Icv bulletin december 2013

www.controllerverein.com Controlling - Creating Future

Publisher: International Controller Association ICV | Poznań Office

Dear Readers! And we have December again… Time of summing-up what you’ve achieved this year. In your private life and in your company. What did you learn during this year? From this months’ experience? And exchanging knowledge with other controllers and CFOs? What are you proud of? Are you happy with your choices? And what has your enterprise achieved? Has your team come up with some interesting ideas and innovative con-trolling solutions? If yes, don’t miss the challenge of the Controller Prize! We wait for interesting projects! You can read more in the Bulletin and on our home pages. And we will have the pleasure to invite you to participate in other ICV competitions soon. And December is also the time of summing-up for the ICV. Just this weekend the representatives of ICV management met in Frankfurt to discuss our successes and our plans. The 2013 was really fantastic for the Association! We had some attendance – breaking congresses and conferences (just think of CIA in Poland in April and ACC in Slovenia in November). And we have had a new member country: Bosnia and Herzegovina joined us in June! We are now in the middle of planning next year’s big ICV international events. A new interesting event should be a meeting in Prague. All our members including the new ones can read an inter-esting article published in the German Controller Magazin and translated into English. How does the business look like on the „insignificant” markets? And are they really so insignificant? As in every issue you can also meet one of the Board members. This time it’s going to be… me. :-) I don’t know what’s in there yet - I will get to know it with you, from the Bulletin :-) Much pleasure while reading!

And for it’s the last issue before Christmas, great time with

your families!

Yours

Dr. Adrianna Lewandowska

ICV Board Member

International

Controller Association

ICV Bulletin | December 2013

In this issue:

Business in “insignificant" markets

Beyond Controlling - 13th Adriatic Control-ling Conference in Slovenia and the Slove-nian Work Group

Dr. Adrianna Lewandowska—Board Mem-ber

The ControllerPrize 2014 will be awarded by the ICV for an exemplary controlling solution. The winner is rewarded with 5,000 €, the prize will be awarded at the 39th Controller Con-gress on May 19-20, 2014. The selection of the best exemplary solution will be based on the controller's mission statement defined by the International Group of Controlling (IGC). More: http://www.controllerverein.com/Awards.158549.html. Chal-lenge your colleagues in the competition and face the decision of our competent judges!

ControllerPrize 2014

Controller Akadamie bigger!

The Controller Akademie family is now bigger: besides CA controller akademie that you have known for years, its two “sisters” have been created: CA management akademie and CA institute for accounting & finance. Both are based on the trusted organization and presentation meth-ods of the CA. More: www.controllerakademie.de www.ca-managementakademie.de www.ca-iaf.de

ICV Bulletin | December 2013

Business in “insignificant" markets

By Daniel Pudliszweski und Susanne Schneider Read the whole article on http://www.controllerverein.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=es3t6kq3c4jqbtvulet4d9fir2&id=168066

The Pareto 80/20 formula, which states that 20% of the most important markets, customers or products account for 80% of the success results in the withdrawal from, or the non-entry into - at first sight - insignificant markets. However, opportu-nities for activity within these market segments often exist, not only to generate turnover, but also to realise profits. Only an adapted approach can lead to success in this context and its consistent implementation is a controlling task.

Definition of insignificant markets

The existence of insignificant markets presupposes the exis-tence of different sub-markets. This is only the case if a divi-sion of the overall market is possible. Two extremes rule out different markets: on the one hand, a uniform market may exist, such as for information on the internet, which is cate-gorically available to the same extent in every place in the world; on the other hand, products can be so complex that the production takes place locally, yet can only be performed through specifically provided specialists, such as in large-scale plant engineering, so that here the same providers equally compete on a global scale. The services considered in this text sit between these two extremes. That is, products of a medium complexity which are demanded locally. This fundamentally concerns most products. They may be ma-chines and products which are produced elsewhere, but re-quire explanation, professional installation or regular mainte-nance, or that are sold directly to the end consumer in smaller volumes, as either shipment is uneconomical or not acceptable to the customer.

Four typical characteristics of insignificant markets can be noted accordingly.

On an international scale, the complexity of the uniform

market is too high or too costly to overcome. This includes language barriers, an insufficient legal framework, if for example, the necessary legal protection is not granted, or corruption is thereby preventing implementation.

Inadequate infrastructure is another point. In many coun-

tries, transport and storage options are limited, permanent and stable power supply is not given, or the protection of property, sometimes also that of staff, is not guaranteed.

The number of potential customers is considered too low.

Either the population is simply too low, or the price expec-tations of the manufacturer and the payment options of the customer exclude each other.

A lack of trained staff and the excessive investment in their

training and in forging lasting bonds of loyalty between them and the company are deemed further arguments for exclusion.

Figure 1 shows examples of relevant goods.

To think only in an international dimension is insufficient in this context. Such markets also exist in the national sphere. While the above noted failings may not be present, they are substituted by other reasons for ruling out an involvement.

The development of the overall population, in particular

that of people with purchasing power, varies across Ger-many. While some metropolises report increasing popula-tion figures, the rural population is in decline. Particularly some of the East German regions show dramatic develop-ments. This is linked to an even more substantial decline in purchasing power.

Even in a country with excellent infrastructure, such as

Germany, poor accessibility may represent an exclusion criterion for involvement. If permanent and short-notice accessibility is required, this can often only be ensured through a tightly knit net of offices and branches. If dis-tances are too large, and the additional costs are not ac-knowledged by the customer, the activity becomes uneco-nomical.

The relevant regions are often unattractive for the employ-

ees. It is almost impossible to find employees who are willing to relocate. Where a willingness to relocate exists, this often applies to inexperienced entry-level employees who by themselves are not able to meet all requirements.

[...]

© International Controller Association ICV | Poznań Office

ICV Bulletin | December 2013

© International Controller Association ICV | Poznań Office

13th ACC Adriatic Con-trolling Conference was different in many ways,

but most of all because of its record-breaking attendance.

There were more than 200 partici-pants, 50 lecturers from Slovenia

and abroad, and they came from 7

different countries.

The conference was organized by the consultancy house CRMT and leader of the Slovenian ICV working group, Mrs. Dragica Erčulj as all the years before. This year the confer-ence was given more media attention than before. A lot of interviews and articles were written before the conference, published in leading business magazine. And it was worth it.

This year’s topic, Beyond Controlling, tried to find an answer to the questions: “What is that ‘something more’ in controlling that makes companies successful, aside from methodologies and information systems?” How do they respond to the opportunities and threats that they are confronted with? To find an answer to that topic also a very interesting manage-rial panel was organized together with The Managers' Asso-ciation of Slovenia. The guests at the panel were Chairmans of the Board from the five different and very successful com-panies. Some suggested answers were trust, intuition, lead-ership style, competent coworkers, clear vision, supportive middle management, team work and also transparent man-agement reporting systems. To have a management infor-mation system is a must, so we should not waste of time on that. We agreed with Mr. Rolf Hichert, also a guest speaker at the 13th ACC, that trust in people is important: “Most stra-tegic and important decisions we take are not fact-based, either in private life or in business. Usually we selectively take all the facts we need to support our preconceived opin-ion. And in many cases the content of a report is less impor-tant than the trust we have in the source or person that re-ports to us.”

Among the international speakers were also ICV members: Dr. Herwig Friedag highlighted that there is no BSC without strategy; Prof. Dr. Martin Tschandl presented topic Modern Budgeting and the newest ICV Controller Statement; Mr. Guenther Pichler showed us the benefits of ABC to control the organization; Mrs. Jasmina Očko talked about developing a controller's atmosphere in a company during the controlling

implementation; mag.Gabor Adam from Horvath&Partner talked about evolution of BI. There were also an interesting presentations of KPMG and PWC (both providers of audit, tax and advisory services).

After the lunch there were great speakers performing in five sessions, business cases from practice were shown about implementation of controlling, using of special methods, Business Intelligence cases and others.

Together with our guests we spent a great day discussing how controlling can affect the efficiency, productivity, innovation and sustainability of a company, not to mention the guests had an opportunity to exchange experience and socialize.

Top quality topics, great speakers, a unique opportunity to learn from the best and »every year something new« organization make our conference a must-go for controllers, accountants and chief financials oficers who take care to continuous improvement their competencies.

13. ACC was held in Bled, which is a small and nice tourist town at the foot of the Slovenian mountains. It was a day of practical guidance, knowledge sharing, great meetings with interesting people from various companies, from different industries and different countries! After all, Adriatic Controlling Conference is an international event with a tradi-tion and high standards.

You are invited to see the atmosphere of the event at http://youtu.be/L_ULOFzDhYM CRMT 13. Kontroling konferenca, Bled.

The 14. ACC Adriatic Controlling Conference will take place on October 16, 2014. You are very wellcome, save the date today!

Słovenia—not only the Conference!

A day before the conference, on Wednesday's evening, work group ICV Slovenija organized a meeting as well. We wanted to take the opportunity to exchange experience with our colleagues from ICV, work group leaders from Germany and Austria, while they were in Slovenia as guest speakers at ACC. Unfortunately, just a few Slovenian ICV members managed to come and there was just a group of twelve people. We had a very nice evening, we presented ourselves, we compare the controllers' activities, present opportunities and threats, and other important issues and instruments in controlling.

We were glad to have an opportunity to exchange experience with more expirienced ICV colleagues from abroad. Our participant's feedback was that the meeting was extremely interesting and useful and we should repeat it in the future. So next year we intend to organize a Slovenia-Austria work group meeting.

Beyond Controlling - 13th Adriatic Controlling Conference in Slovenia

ICV Bulletin | December 2013

© International Controller Association ICV | Poznań Office

7th International Controller Congress Poznań 2013 Fierce discussions on how to increase efficiency, how to reduce costs without reducing potentials, how to deal with the times of the crises — 7th International Controller Congress is now the past. But we are planning the next one, with the topic “Innovative Controlling Solutions” and great speakers form Poland and abroad. If you want to participate in the congress, please look for informa-tion on our Homepage!

Next: March 17-18, 2014

38th Controller Controller Munich 2013

The biggest controlling congress in the middle Europe took place in Munich on April 22-23, 2013. The congress was opened by Siegfried Gänßlen. The CEO of Hansgrohe SE, and Chairman of the ICV Board welcomed more than 500 participants. In his opening speech he referred to developments of controlling. During the Congress there were also many possibilities to exchange experi-ences not only in the conference room, but also over lunches and dinners.

Next: May 19-20, 2014

Polish-Russian ICV Conference 2013

The first Polish-Russian ICV Conference took place in September in Gdańsk. The main topic was "Business environment supporting and reducing controlling idea in companies from Kaliningrad Oblast and Poland". The idea was born some time ago, when Robert Panufnik (Head of the WG Gdańsk) talked to Valentin Usenkov (Head of the WG Kaliningrad) about good practices of the WG Poznań organizing workshops with the WG Berlin Brandenburg. Our towns are close to each other and that's why there is a necessity to organize such conferences to exchange controlling knowledge in our community.

1st Chinese-German Controlling Conference in Shanghai 2013 More than 250 Chinese CFOs and senior executives in the finance function were joined by German practitioners with an inter-est in Controlling in China. The first Chinese-German Controller Conference took place in Shanghai on October 26. The event was organized by the Shanghai National Accounting Institute (SNAI), the International Controller Association (ICV) and the Controller Akademie, and was financially supported by Skoda, a brand of Shanghai Volkswagen. The German and Chinese parties each made three presentations and the speakers also all took part in a podium discussion which provided many new insights and ideas, as was evident in the extremely lively question and answer session that rounded off the event. All who took part in the conference agreed that the dialogue will continue and that a second Chinese-German Controlling Conference should be held next year.

1st International Controlling Conference in Croatia 2013

November 5 was a great day for controlling in Croatia, given that the 1st ICCC attracted over 150 attendees to the Crystal Ballroom at Westin Hotel Zagreb. Croatia has finally joined the club of ICV member countries holding annual international controlling conferences under the auspices of the ICV! There is no doubt that this conference will inspire many to rethink their possibilities and make improvements, which is what the conference has aimed to achieve.

Next: November 5, 2014

The International Controller Association is becoming more and more international. Not because of increasing number of new member countries and controllers joining the ICV, but also be-cause of increasing number of international events. It’s not only the Adriatic Controlling Confer-ence (see previous page), Conference in Kaliningrad or the International Controller Congress in Poznan, Poland any more! In 2013 we also had the common meeting of two work groups: WG Gdańsk and WG Kaliningrad, the 1st Chinese-German Controlling Conference in Shanghai and the 1st International Controlling Conference in Croatia. And as always the traditional Controller Congress in Munich!

© International Controller Association ICV | Poznań Office

ICV Bulletin | December 2013

Her radiant smile is a delight!

This is how I got to know Adrianna Lewandowska 10

years ago. And in all those years, I enjoyed that radiance

over and over again. But it doesn’t stop at the smile; she

has commitment and determination…

Soon after we met at a Balanced Scorecard Workshop, I

told her about my involvement with the ICV. I convinced

her to become involved as well and we devised the plan

to develop ICV work groups in Poland - from scratch. She

called on her friends from her professional and private life

and in less than 2 years, we had brought a total of 6 ICV

work groups in Poland into being.

Sometimes, it was by rather adventurous means. For

some unknown reason, no reservation had been made

for Adrianna in Wrocław, and there simply was no free

room to be had. “I’m sure I can share a room with one of

the participants,” she decided. She then convinced her

room-mate to lead the work group…

Today, there are 11 work groups in Poland, all of which

have been launched through her commitment and many

kept alive by the same. First, she looked after “her” Pol-

ish work groups as a regional delegate, then she was

appointed to the ICV Board upon recommendation from

Dr. Deyhle. The focus of her work was PR activities and

the further development of the internationalisation of the

ICV.

Every year, she organises the international Controller

Congress of the ICV in Poznan and these days, she

holds her speeches in English for the first time!

Soon after we met, she graduated and gave up her posi-

tion as Controller in a German-Polish company – she

wanted to set up as self-employed. We held numerous

BSC workshops together and had a lot of fun with each

other and the other participants. And our mutual clients

had a great deal of success with their transformation

processes.

The subject of strategy never lost its grip on her: Her

consultancy firm Business Discovery dedicates itself in

particular to the area of Polish family companies. To-

gether with her employees she won a huge EU contract

ahead of international competition (project “Value Codes”

with the total value of over EUR 0,8 million), which she

and her team successfully completed in the shortest pe-

riod of time with flying colours. Several appearances on

Polish TV on programmes about economy have demon-

strated that Dr. Adrianna Lewandowska is valued very

highly as a consultant in Poland.

“On the side”, Adrianna also lectures at one of the most

renowned business schools in Poland. Here, her specialist

fields are strategy and family business. This “on the side”

activity takes up a great amount of time, given that she is

very popular amongst her students and the rate of partici-

pation in her classes is very high. I have often been al-

lowed to teach there myself and have come to appreciate

the great thirst for knowledge of her prodigies.

Her workload is huge – between her involvement with the

ICV, her consultancy firm Business Discovery and her work

at the Poznan University of Economics – I always wonder

how she manages it all. But she still has a private life…

I will only divulge this much; her daughter Maika, who is

now studying in Vienna, supports her at many events. Fam-

ily life – Adrianna’s long-time love travels a lot as well – is

often limited to the rare free weekends. Yet, Adrianna still

manages to find the time to learn to dance with her family

and friends and to run in the forest with her dog.

I am glad to say that, aside from our mutual professional

activities, we also regularly spend a weekend together

twice a year, in Poznan or Berlin – to bounce ideas off each

other and to come up with new plans. And to enjoy that

radiant smile…

Herwig Friedag

In this issue the next caricature of the series present-ing the Members of the ICV Board with tongue in cheek. In this issue we present Dr. Adrianna Lewandowska, the only woman in the Board. Your Bulletin Team —in the hope that the Board has sense of humor...

ICV Bulletin | December 2013

Bosna and Hercegovina Slavko Simić [email protected] Bulgaria Denko Yamboliev [email protected]

Croatia Jasmina Očko [email protected] Great Britain Milena Heim [email protected]

Estonia

Toomas Haldma

[email protected]

Hungary Budapest 1 Ervin Nemesdy [email protected]

Budapest 2 Andreas Kovacs [email protected]

Poland Gdańsk Robert Panufnik [email protected]

Katowice Anna Jarkulisz [email protected] Kraków Dorota Gołąb-Bełtowicz [email protected]

Lublin Paweł Rafalski [email protected]

Łódź Karolina Zielińska [email protected]

Poznań Dariusz Gulczyński [email protected]

Szczecin Aleksander Socha [email protected]

Toruń Andrzej Derkowski [email protected]

Warszawa Karol Sikora [email protected]

Wrocław Honorata Ulatowska [email protected]

Zielona Góra Małgorzata Lepak [email protected]

Romania Cristina Hodea [email protected]

Russia Valentin Usenkov [email protected]

Serbia Bojan Šćepanović [email protected] Slovenia Dragica Erčulj [email protected]

Spain Ulrich Müller Bosom [email protected]

Imprint

Publisher and Copyrights:

International Controller Association

Public Relations Committee

Editing

Brigitte Dienstl-Arnegger

Dr. Adrianna Lewandowska

Hans-Peter Sander

Anna Włodarczyk

International Controller Association ICV Office Poland Ul.Fredry 7/1 61-809 Poznań PL Phone/Fax +48 61 853 20 10 Mail: [email protected]

All work groups in non-German speaking countries

The aim of the ”Ideenwerkstatt” (Dream Factory) of the ICV is to systematically observe the field of controlling and recognize major trends. The Dream Factory develops the “dream cars” - ideas and findings are transformed into concrete, working products in ICV work groups or other project groups. The newest issue of the Dream Factory’s publication is to read on http://www.controllerverein.com/News.125051.html The current state of the understanding of controlling and role of a controller was formulated by the ICV and the IGC in a policy paper. It’s now available in 11 languages and the translation works are still on. In English you can read i t o n h t t p : / / w w w . c o n t r o l l e r v e r e i n . c o m /International_Controller_Association_EN.122443.html. The goal of the project is to formulate the current state of the understanding of controlling and role of a controller. Releasing liquidity in your own company is a red-hot topic. In the recently presented “Guidelines for the sus-tainable optimization of reserves, receivables and liabili-ties”, experts from the ICV urgently recommend that con-trollers dedicate themselves to Working Capital Manage-ment. The German publication will be published in English in March 2014. More: http://www.controllerverein.com/News.125051.html.

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