CFOs - LEADERS DURING THE DOWNTURN
10 - 11 June 2009
Hilton Athens Hotel
Organized by KPMG in Greece, the 8th CFO Forum took place on June 10-11, 2009 at the Hilton Athens Hotel. This two-day event received intense media attention and was crowned as a great success not only by the over 300 top management executives - among wich company Chairmen, CEOs, CFOs, Managing Directors, and General Managers - who attended it, but also by the more than 30 journalists covering it. Participants who took part in the evaluation process confirmed the event’s success, by responding positively to over 98% of the questions posed. In sum, 95% of the respondents stated that they were satisfied with the Forum overal and that they would be interested in attending next year’s event; 90% responded that they intended to recommend the CFO Forum to their colleagues as well.
This year’s keynote speaker was world famous Professor Nouriel Roubini – primarily known for forecasting today’s world financial crisis in 2006.
Nouriel Roubini is Professor of Economics at Stern Business School, New York University, and Chairman of the innovative consultancy RGE Monitor (Roubini Global Economics). Institutional Investor Magazine has described him as one of the 50 most important people in Finance today, while Fortune Magazine has included him in its “10 gurus one should know” list.
His presentation drew important media attention. His two sessions, each followed by Q&A sessions, were broadcasted by several Greek television stations, while several major political and financial newspapers ran front pages with Professor Roubini’s comments on the global and Greek economy.
The first day’s proceedings commenced with Gilbert Gelard, Member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), explaining The necessity of IFRSs in response to the worldwide financial crisis. In his presentation, he discussed the rising need for IFRSs, particularly during the financial crisis. He also analyzed the IASB’s response to the changing world financial climate for the near future. On the same note, KPMG's Audit Partner, Mr. Harry Sirounis, offered practical insight into the recent changes to financial statements further to IAS requirements.
Following that, a panel of experienced professionals discussed The CFO's concern over transfer pricing documentation requirements: Is Tax Legislation compatible with Law 3728/2008?. The discussion was coordinated by Dionyssios Kefalakos, Managing Editor, Naftemporiki newspaper. During this discussion, Stavros Costas, Economist-Tax Consultant and Chairman, Taxation Committee, Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce, Christos Kassapantoniou, CFO, House Market (IKEA), Dr. George S. Mavraganis, Partner in Charge of Tax, KPMG in Greece, Konstantinos Moraitakis, Finance Director, Pfizer Hellas, and Katerina Savvaidou, Ph.D., Legal Advisor, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance and Athens Law School Scientific Associate, explored the compatibility of Law 3728/2008 with regards to the latest transfer-pricing documentation requirements.
During the day’s second and final panel discussion themed Managing cost reduction while growing your future organization, Marios T. Kyriacou, Senior Partner, KPMG in Greece, hosted Evangelos Chrysafidis, Business Marketing Director (ex-Finance Director), Microsoft, Athena Eliades, Group Chief Financial Officer, J&P-AVAX, and Pavlos Kanellopoulos, CFO, Forthnet. In the course of this very interesting discussion, the accomplished professionals who participated looked into one of the most difficult issues CFOs will have to face during the crisis – that of reducing cost while simultaneously pushing for company growth.
The first day of the event concluded with an engaging talk given by Rafael Valenzuela, Financial Performance Management Specialist, IBM. The session was titled Driving business performance in turbulent times - Smart Tips and Best Practices and it covered the various best practices that can save and improve business performance during these trying times.
The second day of the event began with two highly-anticipated sessions led by Professor Nouriel Roubini. In these two talks titled The Global Economy: Where are we and the outlook forward, and Asset Classes, Emerging Markets & Greece, Professor Roubini shared his predictions for the global and Greek economy, before allowing a host of questions coming from participants in the Q&A sessions.
The last panel discussion of the 8th CFO Forum was titled Navigating the company during a period of downturn and was coordinated by Tryfon Kollintzas, Chairman & CEO, Attica Bank. In the course of this discussion, a group of CEOs - namely Nikos Koutsianas, Apivita, Efthimios Vidalis, S&B Industrial Minerals, and Georgios Taniskidis, Chairman & CEO, Millennium Bank - analyzed the problems that companies are currently facing due to the financial downturn, and looked into how three companies from different industries are dealing with these problems.
The event closed with a very informative talk on restructuring, titled Maximizing value in this recession, given by Philip Davidson, Partner, Head of Restructuring, KPMG Europe.
Marios T. Kyriacou, Senior Partner, KPMG in Greece and Professor Nouriel Roubini during the event.
From left to right: Konstantinos Moraitakis, Katerina Savvaidou, Dionyssios Kefalakos, George S. Mavraganis, Marios T. Kyriacou, Peggy Velliotou, Christos Kassapantoniou, and Stavros Costas after the Tax Panel discussion.
From left to right: Nikos Koutsianas, Tryfon Kollintzas, Peggy Velliotou, Georgios Taniskidis, Efthimios Vidalis, and Marios T. Kyriacou following the CEO Panel discussion.