vom ERP-System über die elektronische Rechnungsstellung bis hin zur Archivierung informieren.
Dabei werden sie über die spezifischen Anforderungen im Hinblick auf Ihr Buchhaltungssystem informieren und Praxistipps zur Sicherstellung der professionellen MWST-Abwicklung vermitteln.
Datum: Mittwoch, 22. Juni 2011, 08:00 – 10:30 Uhr
Ort: Hotel Baur au Lac, Talstrasse 1, 8001 Zürich
Weitere Informationen und Anmeldung: VAT Breakfast Roundtable
What's Your IQ on Corporate Tax Policies around the World? Take the Quiz!
CFO.com's staff has put together a quiz based on PricewaterhouseCoopers' report Paying Taxes 2011:
The global picture. The correct answers to the ten questions are at the bottom of the page. http://bit.ly/mPpDxU
The report Paying Taxes 2011: The global picture is a 104 page pdf document that's easy to scan for its captions and graphs. Check http://bit.ly/hVaLkq
Canada's Contribution to the Global Understanding of Risk
Canada's financial system performed better than most during the recession mainly because they took deliberate steps to avoid the risks that other economies weren't sufficiently aware of. However, the interdependencies and complexities of financial systems are still obscure and decision makers often resort to intelligent guesses or rely on forecasting models to make predictions.
That’s why in January 2011, Canada created The Global Risk Institute in Financial Services with the goal to improve the understanding of risk among financial leaders, policy makers and board of directors.
In the GTNews article Risk: Canada's Contribution to a Global Understanding, Donald Hathaway of Global Risk Institute in Financial Services explains some reasons why Canada averted the recession and explains the mission and concrete goals and actions of the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services.
Full story: http://bit.ly/jjWast (registration required, free)
Understanding and Controlling Financial Risk
In Part 3 of GTNews' Risk Management Blog, Kevin Lester, explains how risk indicators (KRIs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) can help treasurers understand and control risk on an ongoing basis.
Full story: http://bit.ly/k2d5In (registration required, free)
Previously Published Risk Blogs:
Part 1: Managing Commodity Price Risk: Are Pass-through Strategies Sufficient? We wrote about it in the "Risk Management: A Guide and a New Blog" at http://bit.ly/ile3FL
Part 2: China's 'New' Currency Offers Risk Management Opportunities. Check our April Newsletter at http://bit.ly/ihWM7L
Swiss CIO: Sonderausgabe von Computerworld
Die Computerworld-Spezialausgabe "Swiss CIO" enthält z.B. Artikel über Führungsstile, der richtige Umgang mit unrealistischen Forderungen, Kurzportraits der 50 Schweizer Unternehmen usw. Sie kann als Einzelheft für 9.80 Franken (exkl. Versandspesen) online bei Computerworld.ch bestellt werden. http://bit.ly/jN0gmV
Im ersten Artikel vom 3.6.2011 behandelt Harald Schodl wie man den CIO Job erreicht, die verschiedenen Hüte, die man als CIO trägt und wie man den Job behält.
Details: http://bit.ly/jN0gmV
CIO's Role as Business Forecaster
CEOs generally know how to deal with bad news but surprises rattle them. Since CIOs are best equipped to predict the future, CEOs hugely depend on them.
In the CIO.com article "How CIOs Can Become Business Forecasters" Chris Curran, Principal, and leader of technology strategy and innovation at PwC's Diamond Advisory Services, explains that CIOs can create an "information advantage" by delivering "better intelligence on short-term demand, emerging trends, and potential market disruptors."
Full story: http://bit.ly/iP7XWK
Cities of Opportunity: Standortvergleich
Die PwC-Studie "Cities of Opportunity 2011" vergleicht 26 Handels-, Finanz- und Kulturmetropolen weltweit. Faktoren zur Bewertung: Innovations- und Wirtschaftskraft, Verkehr, Gesundheit, Kosten, Lebensqualität und Nachhaltigkeit usw.
Gesamt-Ranking von 1-10: New York, Toronto, San Francisco, Stockholm, Sydney, London, Chicago, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong. Berlin ist auf dem 13. und Madrid auf dem 15. Rang.
Zusammenfassung der Studie von Osec Exportförderung: "Weltstädte im Standortvergleich": http://dlvr.it/TyM36
PwC's fourth analysis of Cities of Opportunity 2011 (detailed study in pdf format)
The fourth analysis of "Cities of Opportunity 2011"examined 26 cities, all of them capitals of finance, commerce and culture, and seeks to open a window on what makes cities function best.
What determined the ranking is the insight that "the more cities change, the more forward-looking perspective matters…" The cities ranked highest are the ones that "just may have what they need for a world that is growing less reliant on geography and more dependent on attracting and nurturing good people to innovate and build the future with fresh eyes."
Full analysis including tools for you to explore the data and build your own city of opportunity: http://bit.ly/fiSX6J
From the Desk of Regula Spottl, Greensboro, North Carolina
My husband Marty managed various departments in the U.S. subsidiary for a Swiss multinational corporation for more than thirty years. He was recently asked to talk to High School students about his work experience and lessons he learned. Here are just a few of Martin Spottl's 17 Recommendations for Survival and Success in Business:
- If you make a mistake, tell your boss before he or she hears it from someone else. Most importantly, tell him or her how you, not the boss, plan to correct it.
- No matter how good you are, some people won't like you! Move on.
- No matter how sure you are of your evidence, there still may be an explanation that you did not think of.
- You are always being watched by managers in other departments. Keep working hard and you will be noticed and you will succeed - even if your boss is a jerk.
- If you are fair and honest with your subordinates, they will respect you and help you. If they do not trust you, they will destroy you simply by not telling you things that you need to know to do your job.