TOMATO CATCH-UP Newsletter Issue 159 – April 2013

Your monthly resource on working capital, process optimization and issues relating to the world of corporate treasurers, IT professionals and bankers!

Introduction:

If the March newsletter arrived in your inbox indicating some links as phishing, you were not alone. We sincerely apologize for this mishap. To find out which of the topics from the March newsletter that applies to a concrete issue you are facing, visit it here.

For the last few months, SEPA has become a priority for most of our clients. The SEPA-Fahrplan page (deutsch) und SEPA: Time to Act Slideshow (English) are good resources. In this newsletter, we continue to present SEPA issues.

Enjoy the variety of top picks from March publications. By the way, many top picks are experts’ opinions and don’t necessarily reflect ours. We encourage you to comment on them if you support or disagree with specific views.

Regula Spottl

 

In Today's Issue:

TOMATO UPDATES

NEWS

VIEWS AND ADVICE

MISCELLANEOUS

 

SEPA: Martin Schneider Answers Questions

While visiting Tomato’s offices in Kloten, I asked Martin a couple of questions on SEPA that came up in my research.

Q: How are your SEPA projects progressing? Is there more to do than expected or is some of it hype?

A: The work is definitely ongoing. Involved is:

  • SEPA is a local project that local accountants in the daughter companies must execute. It includes updating BIC and IBAN of suppliers or clients.
  • If the accounting system is local as well, the local IT needs to change, then the XML payment format tested with each bank.
  • If there is a central ERP unit, this IT change is done at the headquarters for the local entity. Here I suggest to our clients that they reduce bank files which reduces the number of transaction banks. Otherwise the testing with each bank will never end. The second part of my London presentation shows how to reduce transactions or payment banks (page 16). Also, optimizing bank relations is our speciality. Check…
  • For companies that move their ERP just in the period 2013 and 2014, I suggest that they use the old ERP, produce the local file format and have it changed into XML 20022 by various service companies that are coming up.
  • There is certainly some hype and it feels a bit like Y2K.

Q: Belgian Telenet has been mentioned as a model early adoption of SEPA Migration. See “How Belgian Telenet Manages Sepa Migration”. Once banks and system providers have implemented SEPA, it’s crucial to educate call center staff and customers what’s ahead. They are at that stage now. What is crucial here?

A: What call center and customers need to know is:

  • Structures, formats and payment rejections or delays are unified with SEPA-DD within SEPA area.
  • The B2C clients in Europe in SEPA countries have then universal rights to accept or reject the payments. The days to reject payments were until now organized on a national level.
  • Also new is that for example a German corporate can reach French clients without having a company office in France.

Regula: Thank you Martin!

Martin: You’re welcome! I enjoy your visit to Switzerland once or twice a year to discuss key issues and review the newsletter and social media topics we present. Incredible to remember that we started the newsletter 14 years ago! Aren’t we a great team?

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Financial Modelling – Wirksame und strukturierte Finanzmodelle erstellen

Früher ein Mitglied des Tomato Networks, Andreas Löhrer ist Dozent und Berater in Finanzen und Controlling an der FHS St. Gallen. Zusammen mit René Suter stellt er das Konzept Financial Modelling vor.

Die Ausgangslage: Trotz verfügbarer ERP- oder BI-basierter Planungssoftware ist Microsoft Excel unter professionellen Modellen das wohl am häufigsten benutzte. Das Modellieren von Finanzzahlen in Excel ist komplex, teilweise unübersichtlich und wenig standardisiert. Ein Beispiel für die Standardisierung von Excel-basierten Modellen ist „The FAST Standard“. Dieser umfasst Regeln und Richtlinien zur Struktur und Detaillierung Excel-basierter Finanzmodelle.

Die Standardisierung zwingt die Ersteller, die Abhängigkeiten in den Finanzmodellen konsistent darzulegen. Mit der Anwendung der Regeln von Financial Modelling wird die mögliche Modell-Kreativität umgemünzt in Modell-Effektivität.

Die Herausforderung für Löhrer/Suter war: Kann wirksamen, „robusten“, nachvollziehbaren aber dennoch flexiblen Finanzmodellen überhaupt begegnet werden?

Ihre Lösung: Financial Modelling von der FHS St. Gallen, mit dem man das strukturierte Vorgehen lernt.

Artikel Financial Modelling: Löhrer/Suter sowie das Seminar www.fhsg.ch/financialmodelling

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Evolving Banking Regulation 2013

Regulatory reform is perhaps the “biggest driver of change” for banks. The KPMG report examines how banks can deal with regulatory reforms using a thematic approach rather than tackling each policy individually so that they can plan more effectively. KPMG offers three 2013 editions: Europe, Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific Region, and the Americas. Details…

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HSBC Predicts Renminbi to Be Fully Convertible in 5 Years

British bank HSBC, a key player in Asia, predicts that the Chinese renminbi (RMB) will be fully convertible within five years. This makes it "the fastest growing currency in the world".

HSBC further predicts that London will become the next place to have banks approved for RMB clearing by China.

However, for complete liberalization, China has first to develop “a stronger institutional and regulatory framework to improve the market efficiency and control financial risks," says HSBC. Full story in cfo-insight.com…

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The “Consumerization” of IT and BYOD Guide

“Consumerization” is a word that you will read about more and more. It refers to “the growing tendency for new information technology to emerge first in the consumer market and then spread into business.”

Anyway, CIO.com’s BYOD (Bring You Own Device) Guide features various articles on the benefits and the pressure to manage and secured devices and data such as

This is just a small selection of many articles on the topic. Complete Guide in cio.com

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Top Picks for Finance, Treasury and Banking in March

Risk Management: The Impact of Technology on the CFO’s world
Financial implications of aging infrastructure for the CFO
cfo-insight.com/

The Potential Impact of Basel III on the Corporate Treasurer
By Andy Dyer, ANZ. GTnews.com.

Can ERP Replace TMS?
CFO and CIO may see things differently from the treasurer’s perspective
Eurotreasurer issue 04|2013 (pdf)

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Top Picks for CIO and IT Professionals in March

CIOs Can Be Catalysts for Change in the Postdigital Enterprise
How the CIO can become the CEO’s most trusted advisor
cio.com.

Challenging IT Analysts by Shifting Research From Vendors to Clients
Instead of asking "Which vendor should my company choose?" explore "How should my company choose a vendor?”
cio.com

IT Outsourcing Customers Get What They Pay for, Not What They Want
Survey result: While outsourcers deliver cost reduction and increased efficiency, they may lack innovation and analytical capabilities.
cio.com

Data-Driven Companies Outperform Competitors Financially
Findings from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
cio.com

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Top Picks on Career and Management in March

10 Noncertified IT Skills That Pay a Premium
Certain IT skills are commanding premium pay from employers. The good news is it's all about hands-on experience and expertise.
cio.com

10 Things Really Amazing Employees Do
Ten traits that any great employer should recognize and reward instantly.
Inc.com

7 Tips to Help IT Leaders Make Their Business an International Success
Suggestions from executives, business owners and managers who know what it takes to succeed overseas
cio.com

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MISCELLANEOUS

Mindfulness Is Good for Private and Business Life 

In our March newsletter, I pointed to the Wisdom 2.0, 2013 Summit held in February in San Francisco, where founders, executives and managers from most major tech companies and others listened to or participated in conversations with experts in yoga and mindfulness.

The big question they wrestled with was “How can we live with greater presence, meaning, and mindfulness in the technology age?”

You can watch all the sessions from the conference on their Youtube page.

In their latest newsletter, the Wharton School added to this discussion with Why Mindfulness and Meditation Are Good for Business. In the article, Mirabai Bush, co-founder of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society spoke with Katherine Klein, vice-dean of Wharton's Social Impact Initiative, to discuss how individuals can bring meditation and "mindfulness" into their everyday lives. It’s much less difficult than you may think, the two suggest.

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From the Desk of Regula Spottl, Greensboro, North Carolina

Debate on Working from Home Policies

In the last newsletter, we referred to the debates on Working-from-Home policies that was sparked by Yahoo’s CEO’s policy change which requires that all employees must now work at the office. Yahoo’s argument was that “Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home.”… and “face-to-face interaction among employees fosters a more collaborative culture.”

Well, I’m writing this newsletter at Tomato’s offices in Kloten, which is highly unusual as I normally work from home in the U.S. To be in the office, see the hustle and bustle, have discussions on specific issues and being physically a part of the team is something I miss. Still, I’m way more productive at home where I have no distractions and can work when my brain works best.

My opinion on work-at-home policies: Have everyone work two or three days at the office (all the same day) and let those who prefer, work from home the rest of the time. What’s your opinion?

Your Tomato
Regula Spottl

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